Forty Days of Promises -- God Promises to Welcome His Repentant Children Home
God promises to welcome His repentant children home.
If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land. 2 Chronicles 7:14
All promises are fulfilled in Christ.
Read Luke 15:11-24.
Ladies, I’m preparing for you while I’m thanking God for Chris Baxter and her work. What a beautiful pairing of Old Testament and New Testament. I’ve read the story of the prodigal son for so many years. I’ve just never paid attention to the fact that this lost son did exactly what God’s Word says we do with sin in 2 Chronicles.
The son in this story chose poorly. He took his inheritance, and he squandered it. You know what? That’s exactly what sin is. It’s a misuse of our inheritance. Sin is our way of telling God, “thanks, but no thanks. I think You have better, and You’re holding out on me. I’ll figure it out for myself.”
That never ends well. There are hard lessons to learn on the other side of a sinful decisions. In our consequence, we can follow the prodigal’s response. He humbled himself. He left his sinful ways and turned to his father, and his father ran to him. The beautiful embrace after his return is a perfect picture of healing in relationship.
I listen to Bob Goff’s podcast regularly. I listen to a lot of podcasts, but his is so good while still being lighthearted and fun. Speaking of this pandemic, he keeps saying, “we’ve all been collectively sent to our room.” He kind of laughs with it, so I know he’s showing that he doesn’t want to assume Covid is a consequence sent from God. I do believe that he is gently suggesting that in our national “time-out” God may want us to learn some things.
Could this be part of our lesson? Is God kindly nudging you to return to Him? Have you been running from some very specific things He’s leading you into, away from, or back to?
His promises are still true, and He is still faithful. When we humble ourselves and pray, seek His face, and turn from our wicked (human) ways, He will hear from Heaven and welcome us back. Wouldn’t it be a sweet treat to leave this season of quarantine surer of God’s restorative love for us?
For further reading: Isaiah 30:15; Isaiah 59:20; Acts 3:19; James 4:8
God, I can’t thank you enough for Your constant care for us and for the way you always welcome us back into Your embrace. As I heard this week, all roads DO NOT lead to You. But, You’ll race down any road to get to us and call us back home with You. What a good, good Father. We praise You, because of Your care. We don’t deserve Your grace and yet You cover us with it.
