“Let us with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace in our time of need.” – Hebrews 4:16, ESV
Matthew 14 tells us of the tragic end of John the Baptist. After giving his life to the preparation of the people for the coming Messiah – John was gone. When the news finally reached Jesus, the Bible tells us that He immediately got into a boat to sail for a desolate place. He needed to be alone. He needed time to grieve.
“But when the crowds heard it, they followed Him
on foot from the towns (Matthew 14:13, ESV).”
Arriving on shore, Jesus finds He is not alone. The people have followed. They want His time. They need His touch. The sick are laid upon the beach before Him, looking to Him expectantly, hoping for a miracle. There was nothing “desolate” about this place. His plans to “withdraw” were ruined by the presence of the crowd. And this is where most would have become angry.
“I told you I needed five minutes! You can’t leave me alone for just FIVE minutes?!”
“I don’t have time for you right now.”
“Ugh! Why are you here again?”
“Stop interrupting me. Just leave me alone!”
Most would have saw the crowd as a disappointment, an inconvenience, and even a burden, but not Jesus. Matthew 14 goes on to tell us that when He sees them, He immediately was moved with compassion and began to heal the sick that were laid before Him (Verse 14). He didn’t push them away. He didn’t make them feel bad for messing up His plans. He just LOVED them. He chose meeting their needs over His own. And this wasn’t the only time.
We have a Father who always has time for us.
We aren’t an inconvenience or a burden to Him.
If we return in our Bibles to the story found in Matthew 14, we discover that not only did Jesus, moved with compassion, heal the sick that the people had laid before Him – He also fed them. He saw their hunger after such a long journey and, despite His grief, chose to provide a meal for them before their return to their villages. This Jesus – who only did what He saw the Father doing – surrendered His plans to “withdraw” and chose to minister to the people.
Isaiah 49:15 says, “Can a woman forget her child and have not compassion on the son of her womb? Surely she may forget, but I (the Lord) will not forget you.” It is here that I must stop and confess that this verse has often stirred up in me the judgmental spirit of a Pre-Pentecostal Pharisee. I’m not proud of it, but – in the desire to walk in total honesty – I must admit the error of my ways.
“This woman FORGETS her child? How do you “forget” your child? Who would do that?”
Turns out – I would that. I would forget my child at church and drive down the road without him. Am I proud of it? No. Did I mean to do it? Definitely No. But did it happen? Yes. Yes, it did…and he has never let me live it down.
The word “forget” is the word “shakach” in the original Hebrew text. It means to be “oblivious to, have no memory of, pay no attention to, ignore, not be mindful of and cease to care.” Earthly parents often fail – even the ones who try really, really hard not to (Case In Point: Me). They get busy. They get distracted. They leave their kid at church. But heavenly Father? He never does. He never gets too busy. He always pays attention. When we’re lost – He knows. When we wander off – He sees.
In the story of the lost sheep (Matthew 18:12-14), ninety-nine are with the shepherd and yet He pursues the one who isn’t. He notices that it is absent. He FEELS the loss of it. When he finds the sheep after all of his searching, the shepherd doesn’t complain about the inconvenience the sheep has caused him or vent his exhausted frustrations. He just carries it home, back where it belongs. And I wonder if you know that your Father in heaven loves you like that?
He never looks at you and sees a burden. Let those words wrap around your heart today like a warm embrace. God never looks at you and sees a burden.
Like a little girl pulling the petals off a daisy, so many of us approach God wondering, “Does He love me? Does He love me not?” We doubt He wants to see us. We question if He will be glad we have come. We worry we haven’t done enough to earn time with Him. We feel unsure about what kind of Father we will find. Is He angry that it’s been awhile? Does He resent the amount of times we asked for His help this week? We know how we want to respond to Him, but we are paralyzed by this thought: How will HE respond to us?
Zephaniah chapter 3 verse 17 tells us that the Father rejoices over us with singing. He delights in us and welcomes us – all of us – to come to Him – the thirsty, the weary, the downtrodden and the searching. In His presence, we will find rest and true satisfaction, peace and “the fulness of joy” (Psalm 16:11). Nothing can compare to it. Nothing can even come close. And the Father invited US. We didn’t invite ourselves. He made the way. We didn’t make our own. He WANTED this – so much so that He was willing to pay whatever price was required. This is our “confidence” as we approach the throne of grace (Hebrews 4:16) – not as a cowering lost sheep, but as a sought-after found one. We are not a burden. We are His beloved.