IT'S TIME TO GIVE UP!

A few days ago, I was sitting in the waiting room while having my car serviced, when I struck up a conversation with an elderly lady that was quite concerned with the problems she was having with her car. She shared with me that she had just recently had to start dealing with these kinds of problems….her husband had just passed away after 50+ years of marriage and now, she was having to do all the things that he once took care of for her. I told her how much I empathized with her because I had seen my mother struggle with getting back on her feet when my father passed away suddenly. I assured her that God would see her through these difficult days and we began to share how dependent we must be on our Heavenly Father to take care of us, even when it seems to take longer than we would like for an answer to our prayers. You see, she was praying that God would provide her with another godly man with which to share the remaining years of her life….she was so lonely and she wanted God to answer her pray quickly; but, she knew that God’s timing is very often quite different from our own.

We later parted company with thanks for our time of sharing and I promised to be praying for the many needs in her life. As I began my drive home, I thought of the story of the prodigal son and the three things that we must glean from that parable in Luke….we must GIVE UP…GET UP …AND GO UP ….before God can have his way in our lives.

When I say GIVE UP, I am referring to the miserable situation in which the prodigal found himself once he had squandered all his worldly possessions. In verse 14 of Luke 15, it reads, “When he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country and he began to be in great need (dire straits). SO, he went and hired himself out”…in other words, he kept trying to make it under his own steam; to turn things around with his might and his strength; to make up for his mistakes and restore himself to his glory days.... ALL ON HIS OWN. The best he could do on his own….feeding the pigs of another farmer and eating the pods that he feed to the swine. It wasn’t until he was ready to give up control of his miserable life that he could GET UP from this horrible situation and realize that a better life was just waiting for him, at home with his father. Scripture says, “But when he came to himself”….in other words, when he got up, dusted himself off and looked at his situation, it came to him. I don’t have to live like this; why even my father’s servants are far better off than I am. I’ll go home and beg my father to take me back …not as his son, but as one of his hired servants. And that’s when the GO UP took over, “I will arise and go to my father and I will say to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you and I am no longer worthy to be called your son.” (Luke 15:18) When he decided to include God and to leave the outcome in His hands, the decision became obvious …so, he headed for home.

Yes, when life seems to beat you down, you can keep trying to “make it on your own”…or you can GIVE UP the pride that keeps you from surrendering to the power of the Father … then GET UP from the despair and misery that engulfs your life ….and then, do what is required in all of life’s dilemmas …. GO UP in surrender to the will of the Father ….for He is standing on the road, peering down that dusty highway, waiting to catch a glimpse of His long, lost son….turning toward home ….and a Father’s eternal love.

A Prodigal No More,
WPQ