The portion of Paul’s letter to the Corinthians we looked at on Sunday can be hard to hear for many. In walking through the different scenarios of broken hearts, lost loved ones, and shattered marriages, Paul takes many of us on a journey through our most painful memories. Sadness, guilt, hopelessness, shame, frustration, or just exhaustion can tempt us to hurry on over these verses until we reach a topic a little less difficult to wrestle with. In our hurry, however, we may skip over the very thing our soul craves most – the hope of God born of the grace of God.
In passages such as Sunday’s text, we see the creator of the soul function as the great physician of the soul. Unsurprisingly, He who formed us knows us best. Mankind is always inventing new vocabulary or euphemisms to describe the human condition, but the diagnosis of God remains best and true. God names our sins and our trials without equivocation. Much more than diagnosis is going on in these verses, however. The treatment is also being revealed. For the child of God, there is always good news in the middle of the biggest messes a fallen world or a sinful heart can produce. Repentance, restoration, reconciliation – these are words that every Christian should know well and hold dear.
It is cliché to observe that time does not, in fact, heal all wounds. Mistakes don’t fix themselves. Sins do not produce righteousness given enough time. Infections spread and messes multiply without attention. Over time, the broken, twisted, or just painful parts of our lives can become part of the familiar scenery. Things simply are what they are. Sigh.
It certainly is true that we must accept the providences of God. A short man of 30 years probably shouldn’t hold his breath for a growth spurt and a new shot at the NBA. A tone-deaf woman may need to release the dream of singing first soprano solos in a German opera. Yet, for many of us, there are things in our lives we have resigned ourselves to that God very much has not commanded or required.
Perhaps we are in a marriage that has tolerated sinful communication for many years. Maybe we have lived through a string of broken relationships and continue to repeat the patterns of the past. Perhaps we are enslaved to various vices of immorality, alcohol, drugs, or even social media. Perhaps we’ve tried all the tips, read all the books, consulted all the experts, given all our strength, expended all our resources – and we are still seemingly stuck forever.
Here is good news – such a conclusion is, and always will be, a lie.
It isn’t a lie because we are better than we think, because our problems are smaller than they feel, or because some amazing new technique has been invented. It’s a lie because when it comes to the messes of our lives, Jesus can and Jesus cares to help us.
How do we know? Well, He said so.
“For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” – Hebrews 4:15-16
Jesus does not sit on a cushion of grace. He rules from a throne of grace. From that throne He dispenses the resources of heaven that He secured for us by His own blood so that we may find the undeserved blessings that are essential to us in our time of need. Why does He do this? Because He is merciful.
How can we fail to avail ourselves of so merciful and powerful a Savior? Have we twisted our lives into an untraceable web of sin and guilt? Look up and see our Savior on His throne of grace. Call on Him and He will give us the grace to turn from our sin. He will not abandon us as we walk the road of repentance that His word lays out. He will not fail us as even our darkest hours become part of a redemption story that works itself out for our good.
Maybe life isn’t so bleak. Maybe we simply have little closets and cupboards in which we have isolated our mess. A tolerated tone of irritation or an accepted pattern of laziness. God’s grace is there, waiting. Has it been a year? Ten? Fifty? We have not outlasted the patient mercy of Him who reigns forever. We have not grown so hard in your sin that He is powerless to deliver.
Where, then, to begin? First let us go boldly before the throne of grace in prayer and ask for grace with the confidence that He will give it. Then take up His Word, enlist the wise counsel of others, and take the first steps of obedience in moving towards the will of God. When He has proved Himself sufficient to give us the strength for the first step, we can rest knowing He will not fail to give us the strength for every step that comes afterwards.
Until there is no more time of need, He will give us what is needful every time.