Remember Your Father
February 21, 2008
By William E. Richardson
Some see the Ten Commandments or Sermon on the Mount only in
limiting, unfriendly terms. They complain that God is trying to stifle their
freedom. Many moan that God doesn’t want humans to have any fun.
Even believers can express the same limited perspective. God
doesn’t answer every prayer the way we expect. He doesn’t meet every detail of
our requests. Some Christians complain. Some Christians suffer a temporary
faith crisis.
There’s a reason God doesn’t fulfill every person’s every
desire. Someone once phrased it, “If you give a pig everything he wants, he’ll
make a hog of himself.” As Adam and Eve’s children, we have hoggish desires.
The Bible says God refuses to feed those appetites (James 4:3). We can respond
by snorting and squealing when God in His wisdom refuses our request. When we
do, we prove how right God is not to give us everything we want.
The story of the Prodigal Son uses the image of a pigpen to
illustrate just how empty our lives become when we pursue our own desires with
no thought for God’s. By the time that young man hit bottom he had lost all
perspective. The selfish son considered filling his own stomach with the hogs’
food. Then the Scripture says, “But when he came to himself … ” (Luke 15:17,
NKJV). He realized he didn’t have to live in the poverty of his own dreams. He
could return home and experience the love and provision of a caring father.
When God doesn’t give us exactly what we want, we may wallow
in self-pity or in the filthy mud of rebellious self-will. God calls us to come
to our senses, to see His perspective. God longs for us, like the wayward son,
to say, “I will arise and go to my father” (Luke 15:18).
Our sometimes off-kilter perspective is blind to God’s
eternal perspective. When we choose to sulk or sin, He may let us wallow for a
while. But He wants us to return to our senses and come back to Him. He waits
to welcome us with open arms, to dry our tears, wash us clean, and throw the
robe of His blessing around us.
Are you struggling with questions? Are you losing hope? Look
toward home. Your Father is waiting to redirect and reassure you.
— William E. Richardson is senior pastor of Afton
(Iowa) Assembly of God.
