I don’t know about you, but I know about me and when I have to come to the throne of God seeking grace, I generally don’t do it boldly. I don’t run in and say, “Father, I messed up! Will you forgive me and fix this mess I’m in… again.” No, that is not how I approach God. I slink in like a ‘possum on the porch. Hovered down like the guilty scoundrel I am. I’m always sure this will be the time that God says, “Shari , you have filled the sea of forgetfulness with garbage. Now, this sin is laying on the beach and I can’t forget it. You’ve gone too far girlfriend. Your grace has run out! Depart from me, I don’t want to know you anymore.” But that’s not God. Number one… God wouldn’t call me girlfriend. Number 2, God won’t un-know His children.
I’m in good company with my mindset though, because I think David felt like God had forgotten him several times. One such time was in Psalm 88 when he penned the words: “Lord, why castest thou off my soul? Why hidest thou thy face from me?” David laments through the entire Psalm, he is in the lowest of the lowest spots of his life and he feels that God is not listening. Have you been there? I certainly have. But what I found odd about this was not that David felt like that, because I could identify; but it’s what happened next in the chronological order of the bible, which is Psalm 92. For which he opens with the words “It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord, and to sing praise unto thy name, O most High: to shew forth thy lovingkindness in the morning and thy faithfulness every night, upon an instrument of ten strings, and upon the psaltery: upon the harp with a solemn sound. For thou, Lord, has made me glad through thy work: I will triumph in the works of thy hands. O Lord, how great are thy works, and thy thoughts are very deep.
So how does one go from, “God do You even know I exist?” to singing songs of praise?
I believe it’s when we can establish in our minds Who God is, and who we are.
God is loving and kind
David said it was good for us to show forth God’s lovingkindness. Could that have been because David wasn’t always loving and kind? I know I’m not. There are times I have a hard time loving the people I love, and for certain times that I cannot love the people I don’t even like.
God is faithful
David wasn’t always faithful, he stole a man’s wife for cryin’ out loud! But God is forever faithful. Psalm 119:89 says “For ever, O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven.” God won’t un-love us. He won’t forget that He died for us. We are not faithful, and it doesn’t shock God. He knew that before He died.
God is Who matters
David didn’t say that he himself had done anything, but that God had done everything. “For thou, Lord, has made me glad through thy work: I will triumph in the works of thy hands. O Lord, how great are thy works, and thy thoughts are very deep.” Thy works, Thy hands, Thy thoughts. Nothing of mine, but thine O’ Lord!
If ever I can get my head wrapped around that thought I am convinced that I will be walking the confidence that the Lord desires. That I can run boldly to the throne of grace. But I’m not there. I still have those moments when I think, there’s no way God can forgive me… again. It’s a lie out of the pits of Hell and I buy into it every time.
Why? Because we fear God’s wrath. David said in Psalm 88, verse 15, “I am afflicted and ready to die from my youth up: while I suffer thy terrors I am distracted.”
David couldn’t focus on life because he feared God’s wrath. And while God’s wrath can still be felt, He would much rather we face the wrong we’ve done, and feel His grace.
Hebrews 4:14-16
Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.
Somewhere between 88 and 92 David found grace. So should we.