Global crisis, personal turning point

I was cooking dinner when the texts came through in short desperate spurts. Panic. Help me?? I asked some questions. Are you willing to…. Waited for a response. Finally:

Yes.

I stood at the stove, praying that this newfound willingness would remain, that the desperation to do whatever it takes would last longer than a virus-scare.

The next morning I re-read Luke 15 and saw something new. You probably know how this goes…

“Give me my inheritance now. I’m sick of living under your thumb. Give me what’s mine and I’ll be on my way.”

The younger son essentially spits in the face of his father, telling him he doesn’t want his presence, doesn’t want his relationship, he just wants his money.

I want resources, not relationship. I want access, not accountability.

And so he goes, this Prodigal Son, and squanders it all with “reckless living.” Later we learn this isn’t just an innocent shopping spree–he fritters his fortune away on prostitutes and self-destructive behaviors.

A parents’ worst nightmare.

But what happens next is interesting, and you may think I’m overstepping my Bible-bounds, but the thread through the Scriptures is unmistakable:

God sends a famine to bring a lost son home.

In the midst of the Prodigal’s wild life, while he’s still in the height of his self-destructive stupidity, “a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need.”

He began to be in need.

Turning point. We often think the turning point is when the prodigal son begins the walk home and the father runs to meet him. But this is the beginning. He’s not coming home yet, but he’s left the prostitutes in favor of working on a farm.

I’d say that’s a great step. He’s humbled. He’s sobered up. He’s desperate. He’s willing to feed pigs. His entitlement is gone.

That’s when he “came to himself.” He remembers the grace and kindness of his father. And he’s willing to return, as a servant, because, he says, “I am no longer worthy to be called your son.”

Our culture would be so quick to interject here, “Oh lost boy, don’t talk like that! You ARE worthy! You ARE enough!”

But you know what? The Prodigal son was spot on. All his self-righteousness is gone: He sees himself for what he truly is. Unworthy.

And into his vast cavern of unworthiness the Good, Good Father pours out His steadfast, relentless grace, and matchless kindness. The older son, who’s still stuck in self-righteousness, is outraged. Hasn’t the father seen the scorecard? Clearly the little brother is a zero.

But the Father isn’t keeping score, he’s giving love. It’s a beautiful story.

But it’s interesting that a country-wide famine is what brought the lost boy to the end of himself. It wasn’t until he began to be in need that things turned around.

A few weekends ago some friends and I looked at the lives of Bible characters and saw the lengths that God goes to in order to get people’s attention.

I don’t pretend to know all that God is doing during our worldwide pandemic, but I have been floored by how many stories there are of God’s individual, personal plans being carried out in people’s lives through the details of this difficult time. Would God send a famine to bring home a lost boy? Would God allow a pandemic to bring us back home to Him? To lead us away from self-destructive patterns and habits and reset our gaze on all that really matters?

Praying constantly for eyes to see what God is doing behind the scenes, and that the need I feel would ever turn me from self-destruction and put me on the path back home to Him. Thanks for reading.