By Mike Friesz
Before Alexa or Siri. Before Google Maps or navigations systems conveniently placed in your dash. Even before MapQuest. Before these amazing conveniences we used paper maps folded in our “glove compartment. (Ok, who started calling it that? Has anyone ever stored gloves there?) And when we used one it was nearly impossible to refold those things much less read them.
Even if we have any of the modern conveniences most drivers know what it is to be hopelessly lost. You have driven to the end of where you thought you should go and then realized you had no idea. The discomfort started as an uneasy feeling and progressed to a full-blown bit of panic.
I recall a trip from my home in Illinois to Six Flags. As a young, confident driver (that was my mistake) I thought it would all be good. I took a girlfriend for a day at the amusement park. It was a good day. As we went home, I saw a road I recognized. Did you know there is a Kingshighway in Missouri AND in Illinois. Well, I didn’t!
I thought if I just drove on Kingshighway I would get where I would need to go. It didn’t. Kingshighway in Missouri travels North and South. I went South and drove and drove and drove. I didn’t know I was lost at first but then the realization came.
In short order I knew I was lost but had no idea where I was or how to get in the right direction. What I needed was someone to help me. This was before cell phones so I couldn’t reach anyone. Complicating that problem was my curfew had passed and I was no where near home.
I was at a proverbial dead end. No direction seemed right. I needed help.
We all end up at dead ends in our lives. We may have reached that helpless place because of our own failures. We may have been a victim of someone else’s weakness. Or it may have been an attack by the enemy, Satan. Either way we need help.
Your struggle may be large or small. The world may be watching, or it could be a struggle contained in your own mind. Either way you have reached a dead end.
Job found himself at just such a place. Seated on a heap of ashes he endured a seemingly endless debate with his “friends.” Hours upon hours are spent discussing reasons and debating righteousness. What Job needed was someone to take his side.
Listen to his heart cry out.
Job 9:33 If only there were someone to mediate between us, someone to bring us together, 34 someone to remove God’s rod from me, so that his terror would frighten me no more. 35 Then I would speak up without fear of him, but as it now stands with me, I cannot.
You can almost feel with Job the hurt and the need. “If only someone could help me. If only someone could remove the punishing hand of God.”
He wanted to cry out to God. He longed to approach God. But he couldn’t. How sorrowful it must have been to say, “As of now I cannot.” He could not approach God. He could not reach out.
Praise the Lord we are not in that spot! We are not hopeless. We have a mediator, a helper. The writer of Hebrews tells us about Him in three different places. I don’t intend this blog to be a complete exposition of each passage. Instead hear God say, “You are not alone. You can count on your Mediator.”
Jesus is a superior mediator. (Heb. 8:6)
Hebrews 8:6 But in fact the ministry Jesus has received is as superior to theirs as the covenant of which he is mediator is superior to the old one, since the new covenant is established on better promises.
The new arrangement has been established. The author uses a present tense verb. Everything we read in these passages is complete. Our helper has set up a way greatly superior to that known by Job.
We have a Perfect Mediator (Hebrews 9:14-15)
How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God! 15 For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance—now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant.
Because of our Mediator We Gain Entrance (Hebrews 10:19-24)
19 Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, 20 by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, 25 not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
God invites you in. You are free to enter His presence. We hear in this passage how we are to enter and what we are to do along the way.
Come into His presence! Come to the holy place. Make no mistake. You are entering a place Job could not go. David could not enter this place. Abraham had no hope of doing so.
The highest priest could only appease God. He could not come into the holy place. But you are invited in. You are invited to come boldly. You are encouraged to dwell there continually.
You will come in by this new and living way, the blood of Jesus. You don’t have to be good enough or make enough sacrifices.
Because of what Jesus did come near with confidence. God Himself invites you in. You can have full assurance of your welcome. Come in! Don’t waver! Don’t hesitate just come to Him.
So are you at a dead end. I offer you three suggestions.
First, hear the cry of Moses to trust God. Exodus 14:13-14 says, “Moses answered the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. 14 The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.”
Stand still. See God. Trust God.
Second, don’t forget. Remember that God invites you in. Psalm 106:13 “But they soon forgot what he had done and did not wait for his plan to unfold.”
Third, believe that He is still inviting you to come to Him. He is your Mediator. From wherever you are right now God invites you to come to Him. He will help you recalculate no matter how many times you have gotten off track. No matter how you got there, He is on your side. You are not at a dead end.
