I was chatting with my sister yesterday evening by phone, and we got on the subject of God and faith and our relationship with the Lord. I was trying to encourage her during those times when we don’t know what God is doing in our lives. And somewhere in that conversation, the Lord ended up encouraging me.

For some reason, I thought about the prodigal son, that familiar parable we read about in the Bible. And I reminded my sister that though we as Christians know how all those Bible stories end, the folks who actually lived those stories had no clue how the road of faith would bend before them. They didn’t know how long they would have to wait for their breakthrough.

Sure, the prodigal son considered his dire straights and figured it would be better to head back home to dad than to sit in the pig pen and moan. But he had no idea that his father would be excited to see him, forgive him, and give him a party all in the same moment.

He figured that he would be like one of those slaves. Since he spent the family fortune, that was the understood consequences. You made your bed, now lie in it and all that.

Don’t we do this with God? We feel our spirits pulling us back into a relationship with a distant God – who is distant because we stepped away from the path of life, don’t forget – and yet we can’t imagine true restoration.

Yet, there is just that one miniscule seed of faith that we can’t shake that says, “It’s time to go home.” And as much as we try to say that our warm thoughts of home are ridiculous, the feeling remains. So we set out on the journey back to where our Heavenly Daddy is.

Who knows how long that prodigal walked through the dusty wilderness before reaching that peak where his father could actually seen him? It could have been days, months even. There was no proof in the natural that things would get better with a return home. Yet, despite blistering heat, the son plodded on, trying not to listen to the taunts inside his own head that spoke things like, “He will be eternally disappointed.” Or maybe, “You are such a failure, and your dad is going to tell you that when you get home.”

When we are walking that road of faith, especially when an awesome breakthrough is coming and we are nearly on the cusp of it, it can feel like the loneliest journey ever. We wonder if we are even making progress.

We have no idea that God awaits us to give us robes of glory, to clean our tired spirits with His healing touch, to bestow on us undeserved honor – utter mercy, the kind that makes us cry with tears of unexpected joy.

But it awaits . . . because HE awaits. The answer rests with Him. Home is in Him.

And though He might expect us to take a journey by faith – sometimes short, sometimes many miles – He waits there at the finish line, and His spirit wills us on inside of us, telling us, “Trust Me. I have good things for you. Don’t you know that?”

Praise God that when things all fall apart and we run out of answers and we don’t think we can take one more step in our own strength – He runs (yes, runs!) to help us return to His heart.

– Laura J. Bagby

Advertisement