Monday, January 26, 2015
In one of the Bible’s best known stories, the Prodigal son had a day of reckoning some time after foolishly leaving home for no good reason. Those who know the story well know that the father never pleaded with him not to leave home. In fact, I’ve heard some pastors and teachers who foolishly dared to find fault with such a wise and loving father for not doing so. If that was the case, I believe Jesus would have pointed it out in His parable. Another thing that the father could not do, since lines of communication were almost non-existent in those days, was to plead with him to come back home. Even if he had wanted to, he could not get in touch with his son when he was far away. However, he did something even better, he most likely shed many tears each night as he prayed for his son’s safe return. The bottom line is that he didn’t have to contact his boy, because other voices would do the job for him. It was as if the Lord, in response to his prayers for his son, said: “Don’t worry pops; you may not be able to reach him, but I can.”
The Bible doesn’t say how long the prodigal was away from home but I sincerely believe that even on the day that he broke the news to his father about leaving, there were voices that were already telling him he was about to make a big mistake. It could have been his conscience or even his older brother who may have tried to talk some sense into him. Come to think of it, if it was his older brother who tried to talk him out of leaving, that might have given him the more reason to do so, when we consider the type of person the story portrays him to be. If nothing else, he surely had to notice the sadness in his fathers eyes when he informed him of his plans. He ignored all these little voices and left home anyway.
Proverbs 27:8 says: “Like a bird that strays from its nest is a man who strays from his home.” In other words, it is not natural, doesn’t make sense, and is certainly out of God’s will. Today, many commit the Prodigal’s same mistake, that is, they leave the place God has appointed for them to go where they should not. And just like the Prodigal, they do so because someone or something has deceived them. It happens in homes, marriages, jobs, sports, even in churches. They have heeded the wrong voices. In the case of the Prodigal, the day came when he finally listened to the voice of reason. It was really the voice of God. He may have thought it came from him but nevertheless, one day he said, “I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee.” If one of you today has left the place where you should be, especially if you are out of God’s will, I pray you will come back to Him today. Just like the prodigal, you will be glad that you did.
Memory verse for the week (Hebrews 3:7-8 KJV) “Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith , To day if ye will hear his voice, Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness.”
