Draw Near To God

Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Hebrews 10:22

What a privilege it is as a child of God to be able to draw near to the Alpha and Omega, the everlasting God, the one in whom all things hold together. God the Father, who loved us so completely that He sent His Son to take our rightful punishment. The Son, who made us holy through the shedding of His blood and by which we are assured of salvation, which is the foundation of our faith.

The letter to the Hebrews is full of encouragement for the Christian. It reminds us that our faith is ‘the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen’. It encourages us to ‘hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering’ because our God is faithful. He is faithful, He is just, and He has forgiven us, which allows us to –

Draw near in confidence to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Hebrews 4:16

Isn’t that amazing, that we can come into God’s presence with confidence? A confidence that comes through forgiveness, total and absolute.

Drawing near to God in the full assurance of our faith is indeed an honour and a privilege but we need to do so with a true and clean heart. This idea of being sprinkled clean and washed with pure water is a reference to the priests in the Old Testament who would sprinkle the blood of the sacrifice and then wash themselves in the basins of clean water. Today we are cleansed through the shed blood of Jesus and are washed by the Holy Spirit (Titus 3:5) and by the Word (Eph 5:26).

When was the last time you drew near to God for the sole purpose of enjoying His presence? Do you find it easy to do, hard to do, or is a current situation making it a necessity? Whatever your answer is, let me encourage you to set time aside today to draw near to Him because there is no better place to be than in the presence of the Lord.