Day 4
Scripture focus: Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. Hebrews 4:16
Mercy - an attitude of pity for one who is in need; compassion for the ills of others; to feel sympathy with the misery of another; God's attitude towards those in distress (See Vine's Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words)
Lunch was a wretched experience. The food was good, the ambience marvelous - but the conversation was serious and the implications rather dire. As I drove away from this sorrowful encounter, my inner voice lifted up a tiny prayer, "Lord, have mercy on us for we are all wretched!"
Wretched - Kathleen Norris, in her beautiful book entitled Amazing Grace (pp. 165-166)says this in the olden days, "a wretch meant an exile, a banished person, and it is there that the word's negative connotations begin to haunt us. The word as used today means not so much one who has been driven out of a native land, but one who would be miserable anywhere. To some extent we have internalized the word to mean someone who is exiled from being at peace within the self."
For years I misread Hebrews 4:16. I figured if a gal was approaching any kind of throne with any degree of confidence, she had to know she was on the verge of a delicious reward for right living. Further, I thought that what I was most in "need" of was a special treat! I was clueless. I failed to grasp the reality of wretchedness.
My confusion began when spiritually minded people told me that if I would just (an inappropriately diminutive term for such an awesome decision) come to believe I would be blessed. I heard, "Followers of Christ get the good life; believe, and you will no longer suffer." I was wrong - again.
There's a reason we can approach the throne of grace with confidence and it has nothing to do with whether we've been naughty or nice. It's all about the character of God. My wretched lunch conversation is a tribute to that truth. A spiritually-minded person one day wakes up and has a close encounter with wretchedness. This particular story focused on a family devastated by sexual addiction. (Suffering comes in many, many forms; this is one of them.) Lots of us, faced with wretchedness, end up startled by this apparent oversight of God. A story of suffering that shocks not only because of the discovery of "bad" in one whom we assumed to be "good" (self or others) but simply because we have assumed blessing equals the absence of suffering. (Remember - suffering comes in various forms.)
If we want to develop a big heart, we must guard against foolishness. Suffering happens. It is as unavoidable as it is unpleasant. We can behave like scouts of honor and suffering will still find its way to our door. Spiritual awakenings do not ward of suffering; they give us access to the throne of grace, where we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. You will not have what it takes to run the race of faith to the finish line if you don't get a grip on the inevitability of suffering and God's provision in the midst of it.
Tomorrow's devotional will focus on grace -
the second essential tool in the belt of any hero(ine).
Recommended reading:
Genesis 8 - 10 in the morning; Psalm 3 and 4 in the evening
Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.
Proverbs 4:23 NIV
NorthStar Daily Devotional click here 
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