2 Chronicles 6:24,25
“If Your people Israel are defeated before an enemy because they have sinned against You, and they return to You and praise Your name, and pray and plead before You in this house, then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of Your people Israel, and bring them back to the land which You have given to them and to their fathers.”
This is what God does. He hears, forgives and reconciles. All throughout the bible we see this. It happened to our first parents. God helped even before they asked; He slew the animal and clothed them. Israel seemed to stray from God nearly every generation. In the New Testament we have the prodigal son. This is an entire story dedicated to forsaking God, recognizing the mess we’re in, returning and seeing God take him back.
There isn’t the lecture or the shaking of the head. Instead there’s a party. There is a slaying of the fatted calf. There is the restoration. Here the prodigal did shameful things, squandered his inheritance lived immorally and so on. He may have developed some addictions or some bad habits. Some deep cleaning was needed. The father would address that in time. Today it was time to celebrate.
The prodigal really messed things up. He had done much to produce shame that would last a lifetime. I have prayed the prayer of Psalm 25:7 many times, “Remember not the sins of my youth, nor my rebellious acts; remember me according to Your loving devotion, because of Your goodness, O LORD.” He has answered that. I’m reminded of it from time to time. I’ll bump into someone from back in the day and the shame surfaces. Thank You, God. We don’t deserve Your mercy, but it’s there. The previous verse in Psalms says, “Remember, LORD, Your compassion and Your faithfulness, for they have been from of old.”
The prodigal is damaged goods. He reminds me of Jacob and his limp. His defiance and stubbornness brought that on. For the rest of his life he’ll limp. The agility of his youth is gone. He isn’t the strong person he used to be. Here is what he used to be capable of, “When Jacob saw Rachel the daughter of his mother’s brother Laban, and the sheep of his mother’s brother Laban, Jacob went up and rolled the stone from the mouth of the well, and watered the flock of his mother’s brother Laban”, (Genesis 29:10). No more, his stubbornness brought on this new frailty. So we have our handicaps that our sin brought on.
Some of us have that to some degree. The apostle Paul did. 2 Corinthians 12:7 says, “Because of the extraordinary greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me—to keep me from exalting myself!” Jesus says this of us in Matthew 5:3, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” We all are damaged goods. We don’t see this in ourselves unless we are in Christ. We are wretched. We are in need of redemption and God’s grace and restorative powers. It’s interesting that we are blessed if we know our poor state. That is because we know we need His help greatly. We are at His door pleading. Jesus expounds on this in Luke 18:13-14, “But the tax collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to raise his eyes toward heaven, but was beating his chest, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, the sinner!’ I tell you, this man went to his house justified rather than the other one”. That is the attitude of one who is poor in spirit. They are aware that they are sinners. If not for God, we would be lost and without hope.
Solomon’s prayer should be our prayer. “God, hear from heaven and forgive. Accept me back.” He does. It’s natural for Him, Just as it’s natural for us to be sinners.
If we are in Christ we prayed that prayer initially to receive Him and have our sins forgiven. We have sinned again and asked for forgiveness; probably many times. Some have fallen away and have come back. Our gracious God have received us back.
We weren’t just sinners, we were enemies of God. Romans 5:10 says, “For if, when we were enemies of God, we were reconciled to Him through the death of His Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through His life!” I don’t think many know that. We don’t like the restrictions He puts on us. The first thing that comes to mind is sexual purity. If that is mentioned our culture goes crazy. There are many more areas that people don’t like. Another is God’s justice and one way of salvation. Many think if their good outweighs their bad, then they are in. No, sin needs to be payed for. Unfortunately, that is complete separation from God. All have to go to Jesus for forgiveness. That is offensive to many. So, we were enemies. An enemy has hate. Intense emotion which fuels vile thoughts and intensions.
It takes more grace and love to take back an enemy. There was hatred. Yet You take us in. Lord, thank You for receiving us back. Even when we were hostile. Thank You God.