According to my quick Google search, the phrase, “beat around the bush” has its origin in medieval hunting practices. Hunters would hire men to walk around taking whacks at trees and bushes to see what animals would come out.
Sounds to me like a great way to get mauled by something with sharp teeth and thick skin.
Maybe that’s why I don’t like to beat around the bush. I’m a straightforward guy. I like short phone calls that get to the point.
My son, on the other hand, loves to see how many stories he can tell, observations he can make, and rabbits he can chase before telling me what’s really on his mind.
But there’s more to it that just his verbal prowess. Sometimes, after spending ten minutes to ask me whether or not he can watch a TV show, I’ll ask him, “Why didn’t you just ask that to begin with?” He usually makes a comment like, “Because I wasn’t sure you would let me.”
In other words, he was bashful about getting to the point because he was uncertain of what my reaction would be. After all, asking to watch a TV show might remind me of the room that needs to be cleaned, vegetables that need to be finished, or worse: bedetime.
While I can’t relate to his gift of gab, I can certainly relate to his feelings of bashfulness when it comes to asking for something and being uncertain about how someone will react.
Even worse, there are times that I try to beat around the bush in prayer. Strange isn’t it? I know God already knows what I’m going to ask and the answer that He is going to give. But for some reason, I feel like I need to be careful and present my request with the perfect justification.
However, the writer of Hebrews says we don’t have to beat around the bush with God. Hebrews 4:16 states “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.”
Instead of being hesitant to ask for our needs, as believers, we are called to be confident in coming before God’s throne!
Why can we be confident? Because it is the throne of grace. Typically, when we beat around the bush in conversation it is due to some sort of incompetency, inferiority, inconsistency, or inadequacy on our part. In short, we hesitate because we know we are unworthy of what we are asking.
But, at the throne of grace, Christ Jesus covers our unworthiness. In Him, Paul continues, we “receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”
And that mercy and grace runs far deeper than anything you can ask or imagine. It is the very grace that undergirds your salvation in Christ. That’s why Paul explains in the same passage:
“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” (Hebrews 4:14-15).
Christ’s work on the cross not only covers our sin, but it also gives us access to God the Father, through God the Son. As our great high priest, Christ intercedes on our behalf –not as a distant third party- but as one who has walked in our flesh, stood in our place, and known our temptations. And yet, as Hebrews says, He is “without sin.” He is the perfect one to stand with us before the throne.
So no matter what your situation, if you are in Christ Jesus, you may come before the throne of grace with confidence –boldly.
There’s no reason to beat around the bush.