Old Testament: Hosea 9-11
Poetry: Psalm 79
New Testament: Luke 15:11-32
One of the toughest things to do as a parent is to let your child take a great risk, manage their own protection, or walk into a mistake. There is a realization that your sway and shielding over another willed being is truly limited, even in the smallest stages of life. You turn them loose, simply hoping they heed your instructions. You let them crawl and explore your home, you put them on a bus for the school day, you let them sleepover at a friend’s house, and slowly but surely they become independent humans who make their own way from their own place. While many who read this blog have walked their children through some or all of these stages in life, today, we will all take the perspective of a child, not the parent.
Through our study of Hosea paired alongside our slow walk through Luke 15, we have focused on the restoration of those who are lost and our responsibility to be ever-searching for those who have stayed or strayed away from the care of the Good Shepherd. Today, we look more inwardly as we walk with the Prodigal Son, specifically looking at how each of us have wandered in our own right and making sure that we have come to the realities of repentance.
“Do not hold against us the sins of past generations, may your mercy come quickly to meet us, for we are in desperate need. Help us, God our Savior, for the glory of your name;” – Psalm 79:8-9
“How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, Israel? … My heart is changed within me; all my compassion is aroused” – Hosea 11:8
“So he got up and went to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him” – Luke 15:20
The first reality is that we have all squandered the blessing of God. Today’s Psalm is estimated to be written some 150 years after Hosea, as captivity and destruction set in. We see the lament of a nation whose possessions are long carried off, whose temple is destroyed, and their freedom now limited by their lack of resources. God’s blessing can only extend to those who walk in His ways. If we are seeking repentance or even identifying our need to repent, we need only reflect on the way we describe the blessings in our life. Do we see our wealth as our own or God’s? Our time as our own or God’s? Is it our relationship, our ministry, our accolades, or God’s? If we are fortunate enough to be blessed even in a single area, we should not take it for granted, turning our back and hitting the road to make our own way.
The second reality is that all this world has to offer us is pig slop. While there is an overwhelming abundance of beauty on this earth, it is not found through any pursuit other than God. We often picture an endless rave alongside the Prodigal Son in his “wild living”, but not everyone of us is a party animal. Sometimes our pursuits for pleasure and meaning come in more temperant forms. In isolation from God, pursuing education, taking a leadership role, traveling the world, and many more noble activities are vanity and unfulfilling if they are not done with God at the forefront. If we are filling our plates with these things, we will be left with food that is fit for swine, an important image when we think to Jewish dietary laws, an animal that is unclean because of its diet.
Finally, the third reality is that we must be mindful that God’s favor makes us belong, but it does not make us supreme. The lie we have been sold for the whole of mankind is that we can be like God, knowing what is best for our own life. We look to the older brother, who has a grievance that his younger sibling could be invited back so easily. God forgives us all when we act as a maître d’ to His table, deciding who eats, and who sits where. Repentance is reconciliation to God and no other. While it is important to seek forgiveness from our brothers and sisters in Christ, it is not dependent upon it. Thankfully, it is God alone who restores us to our place at the table, and we can only hope to scoot down to make room for one more who has accepted His invitation.
-Aaron Winner
Reflection Questions
- Do you realize how YOU were (or are) dead and lost? When/where has God seen you stay or stray away from His table?
- In what ways are you guilty of not giving God the credit He deserves for the blessings He has given? How could you take steps to repent and remedy this problem?
- What pig slop have you tried living on? How does it differ from what is available at your Father’s table?
- Where/when do you see yourself in the big brother’s resentment and wish for exclusion? How can you adjust your heart to reflect God’s instead – and scoot down to make more room? How can you extend the invitation to His table?
Seek Grow Love 