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"Let us celebrate with a feast,
because this son of mine was dead,
and
has come to life again;
he was lost, and has been found."
Luke 15:23-24
In Jesus' longest parable,
In Jesus' longest parable,
the prodigal son asks his father
for his inheritance.
This was tantamount to telling his father,
"I prefer
that you die so I can have the money."
The father sadly divided his estate
and gave the son what he wished for.
After a life of depravity and
wantonness,
all the money gone,
the son goes back to the father,
knowing
his father's servants
lived a better life than he did.
It's a good
thing the father
was merciful and compassionate.
The father forgave him
and
celebrated his return,
was actually longing for him to come back!
It's also a good thing that
It's also a good thing that
God does not answer all our prayers with
yes.
Can you imagine how many people
pray that they would win the lotto?
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The mother of Dionie Reyes
kept praying that he would win the
lotto
and finally in April 2008, he did.
He won 14 million pesos and
after living
the life of a millionaire for 3 months,
he is now destitute
and owes big sums of money.
"I wish it never happened,"
"I wish it never happened,"
William Post said.
"It was totally a nightmare!"
He won $16.2 million
but after a year,
he owed $1 million.
Like the prodigal son,
Like the prodigal son,
a lot of people are under the illusion
that having money would
solve all their problems,
and make them happy.
Instead of money,
why
don't we bet on a sure thing?
The love of a merciful and compassionate father! ❤️
The love of a merciful and compassionate father! ❤️
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"Sir, give me this water..."
the Samaritan woman who met Jesus at the well,
asked in John 4:5-42
"Our Father uses every part of our ordinary,
everyday lives to teach us about the
extraordinary, heavenly life
that he is offering us."
Jesus would strike up conversations
with people and tell stories
to teach them about heavenly realities.
Today God does the same-
He uses the events, and people of our
every day life, to teach us.
We just have to be more observant,
to listen, and to be willing to
cast away our expectations of how
God is supposed to move or speak or act.
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Take the story of Naaman in 2 Kings 5:1-15.
He was a valorous army commander
of the King of Aram,
but he was a leper!
A little slave girl, captured in a raid of Israel,
told the wife of Naaman that the master
would be healed if he presented himself
to the prophet in Samaria.
So Naaman with a full retinue and
presents for the King of Israel went to Elisha.
But Elisha did not even meet him!
Elisha just told him to go and wash
7 times in the Jordan.
"And your flesh will heal,
and you will be clean.,"
Elisha's messenger told him.
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Naaman went off angrily!
He had a lot of expectation about
what the man of God would do!
"I thought he would surely
come out and invoke the Lord His God..."
It was a good thing that his servants reasoned with him,
"If the prophet would have told you
to do something extraordinary,
wouldn't you have done it?"
So Naaman swallowed his pride and
did as the prophet told him.
And he was healed!!!
Lesson number 1:
Even if we are a lowly slave girl,
we can be a messenger of hope and healing.
Perhaps we are too afraid of our boss
to speak to him or her about
something he or she needs to hear?
Perhaps we think we should just be silent
even if we know something that would
greatly ease another's burden?
Lesson number 2:
Obedience may bring us to a
closer encounter with God.
What is it that God is asking of us?
Our expectations of
how God should act or
who he will use to speak to us
(maybe a "slave girl")
should not be a hindrance to
what God wants to do for us,
and through us!
I find a lot of inspiration
visiting here:
So many WONDERFUL blogfriends
to discover!
Do we really want what we think we want? Often times probably not. I'm glad God can see to the root of our need and meet us there.
ReplyDeleteI love how you have unfolded these stories so gracefully. You are a treasure.
ReplyDelete