Coming Boldly After You Have Failed

The writer of Hebrews urges us to draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. The confidence is what catches me, because a man who has just fallen feels anything but confident before God.

He wants to hide, to clean himself up first, to wait until he has strung together a few good days before he dares to pray. Hebrews tells him to come now, as he is, with boldness, because the throne he approaches is a throne of grace and not of condemnation. The help is offered precisely in the time of need, which means in the moment of weakness and before you have manufactured some strength of your own.

If you have been staying away from God out of shame, hear the invitation again. He is not waiting behind that throne with folded arms. He is holding out mercy for a man who will just come. Draw near tonight, without the speech you think you owe him, and ask for the grace he has promised to hand over at exactly this kind of moment.