Prodigal Son, Egypt, and the Gospel.
·
“Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help, who rely on horses, who
trust in the multitude of their chariots and in the great strength of their
horsemen, but do not look to the Holy One of Israel, or seek help from the
LORD.” Isaiah 31:8
I am returning home from Egypt. Finally. I am returning home
broken and empty handed with nothing to offer my Father. Sounds oddly familiar
to the prodigal son, eh? So what does the Father do? He accepts me with open arms
that were shed on my behalf. This, friends, is the beautiful Gospel.
I am returning home from Egypt. Okay maybe not physically,
but metaphorically. I have departed from my all-knowing, perfect, and loving
Father and have ran to Egypt. This realization is painful to me. Mainly because
I had no idea I was even in Egypt. I had no idea that I was going to other
places for help and reliance instead of my Father. That is a scary thing people,
to not even know where and to whom your heart is ultimately trusting in. “Prone
to wonder, Lord I feel it, prone to leave the God I love” is the story of my
life. I didn’t even know I was deviating from His heart. I didn’t know until I
was already there. Until I felt the lack and void caused by departing from His
presence. In that moment my mind jumps to “Lord, where are you? Why can’t I
feel you? Where have YOU gone?” I lean into believing the lies of the enemy
telling me that the God of the universe has left me. This inevitably leads me
to trying to blame God for feeling distant, when it is I who has been finding my
help in Egypt, chariots, and horsemen. So what does this reveal about myself
and about the God I love?
Myself: I am a broken sinner living in a fallen creation and am in desperate need of Jesus and the gospel, daily.
“for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken
me, the fountain of living waters, and heaved out cisterns for themselves,
broken cisterns that can hold no water.” Jeremiah 2:13
I spend my days at the wrong well. I spend my days heaving out broken cisterns that I believe
will fulfill and sustain me. Broken cisterns that inevitably lead me to a dry
thirst for the fountain of living waters. I have forsaken the living God and
ran only to find myself with a thirst that only He can fill.
God: By us running to Egypt, to other places to find help
and refuge, we discover that God is constant. God does not abandon us in difficult
seasons. Good days or bad days, close days or distant days, filled days or
empty days, joyful days or sad days; God has not abandoned you. How amazing
does that make our God? Matt Chandler puts it this way: “That even in our
hypocrisy He is long suffering with us. Even in our inability to live out all
that He would call us to, he continues to lavish upon us His grace.” That is
humbling to my soul, that even when I wander He is with me.
“In returning and rest you shall be saved;
in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.”
Isaiah
30:15
So I return, with nothing to offer Him, I return home. I
return home sad that I missed out on feeling His companionship, having Him as
my substantial help, seeking Him as my everlasting refuge. But honored that I
am still counted worthy of the Kingdom of Heaven, not because of anything that
I have done, but everything He has done. Solely and only I get Him. That is the
gospel: that we get God. We get Him. We get Him, and that’s enough. We can stop
wandering and filling ourselves with pointless things, we get HIM and that is
enough and better than anything we could ever imagine or fathom.
Let me be reminded of that daily, Father. Let me rest in
Your quietness and trust in Your ways above my own.
Weakness.
·
Weakness. As people, how are we not weak?
We are fragile and feeble beings. When strength vanishes we
are left with a feeling of despair. We especially see this in the limitations
of our physical weakness. When you push your physical strengths beyond measure,
no matter how hard you train and prepare, bones can still break and breathing
can still become hard. Physically we have limits and restrictions. Some people
spend their life obsessing over being physically strong and fit, trying
desperately to eliminate all weaknesses. However, spiritual weakness is very
different than the physical. Spiritually we can train and grow, but still feel
very weak. Spiritually, we are constantly being pushed to weakness, towards
letting go of our strengths. For me, spiritual weakness leads me to a place of
discomfort, a place were I no longer have control over the things of my heart.
As humans we do not enjoy our weaknesses, physically or
spiritually. We feel as though they need to be hid or suppressed. If all our
weaknesses where to be put out for all to see, how would that make us feel? For
me I would be humiliated and filled with shame at the sheer amount and weight
of my weaknesses. But I feel as though the more I grow with the Lord, the more
weaknesses become uncovered within me. JI Packer once said “The weaker we feel,
the harder we lean. The harder we lean, the stronger we grow spiritually, even
while our bodies waste away.” I love this quote, because it shows that our true
strength does not depend at all on the state of our physical body. Even while
our bodies start wasting away, we can grow and lean on the Sustainer of the
universe. But how does that work? If we are weak then how can we become strong?
To me, the statement that weakness can lead us into strength seems backwards.
But when I look back at how God has worked in my heart, it has been only
through my weakness. So how is that possible?
“But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient
for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all
the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”
2 Corinthians 12:9
Grace. In 2
Corinthians Paul makes it sound like God wants
us to be weak. His grace is sufficient, even in our weaknesses, failures, frustrations,
and inadequacies. When we give over our weaknesses to the Lord, He transforms
them into His strength. Does that mean we should boast about the fact that we
are inadequate, failing, and weakening people? Absolutely. If I were the
strongest person spiritually, then I would never be in any need of the cross.
If I had no failures or weaknesses, then why would I ever start to lean on
anyone other than myself? There would be no point. So for my ever present and
constant weaknesses I boast, I am thankful. For my weaknesses prove to me that
I can never be my own god; that I am in desperate
need of a savior. The only strength that can never fail me is the strength from
the Creator. So praise God. Praise God
for your weaknesses and failings, because from them we have grace. Grace that
gives us the chance to lean into the arms of the Father, grace that allows us
to be weak and find strength in the only One who can sustain. Weakness is
painful and hard at times, but is a gift that I will boast in.
“Let us then with confidence
draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to
help in time of need.” Hebrews 4:16
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