DAD'S RAMBLINGS -- THE LOST SONS

DAD'S RAMBLINGS – THE LOST SONS

" 'Bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry; for this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.' And they began to be merry." (Luke 15:23-25)

The parable of the lost son – the Prodigal Son – is familiar to most people. It is the story of a boy who demanded his inheritance money from his father, and then left home to squander his fortune in wasted living. When he was destitute, he finally came to himself, and returned home to his father. It is a beautiful story of redemption, reconciliation, and the love of the father.

But there was another lost son. Only this son was lost in the father's house. He was the responsible one, who was diligent to do everything that was required by the father. He lived the "straight" life. As the story goes, this son was angry when his little brother, who had wasted his inheritance, came home only to be treated as a royal son. The animosity of the older brother is evident when he told his father, "I have served you all these years, and you never gave me a party." The father responded with the truth that all those years, all that the Father had was his.

This must have hit the scribes and the Pharisees right between the eyes. They were looking down their noses at the sinners, but were so bound up in their righteousness that they could not rejoice when Jesus set people free. They were lost in their religion.

The sad truth is that there are many in churches across America who are lost in church. They do all the right things, but do not really enjoy the benefits of a loving relationship with the Father. In fact, they become indignant when a new believer is celebrated when he comes to faith.

How sad to be lost in the Father's house, and not really participate in the joy of salvation. May we never be like the older brother – lost in church.

Love, Dad

DAD'S RAMBLINGS -- SEARCH AND RESCUE

DAD'S RAMBLINGS – SEARCH AND RESCUE

" 'Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!….Rejoice with me, for I have found the piece which I lost!'" (Luke 15:6, 9).

The fifteenth chapter of Luke is all about finding what was lost – the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost sons. These parables are in response to the scribes and pharisees who complained that Jesus spent time with "sinners" (vs. 2). Jesus came to save sinners. The scribes and Pharisees had no time for the riff-raft of society, who were beneath their status.

But Jesus had a different perspective. He saw them as lost people who needed to be found – redeemed. And He said that is heaven's perspective. The hosts of heaven rejoice when a sinner comes to repentance.

I don't know about you, but sometimes I lose that perspective – that people are lost. It is easy to stand in judgment and think, "That stupid sheep. It's his fault that it is lost. It should have made better choices." Or, "That crazy woman. Why didn't she take better care of her treasured coin." Those judgments may or may not be valid, but they don't help the situation. Whatever the cause, people are lost and need to be rescued.

When I lived in Oregon, it seemed that every year, there were people who got lost on Mount Hood and needed to be rescued. I'll admit that I often did not have much compassion. I often thought, "Those foolish people. Why would they put themselves into such a dangerous position?"

But thank goodness, there were search and rescue people who, regardless of the danger to themselves, would risk their own lives to find and rescue the lost mountain climbers.

When I look at people around me who are lost and need a Savior, it does no good to sit on my duff and criticize them. They need to be found and that happens when someone is willing to get out of their comfort zone to find them.

I'm so glad that Jesus did a search and rescue that found me when I was lost. I truly want to be a part of Jesus' search and rescue team.

Love, Dad

DAD'S RAMBLINGS -- UNDER HIS WINGS

DAD'S RAMBLINGS – UNDER HIS WINGS

" 'O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted together your children together, as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you were not willing!' " (Luke 13:34)

I can almost hear the sob in Jesus' voice as he mourned over His people. "Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem." Through the centuries, God had endured their wanderings away from His loving protection. Like a mother hen who wanted to bring her straying chicks back under the shelter of her wings, God had called to Israel through the prophets, calling them back to Himself. But they rejected His calling and killed His messengers.

And now God was visiting them again in the person of His Son, the Lord Jesus, and still they were rejecting Him, and would kill Him. As John, the apostle, later wrote, "He came to His own and His own did not receive Him" (John 1:11). It must have broken God's heart.

How often God calls us to Himself, and still we insist on going our own way. In another metaphor, "All we like have sheep have gone astray. We have turned every man to His own way" (Isaiah 53:6). And yet He calls us. He keeps drawing us to Himself, and we keep running away, like the little chicks. I imagine that if there is one thing that causes God sorrow, it would be that we spurn His love that reaches out to us.

