A tiny ding on my phone and a text that read, “Mom, I feel empty inside like there is a void and I can’t figure it out.” It wasn’t the first conversation along these lines in recent weeks that had been sent my way. This time I didn’t hesitate I decided to be bold and respond with the truth that they heard when they were little, but had since rejected and put out of their mind.
“Honey,” I responded, “We were created by a relational God. In the garden of Eden He would come just to walk and talk with Adam and Eve in the cool of the day. Can you imagine! God walking right there with you! It was the cool of the day when He showed up to confront Adam and Eve after they first broke faith with Him and brought sin into the world. He knew what they had done, but He still responded to them relationally and they responded with accusations and blame.
Right there in that moment something new was created inside each one of us. Blaise Pascal described it like this, “What else does this craving, and this helplessness, proclaim but that there was once in man a true happiness, of which all that now remains is the empty print and trace? This he tries in vain to fill with everything around him, seeking in things that are not there the help he cannot find in those that are, though none can help, since this infinite abyss can be filled only with an infinite and immutable object; in other words by God himself”~Blaise Pascal’s Pensees
I continued in my text saying, “God is in a relational pursuit with you and He is not going to give it a rest until He has been allowed to fill that hole in your heart.”
Eugene Peterson the author of The Message Bible would say to his son each night, “God loves you. He’s on your side. He’s coming after you. He’s relentless.”
That is my hope and my belief even if I don’t see anything changing for my child. The response to my text that day was crickets…nothing, but I hold on to hope. One place I found hope is in Luke 15:1-32. The Pharisees and Scribes had gathered around each other trash talking Jesus saying, “All he does is hang around sinners and eat with them!”
Jesus turns to them and responds by telling 3 parables that are all related. The first is the parable of the lost sheep where the shepherd goes out look for the one that is lost and he keeps looking until he finds it. When he does find it he calls his friends throwing a party to rejoice over the one that was found. Jesus closes the parable by saying all of Heaven also rejoices every time one sinner is found and repents.
The second is about a lost coin and the woman of the house literally turning everything upside down in her search for that single coin. She lights a lamp and seeks diligently until she finds it. She does not give up until that coin is in her hand and then calls her friends to rejoice over what was lost being found. Once again Jesus says the angels rejoice over one sinner repenting.
The last parable is about a father who has a prodigal son. In the story the son says to his father, “Give me my inheritance now (which was hugely disrespectful and arrogant).” Then the son went off to do whatever he wanted to do. He did things I am sure the father had warned him never to do and hoped he would never experience. Not surprisingly things got ugly, hard, and empty for the prodigal. He thought to himself, “My father’s servants have a better life than me…I will go ask to be just a servant in my father’s house.” Imagine that young man’s surprise when it wasn’t the servants that saw him first, but his father who had been watching for him diligently hoping and praying for his return. His father ran to him, hugged him, and kissed him. You may know the rest of the story if not you need to read it. The point I am making is God does not give up, He keeps looking for what is lost, He seeks what needs to be found and He will run to your wayward child, throw His arms around them, kiss them, and welcome them home. The party in heaven will be awesome!
One day I hope to be looking down a road that is rugged and worn with the sun setting in the distance and see my prodigal walking my way with the Father by their side. In that moment I will know that their heart is whole because God will have filled it in the way only He can.
Pray: Father, be with my wayward one today. Keep seeking and calling out to them out as they ignore You and seek other ways to fill the emptiness inside their heart. And as I wait (sometimes in fear and doubt) remind me that You love them more than I ever could and You will not stop relentlessly pursuing them. ~Amen
Treading Water 