The Lord always desires to receive us back. How long or how far you have wandered doesn’t matter. It brings God great joy when we recognize the foolishness of our sin and what we have thrown away – the goodness and loving-kindness of our heavenly Father – and return to Him to be restored. That seems contrary to reason as we sit and shake our fingers at those who have sinned against us. Have you ever noted that the father in the parable of the prodigal son wasn’t obsessed about teaching his son a lesson? The son’s guilty conscience had already done that. He had already been brought low. What he hungered for was mercy from his father. He didn’t have to work off his debt. He wasn’t demoted to servant. He wasn’t even given a severe punishment to make sure that he never did anything like that again. The father was simply overjoyed to have his son back with him, back from the dead. In the same way, your heavenly Father rejoices at your repentance and return. He gladly receives back foolish sheep who love to wander, who think they know a better way. And that is why sometimes God gives us what we ask for – to teach us that was we want is most often not good for us. The Father and His kingdom – that is what we need and that is exactly what He gives us. I look forward to seeing you this coming Lord’s Day.
Pastor Ulmer