Do you know what it is like for someone to spurn your love? To feel rejected when you just wanted to love them? I have had those times and it is a horrible feeling. How it must break His heart when we run away from Him.

But God just keeps extending His wings to us, saying, "Come." "Come unto me all you who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest." (Matthew 11:28). When we get exhausted by the struggles of life, we can fall into His arms and find strength, help, rest, and peace. As the Psalmist wrote, "He shall cover you with His feathers, and under His wings you shall take refuge" (Psalm 91:4I); and again, "I will trust in the shelter of Your wings" (Psalm 61:4b)

"Under His wings, I am safely abiding, Though the night deepens and tempests are wild. Still I can trust Him, I know He will keep me. He has redeemed me and I am His child. Under His wings, Under His wings, Who from His love can sever? Under His wings, my soul shall abide, safely abide forever."

Love, Dad

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DAD'S RAMBLINGS -- GOD'S LONGSUFFERING

DAD'S RAMBLINGS – GOD'S LONGSUFFERING

"He also spoke this parable: 'A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. Then he said to the keeper of his vineyard, "Look, for three years I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree and find none. Cut it down; why does it use up the ground?" But he answered and said to him, "Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and fertilize it. And if it bears fruit, well. But if not, after that you can cut it down."'" (Luke 13:6-9)

Jesus was speaking to people who thought that they were pretty good. They were God's chosen people who had received God's revelation. So when they saw bad things happen to other people – like the slaughter of the Galileans by Pilate, or a tower that fell in Siloam and killed a lot of people, they thought that it was because those people were horrible sinners. But Jesus said that they were not worse sinners than those who lived in Jerusalem, the center of the worship of God.

It was only God's longsuffering and patience that kept disaster from coming to the people in Jerusalem. Then Jesus gave a parable to show God's patience with them. The parable is of a farmer of a vineyard who was disappointed when it produced no fruit. So he told the worker to cut it down. But the worker plead with the farmer to give him another year to work with it, and if it still didn't produce fruit, then he would cut it down. So the workman dug around it and fertilized it.

We don't know the end of the parable. But we do know the conclusion of the meaning. Jesus was using Isaiah's prophecy about Israel as the basis of this parable (Isaiah 5:1-7). Isaiah said that God had planted His vineyard, Israel. God Himself said, "The vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel" (Isaiah 5:7). In Isaiah's prophecy, God said that His vineyard produced only wild grapes. He said, "What more could have been done to My vineyard that I have not done in it?….And now, please let Me tell you what I will do to My vineyard: I will take away its hedge, and it shall be burned...I will lay it waste...' " Israel – God's chosen vineyard – would face God's judgment because they did not bear good fruit. And it happened just as the prophet had said, in 70 A.D., when the city was besieged, conquered, and burned.

God is longsuffering, but, as He said to the wicked people of Noah's day, He will not always strive with man (Genesis 6:3). Even though God is longsuffering and patient, there is a payday coming.

But then I think of how patient and longsuffering God has been with me. I can almost hear Jesus say, "Just give me a little more time with this fruitless vine. Maybe I can do something with him yet." In His wisdom, God keeps digging around me and fertilizing me in the hope that I might produce some fruit. So I pray, "O God, don't give up on me. Keep working in my life."

Love, Dad

DAD’S RAMBLINGS – UNDERSTANDING THE TIMES

DAD'S RAMBLINGS – UNDERSTANDING THE TIMES

"Then He also said to the multitudes, 'Whenever you see a cloud rising out of the west, immediately you say, "A shower is coming"' and so it is. And when you see the south wind blow, you say, "There will be hot weather," and there is. Hypocrites! You can discern the face of the sky and of the earth, but how is it you do not discern this time?' " (Luke 12:54-56)

Jesus was not being a meteorologist. I have often thought that meteorology would be a good occupation. It is the only career I know where you can be wrong so often, and still keep your job. No, Jesus was giving a picture to the people of His day who did not recognize the times they were living in. It was the time of the appearing of their Messiah. He gave them sign after sign, and they did not connect the dots.  Jesus called them hypocrites – because they taught that a Messiah would come, but they did not accept Him when He did come.

