Drawing Near To God

12. February 2010 by Annette Colon-Alvarenga.

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:38-39

It has been a while since I’ve written anything. One and a half months. My last article focused on my resolution for the New Year to reach a new level of intimacy with God and focused around Psalm 46:10, learning to “be still.” While I started well, some things have happened and I’ve lost focus. The result has been an inconsistency in spending time seeking the Lord and spending time in His word. And the last couple of weeks have resulted in me distancing myself even further from the Lord. I can blame it on being busy. I get up early every day and go to sleep late and there still never seems to be enough hours in the day to get everything done lately. But today, as I was speaking to someone about God’s infinite love for her and her need to draw nearer to the throne of grace, I might as well have been talking to myself.

Nothing can separate us from the love of God. This, to me, is one of the most incredible promises contained in God’s Word. His love is a giving love; He gave himself completely to us through His son, Jesus. God’s love is unconditional, inexhaustible, infinite and eternal. Therefore nothing can stop or separate us from His love for us. But there is something that keeps us distanced from God, from drawing near to Him: Sin. It almost seems ironic that at the time that we most need to run to God, to seek His face, to receive His mercy and grace, we turn away from Him. You see, the enemy, Satan, is so very astute. It is not nearly enough for him to provoke us to sin, for he knows that our God is a loving god who is quick to forgive us when we come to Him with a repentant heart. So Satan condemns us day and night because of our sin. He continuously reminds us of how we were so quick to offend our Lord, yes ,our Lord who we profess to love with all of our heart, strength and mind. He brings us to a point of feeling completely unworthy of God’s love and forgiveness. He fills us with shame and it is that shame that keeps us from coming before God in our most desperate time of need. Very astute, indeed.

Today, as I quoted the scripture, “there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,” I urged this person to draw near to the throne of grace and seek and accept God’s forgiveness; and while she prayed, unbeknownst to her, I also prayed for forgiveness. And while I stressed the importance of her embracing that forgiveness and in turn forgiving herself, I did the same. Now we can both stand with confidence in that place of privilege before the throne of grace. I thank God for this woman’s bravery in speaking up today about her struggle. Had it not been for that, I might have spent another who knows how many days on the outside looking in.

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 4:16

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