Draw near to the Throne of Grace in every time of need, and do not be hindered by your own failures.

This is the encouragement of Hebrews 4:16 (see last post), where God invites us to come to Him boldly, confidently, and without fear.

Let us then approach God’s 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, NIV

Sometimes our failures (our sins) interfere with our faith, and our actions (or reactions) keep us from entering God’s presence. We feel guilty. We forget His endless supply of mercy covers over our failures. Sometimes we don’t feel ready to own and confess our sins. So we hide.

But I wonder what else keeps us from the Throne of Grace? I’ve been thinking about this for a few days, probably because I needed to.

What keeps us from the Throne of Grace, from entering God’s omnipresent Presence?

What an incredible gift we have been given! We may walk boldly and directly into God’s Presence, anytime, anywhere. He hears us. He sees us. He cares about every one of our concerns. He invites us to come to Him, to drop off our fears and worries at His feet and leave them there. He invites us to ask Him to do more than we can imagine.

The very act of coming to Him is an act of trust.

Maybe that’s the biggest reason we ever fail to come to God in prayer. It’s an issue of trust.

It always comes down to trust, doesn’t it? If we could simply SAY we trust Him, I’d have this whole thing down. But trust is proven by our actions.

When I try to handle things on my own, without the Lord’s help, I’m not trusting in Him.

When I’m self-sufficient, rather than God-dependent, I’m trusting in me.

But that’s not the only time I’m trusting in me. When my failures keep me from coming to God (as I wrote about in the last post), in whom do I trust? Myself! Right? Then I’m trusting in my own goodness instead of trusting fully in His.

What about chaos? My reaction to too much chaos keeps me from God. When life swirls chaos around me and I feel unsettled, what I need most is time with the Lord. I need moments in the quiet of His presence. But often I just keep running through my days, as if I could outrun the crazy if I try hard enough.

Chaos and Busyness are BFFs. In my life, busyness has kept me from better things more often than I know. When things get too crazy, I tend to look to other little “saviors” to help me—hello coffee, TV, music, research/finding the “right” answers, friends, and venting my unforgiveness toward my kids… {Please note: I’m not saying any of these are wrong—except the last one, of course—but could I be wrong when I look to them to “save me”, instead of looking to the Lord?}

You could probably add reasons to my list, but I have a feeling they would also boil down to misplaced trust in ourselves.

If you will, spend some time thinking about it.

What keeps you from drawing near to God?