Sharing "Journey to the Cross" by Paul David Tripp.
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In order to pray with confidence and hope, you need to know who you’re praying to.
Imagine that I have something embarrassing, humiliating, and potentially anger-producing to confess. Imagine I have been dreading having “the talk.” Imagine that I have had nervous days and sleepless nights ruminating about what I would say and how I would say it, and wondering when would be the best time. And then imagine that I have two people that I have to confess to. The first person I do not know at all. I do not know what he thinks of me, so I can’t anticipate how he will respond to my confession. The second person I know very well. I know that she is gracious, kind, patient, and forgiving. But most importantly, I know that she will love me and continue to love me no matter what.
Now think with me. Which person do you think is the source of my reticence and anxiety? The question is not hard to answer. It is obviously the person whom I do not know. Humble confession is always stimulated and ignited by the character and commitment of the person you need to confess to. It is his or her love for you that propels the honest transparency that fear crushes. It is not only pride that keeps us from admitting what we need to admit and confessing it without excuse or shifting blame—fear does too. So in this season of honest self-examination and humble confession, it is vital in those prayers to have a clear understanding of who is hearing your confession.
Listen to how the author of Hebrews talks about the one to whom you make your confession:
"Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need." Hebrews 4:14-16.
It is hard to find more comforting words than these. You and I are welcomed to come to one who not only knows us, but who is personally acquainted with everything we face. Let me unpack the logic of this hope-giving welcome.
1. Your Savior sympathizes with you.
Read the previous sentence again. The King of kings, the Creator of all things, the sovereign Lord of glory sympathizes with you. He doesn’t look on you with irritation or impatience. He isn’t mad at you. He never looks on you with disgust. He is tenderhearted toward you. But there is more. The passage above says that he sympathizes with your “weaknesses.” It’s an all-encompassing word, covering weaknesses of every kind. Let’s be honest. You and I are a collection of weaknesses, held together and protected by grace. We all have weaknesses of mind, heart, soul, and body. None of us is independently strong. None of us is self-sufficient. The writer of Hebrews is telling us that our Savior sympathizes with our humanity. Why? The answer is clear: because in his incarnation, he took on humanity. Jesus took on weakness so that weak people could run to him and know that they would be understood and
tenderly cared for.
One of the most amazing and comforting aspects of Jesus’s work is his humanity. He became what we are, so that we could find what we need in him. The humanity of Jesus is a significant part of what he offers us. He knows our weaknesses, he knows them deeply and personally, and he meets us in our weaknesses with a tender and understanding heart.
2. Your Savior went through what you are now going through.
Not only did Jesus become human just like you, he also willingly subjected himself to this fallen and dysfunctional world. He knows where you live, and he understands what goes on there. He is not surprised by what you face, because he faced it. He is not shocked by the temptations that greet you every day, because he faced them too. There is no troublesome situation or relationship that you and I will ever face that he is unacquainted with. He came to the world we live in knowing what he would face. He was willing to be tempted in all the ways that you and I are, so that in our temptation, we would have a place to run to where understanding and help would be found. Here is what this means. Every temptation that Jesus faced, he faced for you. Those temptations weren’t in the way of God’s redeeming plan. No, they were an essential aspect of it.
3. Your Savior went through what you went through without sinning.
Notice how the writer of Hebrews is building a case, stone upon stone, that our confidence that help is to be found in Jesus is well placed. Jesus sympathizes with who we are because he became like us. He understands what we are dealing with because he dealt with it too. But those two things would be hollow comforts without the third foundation stone that the writer lays down.
You see, we need more than sympathy and understanding; we need help. It is wonderful to know that we come to one who is tenderhearted, but it’s even more wonderful to know that he withstood what defeats us, he resisted where we give in, and he succeeded in places where we regularly fail. His track record is without blemish. He faced what we face without any wrong in thought, word, or action. He did what we could not do so that we would have help in our time of need. Every time he resisted temptation, he resisted for us. Every victory over sin was accomplished for us. He conquered sin, so that in his strength we would have the hope of conquering it too. His sympathy and his victory together are to cause us to run to him in our times of need.
4. When you come to him, he meets you with mercy and grace fit for that moment of need.
Because of Jesus’s understanding, sympathy, and victory, we can rest assured that when we come to him, we will get just the help we need, in just the way we need it, and at just the right time. This means that no matter what you are dealing with, no matter what you need to confess, no matter how hard it may seem, no matter how weak you may feel, and no matter how many times you may have failed, you are never without help or hope, because you have a high priest, and Jesus is his name.
Since sin is never defeated by denial and since confession is the doorway to getting help that really helps, fight fear and discouragement by reading Hebrews 4:14 –16 over and over again. Commit it to memory. Keep reminding yourself that you don’t need to be afraid, because your Savior is tenderhearted. And you don’t need to be discouraged, because he has what it takes to defeat what has left you discouraged.
GOING DEEPER
Reflection Questions
1. When was the last time you confessed to someone? How was that experience different from confessing to Christ?
2. How does God’s sympathy toward your humanity affect your prayers?
3. How does knowing that Jesus faced all the same temptations you do and overcame them help you to better face temptation?
Read Hebrews 4:14 –16 again, memorize it, and let it help you in your struggle against sin.
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