Cities of Refuge: Returning to GraceSample

Day Four: The Awakening

As we read yesterday, while the young man in Yeshua’s parable was in the far-off country he became desperate. He’d already squandered his inheritance and then things went from bad to worse when a famine arose. But instead of cutting his losses and running back to the safety of his home, he took matters into his own hands and joined himself to a foreign master. 

It was then that the prodigal son quite literally found himself scraping the bottom of the barrel. For a young Jewish man, working with unclean pigs would have been considered very low, a disgrace to a person who grew up following kosher law. And not only was he working among the filth of a pig farm, but he was coveting their slop (Luke 15:16)! Truly, this young man had hit rock bottom and it was in this desolate place that he realized how much he’d foolishly thrown away.  

During my own time of wandering in the “far-off country” I also came to a place that I consider my rock bottom; and as painful and humiliating as it was, I am glad for it, because it awakened me to just how far away I’d strayed from the truth and the extent of my losses due to my foolish choices. And fortunately for me, my parents loved me enough to place me in Yahweh’s hands and let me get to that place, even though it was extremely painful for them to refrain from swooping in to rescue me from my own mess. 

It grieves the Father when we choose self-destruction over his blessings but when we are set on following on our path instead of his good way, he allows us to suffer the consequences of our sin; the greatest of those being the disruption of a close and intimate relationship with him. 

Yes, we are saved by grace, and no, he will not turn his back on us if we are truly in Covenant with him, but if we choose to sin, we will still suffer the natural consequences of those choices. Proverbs 3 tells us how important it is to heed the wisdom of the Word, and how it will bring healing and refreshment to our bones, but that when we do stray from the correct path, we should be grateful his discipline because it proves that we are his children and that he loves us enough to chastise us. In fact, discipline has an important purpose in our spiritual maturation process. Just as earthly parents have a duty to correct their children by lovingly applying consequences for destructive behavior, our heavenly Father would not be just, or a good father, if he did not do the same. Until we are made new in the world to come, we will always fight against this mortal flesh, but we can be glad that we have a God who loves us enough to correct us, even when it hurts, so that we can learn to be more like him, even in this present world. 

When we ignore the conviction of the Holy Spirit, ignore the Word, and willfully ignore who we are in Christ, it may be that the Father will indeed allow us to come to the very end of our own efforts; not because he does not love us anymore because we’ve sinned, but because he wants us to see just how miserable and hopeless it is in that “far-off country” and to remember just how wonderful it was when we were in close fellowship with our Father. 

But the good news is, we don’t have to wait until we are scraping bedrock and coveting the scraps the world has to offer. At any point, the Prodigal Son could have returned home and found grace awaiting him. We can stop right now, on whatever path we are on, turn around, and run back to the Father. 

We don’t have to earn our way back, we don’t have to strive for acceptance, we don’t have to clean off the stench of the filth we’ve been wallowing in before we ask for his forgiveness, we simply have to return to the embrace of our Abba because it is a free gift, made possible only by the blood of Yeshua our Savior (Ephesians 2:1-10). 

Questions for Consideration:

Have you ever considered the chastisement of the Lord as beneficial to you? Take a moment to thank him for loving you enough to allow you to fail, and for the wisdom gleaned from coming to the end of our own human efforts so that we learn to rely on him alone. 

When have you found yourself in a place of rock bottom in the past? What decisions led to that place? What ultimately opened your eyes to the truth? What lessons came out of any consequences that you suffered as a result of your destructive behavior?

What struggles against the flesh are you dealing with right now? How have you been ignoring the guidance of the Holy Spirit in this area? Don’t wait until you are in a desolate place, lay this burden before the Lord now in exchange for the gift of grace Yeshua offers—grace that leads to freedom and healing and the joy of revived communion with him.