Hebrews 10:22-23

“Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.” (NKJ)

When all the fighting and protesting is done, God waits for me to draw near to Him. I think that I make more trouble for myself than my own circumstances ever do. I try to control, to manipulate, to manage. And all that is so painful because I am working in a realm where I have no ability and certainly no talent. When I’m honest (which I’m finding isn’t nearly as often as I’d like it to be), I can admit that I’m really not very good at decisions. Many of the ones I’ve made have been simply horrible with drastic results. But when I wait on God and allow Him to make the decisions, things work out so much better. He’s really so much better at decisions than I am, and rightly so, because He sees the future and knows what’s best for me.

All day yesterday I kept thinking about Romans 8:28 (NKJ): “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” It’s interesting that God doesn’t work everything for good for everyone, but only for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. And certainly not everything that happens is good or right or even pleasant. A great many things happen that are horrible. But as believers we have the assurance that God will work them for our good. How important it is to become a believer, to place our trust in the Lord. I walked through my school hallways yesterday with the realization that not all things in those children’s lives may work for their good but many will grow up not to believe or trust in God. How much I need to remember to pray for them and to witness to them as God opens the doors.

I so forget that my greatest privilege–and my greatest power–is that of drawing near to the Throne. There are four things God requires when we draw near to His throne, to the throne of the Most High, the Creator and Master of the universe: a true heart, the assurance of faith, the blood of Jesus Christ, and having been washed in the pure water of the Spirit. I know that I can come to God and be totally honest. As long as I trust Him to take care of things, I can pour out my frustrations, my hurts, my confusion and He will listen and respond. “He who promised is faithful.” Those are amazing words. He is faithful. He cannot be otherwise. Everything He does, He will do to work out good for me because He is faithful, because He is loving, because He is God and cannot do otherwise. I may not be able to depend on anyone else around me, but I can fully depend on God to take care of everything I need.

© 2010 Robin L. O’Hare. All rights reserved. Permission granted for nonprofit and church groups to use this article in its entirety (including this notice). For other uses, please contact servinggodalone@yahoo.com.