Distracted by a non-issue

God graciously explains the struggles of last week. He reveals that I was concerned about a “what if?” instead of something that was actually happening. The distraction was: “If you do all that God says, the enemy will constantly attack and you will be in a joy-destroying battle until the end of your days. To avoid such misery, you need to choose what you will do.”

This reminds me of a friend who wanted to go to the mission field with the caveat that where she was sent didn’t have a lot of big insects and other crawling critters. She soon learned that loving others meant dropping personal preferences!

Yesterday’s sermon was about cultivating love. The application: 1. Cultivate community…reach out to lonely people, go bless someone else. 2. Practice generosity. It is always a greater joy to give than receive. Besides, generosity is an act of worship. 3. Contemplate God’s love and be driven to gratitude. (There is even an app to help that!) Remember why I am here.

This made me think about my anxiety and realize I was supposing and fearful rather than facing any issues in faith. God was not asking me to do something difficult or make a great sacrifice, nor was the devil trying to stop me from any direct command. Fighting an imaginary war is like a nightmare; not real but still feels as if it is — for a shot time.

Today’s readings describes the wisdom of God in making Jesus our Mediator. He is fully God and fully man, not distant from either, near to both in nature, possessing all of both except without sin.

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. (Hebrews 4:15–16)

Jesus had a nature to be compassionate to us and victorious for us, to pity us and be patient to bear with us. If he had been only God, he would not have had an experimental sense of our misery; and if he had been only man, he could not have vanquished our enemies; had he been only God, he could not have died; and had he been only man, he could not have conquered death.

The justice of the law had been honored by man’s sufferings, but in Christ the holiness and equity of the law had been honored by man’s obedience. Charnock writes that the life of our Savior is a conformity to the precept, and his death is a conformity to the penalty. The transgression of the law was condemned in the flesh of the Redeemer, and the righteousness of the law was fulfilled in His person, and imputed to the believing sinner.

For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous. (Romans 5:19)
For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. (Romans 8:3–4)

As he died for us, and rose again for us, so he lives for us. His work is finished and now I can rest in it and not worry about anything. Worry is pride in action. That is why God says…

Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. (1 Peter 5:6–7)

Today’s devotional says that our anxieties refer to “distraction of mind” but God’s care signifies “fixation of mind.” This speaks to me and my ADHD, mild as it is but a target for the enemy! He uses it on me far too often. However, this verse helps…

You keep (her) in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because (she) trusts in you. (Isaiah 26:3)

PRAY: Jesus, this experience was something like a vivid bad dream, so vivid that it seems real after waking up and requires strong self-talk to quiet the emotions. The enemy hits my mind like that, producing vivid emotions. He hits my body too, but You are in my mind and have given me the will and a stronger desire to love and serve You. The cost of obedience cannot destroy any of my new life. It simply points to the reality that I belong to You and am Your child, and even my body is in Your total care and protection. Not my will but Thine be done.

He is right here, right now

 

 

Whatever I thought about God before vanished from my mind that day when He walked into my life. His presence was real and with it I knew that Jesus Christ was God the Son and was now making God AVAILABLE to me. It was a whole new world!

Available means “able to be used or obtained; at someone's disposal” in the dictionary, but in the Bible it means the Lord is close by to listen, help, aid, advise and to be all that I need. But I don’t use Him; He uses me!

Of course my first need was redemption because the reality of God’s presence and availability is blocked only by unforgiven sin. Romans 3:23–25 says it this way:

“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by his grace, through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus, whom God made publicly available as the mercy seat through faith in his blood, for a demonstration of his righteousness, because of the passing over of previously committed sins.”

What a wonder. In the OT, being able to approach God was always in connection with sacrifices and priests as the means by which people could draw near to God. The foreigner, who has no part in the sacrifices of Israel, is “far off.” Only when he joins the people of God may he “come near.” God was available in no other way.

Not only that, the ritual was not enough. Isaiah 29:13 makes the distinction of who can experience God and who cannot. The Lord said: “Because this people draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men . . .” and went on to describe that their wisdom would perish because they were blind and needed Him to open their eyes. In other words, religious ritual without a faithful and true heart does not make God available.

The NT book of Hebrews explains the difference between that former sacrificial system with OT priests and sacrifices serving as access and the NT good news that Jesus Christ the Messiah is now (and has always been) the one who makes access to God possible. He said Himself, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).

Looking at Hebrews, God says about His availability to His people:

Hebrews 4:15–16. “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

Hebrews 7:23–25. “The former priests were many in number, because they were prevented by death from continuing in office, but he holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever. Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.”

Hebrews 10:22. “Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.”

Hebrews 11:6. “And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.”

God is available to me, to His people, to anyone who believes in Him, not just OT Israel: Acts 28:28 says, “Therefore let it be known to you that this salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles; they will listen” and Ephesians 2:13 adds, “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.”

GAZE INTO HIS GLORY. God is as near as the air that I breathe. Jesus removed the guilt and power of my sin that had been a barricade between. Now I can draw near. Now He is always available, and should I sin, He invites me to remember: “Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded” (James 4:8). His presence (“I will never leave you or forsake you”) and keeping my heart open and confessing sin as it happens is His amazing gift to me, a mercy and a grace that keeps His availability a wonderful reality.