Hebrews 4:16





"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."
In time of need. God saw that we were in a time of need. Desperate need. We were terrified and in shock that our baby girl had a monstrous sized, aggressive cancer in the form of a tumour taking up residence inside her abdomen. We didn’t know if she would live through this. But we knew that God saw us in our agony and pain. And He cared enough to speak to us. Yes, the God of the universe spoke… to us! Personally. Not audibly, but in the way He most often speaks to people. Through His Word, the Bible. 
My niece was fervently praying for us on March 15, 2017, the day that everything came crashing down for us. A doctor’s check up leading to ultrasounds, ambulance rides and the unutterable words, “We’ve discovered a large mass…”. My niece, only 10 years old at that time, knew God was telling her to turn to Hebrews 4:16 in her Bible:
"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."
I’m still amazed that God used a child to minister to us as we ached over our child. Faith like a child. Simple, uncomplicated faith. If an adult told us that God gave them a Bible verse just for us, would we have perhaps doubted that it was really God? But it was through a child that God chose to speak to us and comfort us. And it was through God’s own Child, Jesus that we were given access to God’s throne. We were always meant to have a close relationship with God. However, our own sin separated us from God. God is Holy and perfect and just. Sin can’t be in His presence. Why did He allow us to sin in the first place? He chose to give us the freedom of choice- He’s not a dictator and He won’t force us to love and serve Him. We can choose to. Through Adam and Eve, sin entered the world and spread to all men. With sin, came death. It was never God’s plan and it makes my heart ache when I hear people blame God for allowing people to get cancer, for allowing people to get killed by drunk drivers, for allowing people to hurt children. Oh, how God’s heart aches when He sees us drowning in the messes of this broken world. The world is broken. But God went took the most extreme path to make things right- and that’s through the life, death and resurrection of His Son, Jesus. The sacrifice that God made, that Jesus made, is ineffable. It’s hard to comprehend with our finite minds and we have to lean into faith to trust God’s bigger plan in life. His plan of eternal life. 
Jesus made it possible for us to draw near to God with confidence.  Jesus was acquainted with grief, deep grief, and through His suffering we can be close to the Father. 
And we can now boldly approach our Father and receive His mercy and grace in our time of need. Mercy and grace simply mean compassion, lovingkindness, favour. God desires to lavish us in His lovingkindness. His heart is for the brokenhearted. His compassion is the essence of who He is. 
In the midst of our anguish in life, we often ask why God hasn’t rescued the world yet. Why hasn’t that promised return of Jesus happened yet? The Bible says, “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise (that Christ will return) He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). 
As we journeyed through cancer with our sweet little girl, I’m thankful for my faith in my loving Father. His presence brought me deep comfort then and continues to sustain me as I live in the aftermath of the diagnosis. 
I’m thankful for the thoughtful gift a friend gave to Eden. This necklace with the Hebrews 4:16 Bible verse inscribed on it. Eden wrote Hebrews 4:16 on everything through her hospital stay. While she may not fully understand the depth of the meaning of the verse, she does understand that God cares deeply about her. He knew the number of hairs on her head before she lost all of her hair, “Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered.” Luke 12:7.
And Psalm 56:8 touched us deeply as we cried so many tears over the last year, "You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book." 
We can know God personally, we can have a close relationship with Him. But where to start? If we want to know what He’s like, take a look at His Son. He came to us in person so that we can know God’s character personally. Jesus' life and His words are recorded in the first four books of the New Testament: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. If you don’t have a Bible, you can download the app: Youversion. It has the Bible on it and reading plans and devotionals. Nothing is more meaningful in life than getting acquainted with the One we owe credit to for the very breath we are breathing.