Hear my prayer, O Lord; give ear to my pleas for mercy! In Your faithfulness answer me, in Your righteousness! Enter not into judgment with Your servant, for no one living is righteous before You. (Verses 1-2)
Why should God listen to me when I pray? What could compel Him to do such a thing? In order to get into the White House to see a sitting president, I'd have to be somebody. I don't have access to Queen Elizabeth or the Pope. There are protocols to be observed in order to be led into the presence of people the world considers important. Only family has access to the public and private quarters of celebrities and princes. So how is it that I get to go into the throne room of God and have a private conversation? If it has anything to do with my being such an amazing person, a virtual paragon of righteousness, I'm doomed from the start. There would be no foxhole confessions that God honors. No last minute forgiveness. If God's protocol was that we had to be perfect in order to come into His presence...well, we'd all be lost.
I believe one of the most astonishing things about my God is that He has always wanted to live with those whom He has created in His image. To dwell with mankind in fellowship. It was the design in the garden and is the design in heaven. Always the same goal. He isn't eaten up with His own glory as earthly dignitaries are. God is holy because that is what He is. He isn't set apart like we are because we are all about how much more special we are than those who grovel at our feet. God's clout is the natural state of Who He is--absolutely set apart and pure. In order to bridge the gap between our behavior and His rightness, God set foot on the Earth He created. Came as the God-man, Jesus. Actually lived not only in Spirit here with us, but in flesh, also. Tempted as we are, but without sin. Knowing what it's like to live in a body destined for death. Jesus not only took on flesh, but He also took on the penalty for all the wrong things we've done in our own flesh. Why? A holy God demanded justice for our wrongs. So He took the punishment on Himself. On the altar of sacrifice to which Jesus was nailed. There we were brought to justice. There our sins were atoned. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every way has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then come boldly before the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Hebrews 4. (italics, mine)
Our access to God was costly. Our protocol is our reliance on the death penalty Jesus took to cover our sins. If I careen into the throne room on my own recognizance, I don't have God's ear. If I gloat over how God should love me because I tithe and don't swear (all the time), how I served in the soup kitchen three times in one month and I've never stolen so much as a grape at the grocery store, I fear God might yawn and have me dragged out of His courts. None of those are bad things, but they are not the basis upon which I gain entrance into God's arena. My ability to come boldly into the presence of God is based solely upon my relationship with Jesus. I have nothing to commend myself personally to the Father. No one on earth does. We are fall short of God's holiness. I don't want justice when I pray. I want mercy. The mercy offered me by the death penalty Jesus paid so I would go free. The fact that I rely on the sacrifice Jesus made to give me life also makes me a child of God. Jesus brought me to His Father and said, "She is one of Ours." What loving Father wouldn't want to talk with his daughter? This daughter never wants to refuse the invitation.
Why should God listen to me when I pray? What could compel Him to do such a thing? In order to get into the White House to see a sitting president, I'd have to be somebody. I don't have access to Queen Elizabeth or the Pope. There are protocols to be observed in order to be led into the presence of people the world considers important. Only family has access to the public and private quarters of celebrities and princes. So how is it that I get to go into the throne room of God and have a private conversation? If it has anything to do with my being such an amazing person, a virtual paragon of righteousness, I'm doomed from the start. There would be no foxhole confessions that God honors. No last minute forgiveness. If God's protocol was that we had to be perfect in order to come into His presence...well, we'd all be lost.
I believe one of the most astonishing things about my God is that He has always wanted to live with those whom He has created in His image. To dwell with mankind in fellowship. It was the design in the garden and is the design in heaven. Always the same goal. He isn't eaten up with His own glory as earthly dignitaries are. God is holy because that is what He is. He isn't set apart like we are because we are all about how much more special we are than those who grovel at our feet. God's clout is the natural state of Who He is--absolutely set apart and pure. In order to bridge the gap between our behavior and His rightness, God set foot on the Earth He created. Came as the God-man, Jesus. Actually lived not only in Spirit here with us, but in flesh, also. Tempted as we are, but without sin. Knowing what it's like to live in a body destined for death. Jesus not only took on flesh, but He also took on the penalty for all the wrong things we've done in our own flesh. Why? A holy God demanded justice for our wrongs. So He took the punishment on Himself. On the altar of sacrifice to which Jesus was nailed. There we were brought to justice. There our sins were atoned. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every way has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then come boldly before the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Hebrews 4. (italics, mine)
Our access to God was costly. Our protocol is our reliance on the death penalty Jesus took to cover our sins. If I careen into the throne room on my own recognizance, I don't have God's ear. If I gloat over how God should love me because I tithe and don't swear (all the time), how I served in the soup kitchen three times in one month and I've never stolen so much as a grape at the grocery store, I fear God might yawn and have me dragged out of His courts. None of those are bad things, but they are not the basis upon which I gain entrance into God's arena. My ability to come boldly into the presence of God is based solely upon my relationship with Jesus. I have nothing to commend myself personally to the Father. No one on earth does. We are fall short of God's holiness. I don't want justice when I pray. I want mercy. The mercy offered me by the death penalty Jesus paid so I would go free. The fact that I rely on the sacrifice Jesus made to give me life also makes me a child of God. Jesus brought me to His Father and said, "She is one of Ours." What loving Father wouldn't want to talk with his daughter? This daughter never wants to refuse the invitation.
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