Cities of Refuge: Returning to GraceSample

 Day Three: The Rebellion

After insisting that his father divide his assets and then leaving  his home, the younger son in the parable takes himself off to a far  country. Since Yeshua was talking to an audience of Jews living in  Israel then it is presumed that he is speaking of a place outside the  Promised Land. 

Israel was always meant to be a place of refuge, both for those born  of Abraham’s lineage and those who chose to covenant with them. It was  meant to be a place where the Torah was upheld by righteous leaders, a  place where foreigners were welcomed with kindness, a place where  orphans and widows were cared for, where both mercy and justice were in  perfect harmony (as evidenced by the Cities of Refuge), and a nation  ruled by a righteous King whose ways are perfect and whose extravagant  love defines him. 

Likewise, as those joined in Covenant with Yeshua, we are part of the  Kingdom of Yahweh, in fact we are not just citizens of this kingdom,  but adopted sons and daughters who can never be cut off from our  inheritance of the riches of the eternal Promised Land (Eph 1:15-23) and  the hope of one day being present with him in that world to come. 

And yet, we forget that, don’t we? Instead of focusing on all that we  have, and all that is promised to us, we continue grasping. We think  the grass is greener on the other side of the fence. We lust after the  things of this world. And if we are not vigilant we can easily find  ourselves deep into the “far-country” squandering our inheritance. 

You see, the younger son was not “lost” in the sense that he didn’t  know where his true home was. He’d already tasted life beneath his  father’s care and he knew full well how to return to the place he’d  walked away from. He was lost because he was reckless with what he’d  been given and because his focus was on his own immediate  self-gratification instead of protecting his future and that of his  progeny. 

Yeshua tells us that once all the money was gone, things went from  bad to worse. A famine hit the land where the younger son had gone and  now he was not only broke, he was desperate and the foreigners refused  to give him aid. This “far-off land” was obviously not a place where the  Torah was practiced, because beneath Moses’s law measures were taken to  ensure that even the poor were able to glean in the fields. 

So, what did the younger son do? Did he remember what a wonderful,  graceful father he had and run back home? Did he remember that in his  own country even the poor were offered the dignity of partaking of the  bounty of the land? No. He attempted to solve the problem himself. 

Luke 15:15 says that he “joined himself” to a citizen of the foreign  country. The Greek term used in this verse is the word kollao (Strongs  2853) which means to glue, or unite. Our translations render it as  “employed himself” or “hired himself” but the other instances where  kollao is used in the Word it is for joining two people together in a  more permanent way. More in the sense of cleaving (as in marriage) or  bonding longterm. So this could mean that the young man was simply  employing himself to a foreign man, but perhaps it could even be an  indentured servitude, or slavery. Whatever situation he got himself  into, it was a deliberate choice and an obvious lack of understanding of  the merciful nature of his father. 

If you are like me, then when we find ourselves in difficult  situations, either from circumstances or from our own bad decisions, our  human response is to try to fix it. We tell ourselves that we will just  “do better” or “work harder” or (insert solution here). 

And all too often, instead of humbling ourselves, we dig our heels in  deeper. We join ourselves in partnership with earthly aids. We cling to  self-help books and human wisdom instead of relying on the divine  wisdom in the Word and the direction of the Holy Spirit. Instead of  running back into the refuge freely offered by our Father, we wander  around in the far-country trying to solve our own problems and then  wonder why our efforts ultimately fail. 

But regardless of our sometimes messed-up notions about who our  Father is—either due to faulty doctrines, ignorance, or false  assumptions based on our own human fathers’ failures—Yahweh is who he  says he is. He is good. He is righteous. He is loving. He is gracious.  He delights in mercy. And his love never fails. We don’t have to fix  ourselves, because we have been already gifted the transformative power  of grace. We don’t have to carry our own burdens because Yeshua says he  will carry them for us. We don’t have to wander this world alone and  hopeless, because our Father’s eyes are ever on us, always waiting for  us to humble ourselves and ran back to the sanctuary he provides. The  gates of his city are never closed to us. They are wide open, always  ready to welcome us and shelter us from every storm. And thankfully, the  Light of the World himself has shown us the Way (John 14:1-15) and it  is through Yeshua that we can come to more fully comprehend exactly who  our Father is and the true depths of his great and sacrificial love for  us.  

Questions for Consideration:

When have you tried to solve a problem in your life and ended up  making it worse? What pain might you have avoided if you’d turned  immediately to the Word for guidance? 

What burdens are you attempting to carry on your own right now that  need to be surrendered? Take a few moments to lay those issues before  the foot of the throne, in humility, and with gratitude that he already  knows the outcome of whatever circumstance you are going through today.    

Do you see Yahweh as a loving father patiently for you with  outstretched arms? Or has a broken relationship with an earthly father  tainted your view of him? Spend some time with the Lord asking him to  reveal any confusion you’ve had about his nature and then commit to  prayerfully digging into the Word and searching out the true attributes  of the Father who loved you from before the world began.