When we won’t come in…

Then he became angry and didn’t want to go in. So his father came out… (Luke 15:28)

Those words really struck me when I read them.

Most times when we read the story of the prodigal son, we focus on the younger son.

But it wasn’t only the younger son that the father cared for. He also cared for the older.

And when his older son was acting bitter and stupid and refused to come into the house, his father went out to him.

How often are we like that older son? Sometimes, because of our circumstances, or because of how we feel God is treating us, we become bitter and stupid, refusing to come into his presence.

But when we won’t come in, God goes out to us.

It’s the grace that he showed when he first saved us. And it’s the grace he extends to us even now.

The psalmist Asaph himself experienced that grace. He wrote,

When I became embittered
and my innermost being was wounded,
I was stupid and didn’t understand;
I was an unthinking animal toward you.

Yet I am always with you;
you hold my right hand.

You guide me with your counsel,
and afterward you will take me up in glory. (Psalm 73:21-24)