Encouragement is a good thing. So many are discouraged and lacking the joy and the peace that they need to make it through. An encouraging word, and encouraging smile, a friendly gesture can make a big difference in your day. But, sometimes speaking a word of encouragement is like putting a band aid on an open gapping wound. We need more than that which will make us 'feel' better. There are times when we can be so depressed that a word of encouragement is like putting a drop of water on a hot sand pile. It just evaporates as it hits our soul. There are times when we can be so full of panic, that we are paralyzed by our fears. When these things attack us it can bring us into a place of despair that is so devastating. It is going to make more than a good word of encouragement to make a lasting difference.
The Bible tells the story of a guy that loved the night life, he liked to party. He came from a good family, they were farmers. He didn't want to be a country boy, he didn't want to farm. He wanted to go to the big city where there was some action going on. His older brother was satisfied to stay on the farm, and work with his dad, but he couldn't WAIT to get out of there.
We see this same thing often today in our society. Many times young people will hate living in the home where they were raised. I have heard many young people say, "I can't wait until I'm 18, and I can get out of this place!" It is understandable that when a person is miserable that they would want to change their circumstances. The only problem with this kind of attitude is that it springs up out of a heart of hatred and rebellion. When you have this heart of rebellion it will destroy everything that you do. You may leave your home, but you haven't left your problem. Your problem will follow you. We think that our problem is the people around us, but the problem is our heart that was hateful and rebellious. Do you know why your problem follows you? Because you leave the home in a hateful attitude of unthankfulness and rebellion and then you get yourself a job. The first thing you know your boss is up in your face telling you what you will do, or what you won't do. Then what happens? That hateful spirit of rebellion will rise up inside of you, and you will talk back to your boss, and you will get fired, or quit, because you won't let ANYONE tell you what to do. And then you will get married and your rebellious attitude will come between you and your family, and the problem goes on and on. That rebellious attitude will be like a noose around your neck, until God breaks that chain!
In the story, the son left his father's house to go to the big city, where he wanted to have fun, but he didn't leave his problems behind him, he took his problems with him! He went to his father and said, "Give me what is mine." He was rebellious, he was selfish, he wanted his inheritance before his father passed away. He wanted his cut in the family farm, so he could go to the big city and 'enjoy' his life. His father understood that his son's heart had went astray, and he let him follow his heart. There was nothing he could do to hold his son there.
Today, many people will tell you that you can't go wrong following your heart. This is simply not the truth. Our hearts can lead us astray. When our hearts go after the wrong things in life and we follow our hearts we get our self in a huge mess. I know many people who set out early in life to follow their heart, and many of them ended up in a big mess. Sometimes we have to live our life by living for responsibilities. For the son in this story, that is not the kind of life he wanted. Sometimes our wants and desires are the very thing that can mess us up. When we come to God he wants more than just an effort from us to do what is right. God wants us to surrender our life to him so that he can put his Spirit in us, and change our wants and desires to be what he desires.
The young man in the story did receive his inheritance early from his father. He did go to the big city. And the Bible says that when he got there: Luke 15:13 And not many days later the younger son gathered everything together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living.
He went to the big city, and he went wild. The Bible says that sin is fun for a season. Luke 15:14 And when he had spent everything, there arose a great famine in that land; and he began to be in want.
The party life promises you so much, but it delivers unexpected results, it always leaves you wanting MORE. Never satisfied, never happy after the drugs wear off, always unfulfilled, and alone.
There is always an end to every party. Sometimes the end is when you run out of money, like it was for this young man. Sometimes the end is a jail cell. Sometimes the end is losing all of your family. Sometimes the end is a hospital bed. Sometimes the end is an overdose. There is always an end to the party. Sometimes you can party for a few decades before you reach the end, but the end of the party hits you sooner or later.
The young man found himself penniless, hungry, and with no friends. He got a job, and guess where...on a FARM...but not his father's farm. You can run away in rebellion, but you will come right back around to where you left! I thought he didn't like the farm life, but now, this was the only job he could get. Out of options and out of luck! He was working for someone else, on a farm, feeding pigs, and he was so hungry he would eat the slop.
In that moment there is no self help talk, no prosperity message, no word of encouragement, no motivational speech that could help this young man. He had sunk as low as he could get! There is no cliché, no positive thinking, no wishful thinking that would pull him up out of this mess. We have a whole nation full of prodigal sons that are living in the devastation of the pig pen, and we have preachers that are standing up giving a good motivational speeches full of wishful thinking and positive antidotes. The prodigals are going out of the church just as messed up as they was when they came in, because there is no power in our words when we fail to preach Christ and him crucified!
He did what all of us eventually need to do. He humbled himself, and he went to his father, and he said, "I AM SORRY." He said he had done wrong, and he was coming home to live, and accept his place in life and his responsibilities. It is called being humble, and repentant, and growing up.
Sometimes we don't need another word of encouragement, cause we have sunk so low, that a positive thought is going to do very little good. Sometimes we need to go back to that place where we taught right from wrong, and decide to choose life instead of death.
Proverbs 16:25 There is a way that seems right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.
He was as low as he could get. Money was not his answer. Another job was not his answer. Stealing from others was not his answer. A woman that would take him in was not his answer. The Father in the story is God. Return to his house, with a repentant heart, and let God restore to you that which you have lost.
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