I had read one line in a commentary and hadn’t been able to shake it from my thoughts. Even days later I was pondering over this one sentence… “Affliction is represented as having at length accomplished its work.”
And it got me thinking to our own set of circumstances.
Global pandemic.
190+ countries affected.
A national economic shut-down.
It’s an enemy invasion and it’s target is the hearts and lives of millions of people all over the planet.
It has been said that in our lifetime, no one has ever witnessed a more severe invasion. That no one person alive today has ever lived through a more devastating season of loss, uncertainty, pain, and personal tragedy.
We could take one look around and say like commentator, J. Orr said, “Affliction is represented as having at length accomplished its work.”
I was talking with someone the other day who was telling me about a friend of hers whose husband is literally, panic-stricken, and “freaking out.” I’ve heard about and read countless stories of hysteria and fear from even those who are followers of Jesus Christ.
And I get it.
I was just telling someone the other day that I tend to vacillate between the emotions of extreme faith and irrational fear.
I will be fine one moment, and then suddenly, almost out of nowhere, I feel the emotions start to rise and I return to a state of unrest.
And I would say this about those emotions… they are “represented as having at length accomplished its work” in me.
The enemy is out to steal away from us any joy or hope for the promises of God that we possess. He is out to kill off any confidence we have in a brighter future for our families. He seeks to destroy our expectations of a God who is good and always works things out for our benefit and His glory.
And my mind immediately shifts to the story of the prodigal son.
Because in my journey, often laced with traces of misplaced trust, I steadily work hard to find the encouragement.
The story unfolds in Luke 15.
A man with two sons.
A divided estate from a loving father.
A younger son squandering the money.
A depletion of funds.
A famine in the land.
A desperate young man.
Hungry and tired.
Needing to return to his home, but feeling like a failure.
Verse 17 says, “When he finally came to his senses, he said to himself, ‘At home even the hired servants have food enough to spare, and here I am dying of hunger!” Verse 18 and 19, “I will go home to my father and say, ‘Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, and I am no longer worthy of being called your son. Please take me on as a hired servant.”
And of course we know the rest of the story.
He returns to his father.
The father runs to meet him. Filled with love and compassion he welcomes him back.
He even gives him a welcome-home ceremony with gifts.
Verse 18 in the King James Version says this, “I will arise and go to my father…”
When he comes to his senses, he realizes that all along, it was really a heart issue.
He had become arrogant and entitled. And with the money he grew stubborn and irresponsible… but it was always a heart issue.
He thought he knew better as to how to handle his money.
He even distanced himself physically from the gracious giver of the wealth… because that’s what a life of sin does to a person… it separates them from kingdom reality, and from the very people who love you and are for you.
And with one glance, we can see it all around us.
This world is hurting.
We are filling up with painful anxiety, dread, and hopelessness.
We mumble, complain, fight over political disagreements, and allow our mouths to spew hate and disgust from the very lips we use to recite hymns and petition prayers with.
We, like the lost son, have too, lost our way.
We’ve set unrealistic expectations upon convenience living.
We’ve wandered away from familiarity with Jesus.
We’ve engaged in wrongful ways.
We’ve mishandled relationships.
We’ve abused blessing.
And it’s time to come home.
It’s time we rise like the sin-filled son, and with words of repentance say, “I will arise and go to my Father.”
He is the only one who can save.
He is the only hope we have.
And He promises Himself to those who, “…love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” (Matthew 22:38)
Let’s, “… turn to the Lord.” (Hosea 14:2)
There’s NEVER been a better time than now!
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