The Father's Heart

The Father's Heart

Luke 15:20 "But when he (the prodigal son) was yet a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him."

In the parable of the prodigal son in Luke 15, the young son leaves home filled with hopes and dreams for a great new life, but quickly finds nothing but misery and hopelessness.  He returns home, planning to ask to work for his father as a slave, because he didn't think he deserved to be called a son again.  But before he can say a word, his father runs to him, hugs him, welcomes him home, and reinstates his full privileges as a member of the family.

You see the whole time that this son had been away doing his own thing, the Father was waiting and watching for him to return.  He never stopped loving him and longed to see him again, and had made up his mind that no matter what state his son would return in, he would welcome him with open arms.

At this time of 'lockdown' we can all understand what it is like to look forward to seeing our loved ones again, grandparents are longing to hug their grandchildren again, friends are missing one another.  Yes we can text and talk on the phone, but nothing compares with being face to face. It is a part of being human, we are designed for relationships.

My daughter is now 22, she has her own home - so I hadn't seen her since the beginning of the lockdown.  She works in the local chip shop, and last week, we decided we would have a 'chippy'.  I headed up to the chip shop and as many places are working these days, only 2 people could enter the shop at one time, so I had to wait outside, but as I looked in through the window, I saw my daughter and I was suddenly overcome with emotions.  I had to fight the tears and compose myself as I went in for my order.  But even once I had come back to the house I burst into tears again.  I was shocked, I didn't expect to react like this, I hadn't realised just how much I was missing seeing her, in my heart.  I texted her later that evening to tell her how beautiful she was and how good she was looking.  She replied that she thought she was looking very tired etc.  But in my eyes I just saw her as beautiful.

As I read the bible I see many times how the Father's Heart was broken for his children, who had gone far from him.  You see from the beginning it was God's plan that we live in relationship with him.  We read that when he created the first man Adam,  how he loved to walk with him and talk with him in the garden everyday.  When Adam disobeyed, his sin brought the separation to that relationship.  But we are told that even before God created Adam, He knew that this separation would come, so he made a way - the way of Salvation through Jesus his Son.  Many times we see throughout the Bible how God always had a good plan for his children.  But his children didn't always stay in his plan, like the prodigal son, they wandered of and did their own thing time and time again, but when they returned God never turned them away.

God has a good plan for our lives, but many times, we find ourselves wandering of doing our own thing or being dragged away by others or circumstances and ending up in all sorts of trouble.  We start full of hopes and dreams but only find loneliness, disappointments, questions and confusion.  Just like the prodigal son - our Heavenly Father loves us and longs for us to return to him.  He is waiting for us and watching for us.  He isn't concerned about what condition we are in when we return.  The prodigal son returned home in rags and smelling bad from feeding pigs - but the Father met him and embraced him just as he was and then gave him a new clean robe and welcomed him back with a great celebration.

Many times in our search for happiness and peace, we actually find ourselves even more empty than before.  There is a cry in every heart that says something like "There must be more than this" or "What is the reason of life".  When we look around and see suffering and sorrow - we can be distracted from all the good things in life.  Especially what God has planned for us and his love for us.  We can fall into the trap of thinking that we have nothing to offer or we have failed God and just fall deeper and deeper into hopelessness.  But God is never disappointed with us for what we have done - because he knows we are weak without him. But what breaks his heart is when we don't trust him to rescue us.

When we call out the name of Jesus from our heart he is always ready to answer.  The only prayer that He cannot answer is the one that we don't pray.  It is safe to pour out your heart to him.  He wants you to tell him what is on your mind.

We recorded this song many years ago, my daughter is singing to represent the cry of the human heart and then the praise group is singing to represent the echo of the Father's heart.  This song came as I was praying one day and heard a cry rising up from the earth from deep inside the hearts of people and it was met in the air with the cry of the Father's heart reaching down to the earth - the 2 became a harmony which filled the air.  Even in the midst of all the 'noise' filling the earth there is a deep cry that rises above it all.  Jesus didn't come to give us religion - He came to restore relationship with the Father.

Jesus said that He is the open door to the Father, and the Bible tells us that if we believe in our hearts and confess with our mouths that Jesus is the Son of God we shall be saved.  He never said we had to be good in our own strength, he actually said that no-one is good only God.  But something amazing happens when we make the decision to believe in our hearts and we begin to confess that Jesus Christ is our Lord and Saviour with our mouths, like the story of the prodigal son - he covers us over with a clean robe and washes away the stain of our sin and he welcomes us into his family and gives us access to all his beautiful promises.  As we respond to his love and his voice through his word he leads us to victory over bad habits and wrong decisions and takes us by the hand into a new life, step by step.   Does that mean that we won't make bad decisions ever again or we won't have any more trouble?  NO, but it does mean that we can know his peace and strength to rise up and keep going forward.

In all that is happening in your life - remember there is an open door for you through Jesus to your Heavenly Father.  He's waiting and longing for you to come to him.