BOETHIA

Hebrews 4:16: Let us therefore come boldly onto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find Grace to help in time of need.

The word “help” comes from the Greek word, BOETHEIA. It is a nautical term, an action word, meaning frapping, to frap. To be honest, I was really hoping that that word meant something along the lines of frappe, like Jesus would give us a good coffee in our time of need lol. Because, hey, who can’t use a good cup of joe on a bad day?

However, what I found was a definition that I absolutely love. To frap a boat means to wrap in chains under the bottom, and up the sides of a boat, and to tightly wrap the sales of the boat to secure and strengthen. Frapping is done when the boat is about to blow apart, come undone. This is not some thing that happens when the boat is docked. It is some thing that happens in the seas of life as the winds and waves are coming so hard that the concern is that the boat will literally fall apart because of the damage it is receiving from the storm. Paul tells us here in Hebrews, that Jesus is our frapper. And the interesting thing to me is that in the midst of the storm, he says to come to him. Often times when the storm hits we run in the opposite direction and feel as though we have done something wrong or that the Lord has vanished, and no longer cares. We feel isolated. Alone. It’s easy to believe the lies of the enemy. It can be difficult to see or hear the Lord in the midst of the storms of life. But if we can find it in ourselves to heed His call and run to him when we feel like we are falling apart, when we feel like we are going to break….He promises to bind us together, to frap us, to wrap us up in Him, to put His strength across the bottom of the boat, up the sides, and around the sails, so that as the seas of life come hard at us, we can be held together by Him.

If you feel like you are falling apart, alone and afraid on the sea of life, beaten, battered or torn…..run to Jesus and He promises to strengthen you to be sure that you will make it through. That’s better than a good coffee any day!