“I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants.”
Luke 15:18-19 KJV
In my last post, I shared on how the prodigal son taught us to go big and also go with God. You can read that here. With this latest installment, I write on what I believe is the most important takeaway from his story.
The prodigal son was a mature Christian. He knew and understood the ordinances that governed asking and receiving what you want from your Father. He essentially understood the principles of the Kingdom. However, he got to a realm where his knowledge and understanding could not prevent his substance from being spent nor save him from famine. He suffered the loss of all things and it was in this period of his broken state, that he revealed to us the most important attribute there is in one’s relationship with the Father – Mercy!
The prodigal son was hungry. He who asked and received had come to the point where no one gave to him. As a broken man, he did the one thing that most of us would have found very difficult to do – to go back home and admit he was wrong. It was then the Father showed him mercy. It was about mercy because, the prodigal son never stopped being a son in the eyes of his Father, but he was at the point where his sonship, a symbol of authority in his Father’s house which had earlier given him everything he asked, did not, at this point, hold any currency for the prodigal son to demand things. He was now only going to receive things by mercy although a son.
One of the things we soon come to realize as we grow is that, there’s a realm where life throws curveballs at us. We encounter situations where no matter our level of intelligence or strength, or our knowledge of God and His ways, or the eloquence or length of our prayers, we’re woefully underprepared to handle them. It will take only mercy to get us out. We may know all the principles that govern favour but we must still ask God to show us mercy and favour us. We may have read all the books on marriage and listened to all the sermons from different pastors on the subject but we must still ask God to show us mercy in our marriage. It is true being diligent will bring us before kings but while we go about our job with diligence, we must ask God to show us mercy and bless the works of our hands. We may have confessed all the scriptures that govern healing and breakthroughs but the only change we see is the worsening of the situation. It is at this point we drop our big spiritual titles and supposed maturity in Christ and go by mercy!
When the prodigal son went back home, he revealed to us three dimensions of mercy that we can experience from the Father:
Mercy Will Bridge The Gap.
The Father ran to meet His returning son when He saw him from afar. The prodigal son did not travel the entire distance to meet his Father at home. The Father bridged the gap. There are job roles we are in without the requisite qualifications nor experience. There are things we have that came much earlier than when our parents or others had them. These things didn’t happen just because we were better. It may only be because we took the first step and mercy bridged the gap.
Mercy Will Cover The Shame.
The prodigal son came back home with tattered clothes and no footwear. He had lost the glory of the son. Mercy took care of that and gave him new clothes and shoes to wear and a ring on his finger. This is the version of mercy most Christians are used to – when they ask God for forgiveness of sins. Mercy will take away our shame and restore our glory.
Mercy Will Give You More.
The prodigal son expected to only eat the bread of servants probably in a secluded place to avoid awkward questions from nosy people when he got back home. His Father had other ideas. He threw a party in his honour and killed the fattened calf on his behalf. This was way much more than the prodigal son expected. He came looking for bread, he got a fattened calf instead. Like Isaac, we may have prayed for our wife to conceive and expected a child to wipe away our tears. Maybe if God is in a magnanimous mood, He can give us twins. But when God goes ahead to put 2 nations in our wife’s womb, it definitely has to be mercy because show me which ordinance or principles one can possibly fulfill to birth nations! There’s more we can experience form the Father under mercy.
The prodigal son came to his Father the first time by ordinance and principles to ask for his inheritance and got exactly that. This time around, he comes by mercy and gets more than he expected. There’s so much more in God. As human as we are, no matter what we know, we’re still limited in our knowledge. When we come by knowledge to ask God for things, we can only receive from what we know. However, God lavishes the riches of His glory on the objects of His mercy (Romans 9:23). So when God decides to show a man mercy, what was asked becomes redundant. God shows off the vastness of His immeasurable riches on such a one. It really is not of him that runneth nor of him that willeth but God that showeth mercy! (Romans 9:16)
When Moses asked to see the glory of God, the first attribute God proclaimed of Himself was that He was merciful (Exodus 34). In 2 Samuel 7, we find out it wasn’t just the presence of God that was taken away from Saul but rather His mercy. Even though Saul remained king, a lack of that singular attribute totally changed the trajectory of his reign. In Babylon one time, the wise men and magicians were going to be put to death while the unwise lived because those who claimed to be wise had reached the point where their knowledge and wisdom could not tell and interpret the king’s dream. It took mercy for the mystery that was hidden from the wise to be revealed to Daniel (Daniel 2:17-18).
It’s important to grow and mature in our walk with God. It’s important to know His ways and the ordinances that govern the performance of the things we seek from Him. However, there’s only so much we can know or do to fulfill the righteous requirement for everything we desire. Our lifetime is too short to have the same experiences as the prodigal son and suffer similar consequences. We must go quickly by mercy when all others fail!
JeruWrites 
Leave a comment