Rightly Approaching the Throne of Grace

Your Spirit O’ God is stirred up within me.  Your ways are so far above my understanding, but that You would care to speak to man, to me, is beyond me.  The Almighty God, the Maker of All, the Only LORD, He should care to bend down, to incline His ear to us… this is too grand for us to fully understand.   And in our lack of understanding, we take for granted this great, awesome and wonderful gift, and our words are foul in your ears.  Who, who are we in the sight of the Almighty God?  Who, who are we that we should even speak in His presence.  Oh, but that You made a way for us to come – JESUS.  But in that should we abuse the Lover of our soul?  Should we let our souls vent in the Presence of the King of Kings and LORD of Lords?  No, we are not timid in your Presence for the beautiful Blood of Christ covers us and You have made us Your righteousness (amazing!) but why, why would we carry filth into the Presence of our God?

You alone have afforded us to come into the Throne Room of Grace by the perfect life, death and Blood of Your Son Jesus Christ our Savior.  Why then, in this light, dare we spew upon the throne and test Your great Grace?  We have made You common.  Brought You down to us, instead of letting You raise us up into Your Presence.  We snatch at Your nose as a child’s game, we jest and become fools before You.  We bare our shamefulness as royal robes before You, The LORD God.  My heart breaks over our shame.  My heart is sorrowful for our folly.  We have forgotten who You are. 

Yes, Grace, but first Holy, Holy, Holy.  Adopted, now heirs, we ought to be on our faces with gratitude.  Though we be bold before You, You are still worthy of awe. For You are FEARFULLY wonderful!  Awe-some!  How did we fall so far?  That we would treat the Lover of our soul with such contempt?  Where did the thought come from that it was acceptable to vomit upon the One who gave everything for us?  Gave the Greatest of Sacrifices – even His Only Son – Jesus, for us, so what, that we could raise our fists and volley and vent upon You, upon Him?  Is this the love that beats in our hearts?  Is this the depth our gratitude?  That we say “God is big enough to handle our anger against Him” – what is in fact, the beating upon His chest, the slapping of His face, the vomiting in His lap. 

It was recently spoken to me, a good reminder, that God deserves our best.  We were speaking of how we dress when coming to worship.  Yes, it was said, it can become a fashion show.  Pride-fully about us.  But if the heart is right before the Sovereign God of All, then 2 mites, the “best” a poor widow had to offer, becomes the greatest offering of all.  She dared not raise her fist against God and vent anger against her circumstance!  She proved her trust of Him Who Saves, in holding nothing back – (do not think here that “nothing” included her anger, frustration with God, charging Him with wrongdoing in not caring for her… nay!  Holding “nothing back” means not keeping for yourself something in reserve, either because we don’t trust God – a safety net, or greedily wanting for our own passions.)  She, held not reserve, proved her absolute trust of Him, and Jesus praised her. 

Do you see?  Do we see?  We in this consumeristic, entertainment-driven society, have forgotten who God is.  And approach him like a genie in a bottle, who, when does not perform as desired, is tossed into the gutter or even worse, we come bursting into the Throne room of the Most High God, demanding full attention of the heavenlies, full of selfishness, full of self, and spend our the fickle feelings that we have allowed to consume us upon the Holy, Holy, Holy God.  We scream our lack of trust and faithlessness at Him, and, shamefully, believe the liar above our God. 

Job, when he had suffered beyond any human and lost all but a faithless wife, did not charge God with wrongdoing, and it was counted unto him as righteousness.  Just who do we think we are? 

Is that what the Blood of Christ and the Grace therein affords us, the right to charge God with wrongdoing?  You, we, say “I do not charge Him with wrong doing, I simply give Him all of me.”  But then, is that what the Holy Blood of Christ has afforded you?  The right to bring your faithlessness and throw it in His face?

Wake up oh children of God – He has called you to greater things!  Put away this wickedness from you and repent!

I confess to you, that I charged my Holy, Loving, Saving, God with wrongdoing in the moments after I heard my son died.  In my shame, I cried out against Him that it was too much, too much to bear.  (and sadly, there were witnesses…)  Had I, instead, run to Him, my Loving Father and laid my head upon His chest and sobbed, expressing my need in “it is too much to bear” His loving arms would have been reassurance to me that He would bear me up and make a way for me.  His promise to “bind up the brokenhearted” would have been a powerful testimony.  But instead, I faithlessly screamed at Him that I, “I” could not bear it.  I did not let Him comfort me and draw me near.  Do you see my sin?  Do you see how, with my words and attitude, I charged Him with the wrong and then told Him He was faithless to me, unable to save me?  Oh, even now my heart breaks over my sin, though I have confessed it and repented.  Having learned from it just Who is my Holy God and how He loves.  How deeply, how perfectly He loves. 

Brothers and sisters, I beseech you, in light of Who God IS, that you heed these words and my poor example in that day, and stand in AWE of our God.  For He is Holy, Holy, Holy.

When wounded, broken, abused, attacked, do not react and give full vent to your feelings.  But rather, pause and remember Who your God is and what He has done for you.  Then approach the Throne of Grace in AWE of your God and bring before Him whatever it is and lay it at His feet and ask the Almighty God of All what He will do for you.  Do not foolishly speak, but rather ask for what you need in that moment, then receive from Him what your soul truly needs.  And if you do not know what to ask then be silent and ask Holy Spirit to intercede on your behalf – for He knows and speaks perfectly the will of God. 

Oh, beloveds of the King, treat Him as the Beloved of your heart!  Run to Him in want for He will satisfy.  He has never offended you, but saved you.  He, He alone, is trustworthy!  Let Him draw you close and comfort you, heal you, bind you up, build you up – lift you into HIS Presence. 

Perfect, Holy, Awesome, Wonderful God – we confess, we repent and we gratefully accept Your forgiveness.  Holy Spirit, empower us to respect our God, hold Him in the high esteem He deserves, and approach Him rightly.  Jesus, we thank You for making the way to come into the Presence of the Almighty God. We thank you for Your Grace, let us not test it.  Thank You that as we let You have Your way in us, You bring forth fruit, good fruit; Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness and even Self-control. Amen.