Our weather in Arizona is not the same as it was in Israel. In Arizona we know that there will be moisture in the clouds when the winds come from the south, from the Baja. Monsoons are predictable.  There are Monsoons on the horizon in our world, and the person who sees the signs and understands the times makes preparations for them. We need not be surprised by the storms that follow the signs.

In the Old Testament, among the soldiers of war that served King David, there were "the sons of Issachar who had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do" (I Chronicles 12:32). They could be a model for us.

May God make us into "sons of Issachar" who understand the times we live in. When we see the signs, we know that in God's eternal purpose, time for this world is running out. He is giving us warnings. May God help us to discern the times we live in, and then live accordingly.

Love, Dad

DAD'S RAMBLINGS -- RICH TOWARD GOD

DAD'S RAMBLINGS – RICH TOWARD GOD

"But He said to them, 'Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses.' " (Luke 12:15)

A man came to Jesus asking that Jesus settle an inheritance dispute. One brother would not share the inheritance with the other. Jesus refused to get involved in this matter, because the real issue was not the dividing of the inheritance, but the greed that caused the disagreement in the first place. So Jesus spoke to the real issue when He said, "Beware of covetousness."

We get our priorities so mixed up, that we think that the purpose of our existence is to enjoy "the good life," and the more things we have, the better our life. As a result, we end up coveting the things other people enjoy. Jesus turns that idea on its head, when he says that life is not measured by how successful we are or how many things we have.

Then he gave a parable about a man who was very successful. He was a farmer, and his crops were so large that he had to build more barns. That sounds reasonable. But what Jesus was saying is that that was his life – amassing his wealth so that he could enjoy the good life of ease – to eat, drink, and be merry.

Jesus called him a fool because he ignored the most important thing in life – where he would spend eternity. He was going to die and face God, and then what good would all his material wealth be?

More important than being rich and having a good bank account here in this world is to be rich toward God. The fool ignores eternity to focus on this life. The wise person understands that this life is temporary, and eternity is forever. To be rich toward God and His kingdom is the reasonable choice.

Love, Dad

DAD'S RAMBLINGS -- LIFE IN THE PITS

DAD'S RAMBLINGS – LIFE IN THE PITS

"And while the crowds were thickly gathered together, He began to say, 'This is an evil generation. It seeks a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah the prophet.' " (Luke 11:29)

The story of Jonah is the story of Resurrection. In the Book of Jonah in the Old Testament, you can see in it a prophetic picture of what happened to the Lord Jesus. Remember that Jonah was swallowed by a great fish. That was picture of death. Especially graphic is the prayer of Jonah while he was in the belly of the fish.

" 'I cried out to the LORD because of my affliction, and He answered me; Out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and You heard my voice. For You cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the floods surrounded me; All Your billows and Your waves passed over me. Then I said, "I have been cast out of Your sight; Yet I will look again toward Your holy temple." The waters surrounded me, even to my soul; the deep closed around me; … I went down to the moorings (or foundations) of the mountains; The earth with its bars closed behind me forever; Yet You have brought up my life from the pit, O LORD, my God.' ….So the LORD spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land." (Jonah 2:2-6, 10).

In Jonah's prayer, you hear the agony of death – being in the belly of Sheol, in the bottom of the earth, under the mountains; or into the depths of the ocean under the billows of waves, the waters closing around him. In that condition, Jonah felt abandoned – cast out of God's sight. Like being in prison with the bars closing behind him. But even in his despair, Jonah looked forward to being delivered from this place of death. We hear this in his prayer, "I will again look toward Your holy temple…..You have brought up my life from the pit, O LORD, my God" (vss. 4, 6b). You've heard it said that life is not a bowl of cherries – its the pits. Jonah was in the pit of the fish, but that was not the end of the story.

So when Jesus used Jonah as a picture of His own death – His going into the pit, into Sheol, into the belly of the earth – His view was beyond death to His own resurrection, of being brought out of the pit to again see God's holy temple.

We have the same hope. Even though we may go down into the pit – the grave – we have the hope of Resurrection, of life after death. And even in life's challenges when we are in the pits, we can know that God will bring us out of the pit to victory.

Love, Dad