Planetshakers “Running After You”

Scripture
Luke 15:11, “A man had two sons. The younger son told his father, ‘I want my share of your estate….”

Observation
Those words of Jesus had a familiar ring to the Jews who first heard Jesus speak. It was akin to saying, “Once upon a time there were three bears….” Jesus was borrowing the outline from a very familiar story to his audience: the story of Jacob leaving his father Isaac, stealing an inheritance and opening a wound of sibling rivalry with his brother Esau.

But what Jesus did with the story in fiction is very different from the story in fact. Jacob is supposed to be a symbol of the Jews but Jesus painted him as the immoral son living among Gentiles. That was offensive. Then Jesus made Esau (the man without character who took pagan wives) the symbol of the Jews in their hardness toward the sinners and publicans who were coming to Christ. Both of those parallels were a slap in the face to get his listener’s attention. Jesus’ message is clear: those closest to God can be furthest away from him. We can be lost and not even know it.

But what is most surprising is how Jesus pictured his Father. He was no longer Isaac the lord of the manor who commanded his son to go out and fetch food for him. Jesus did three things that are very unlike how we assume God should behave.

The Father gave(while he was still alive} his entire estate knowing that was the the only way to bring his son home.

The Father ran (at a time when the boss man would never be seen running on the farm} to show how much he forgave.

The Father begged (at a time when panhandling was just for street people) to get his older son to come into the house and reconcile with his brother.

Application
Jesus messed with their perspective of the Father. He does the same with us today. We need a fresh picture of the heavenly Father giving, running and begging. The picture is disturbing because God wants us to come home to him. The Father brings us home by alluring us with his vulnerability. The Father wants me home.

Prayer
Father, this perspective of you is almost embarrassing. Why? Because if you not just humble yourself but humiliate yourself to search for me, then your behavior requires me to drop my pride and come running after you. I receive the offense that is woven into this story. I let it change my heart. I come running after you. Amen.

Scripture
When the Israelites escaped from Egypt—
when the family of Jacob left that foreign land—
the land of Judah became God’s sanctuary,
and Israel became his kingdom.
The Red Sea saw them coming and hurried out of their way!
The water of the Jordan River turned away.
The mountains skipped like rams,
the hills like lambs!
What’s wrong, Red Sea, that made you hurry out of their way?
What happened, Jordan River, that you turned away?
Why, mountains, did you skip like rams?
Why, hills, like lambs?
Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord,
at the presence of the God of Jacob.
He turned the rock into a pool of water;
yes, a spring of water flowed from solid rock. Psalm 114:1-8

Observation
What does God look like from a rock’s point of view?
How does the ocean feel about the Almighty?
How does a river react to the presence of the Lord?

Those may seem like odd questions, but they are exactly what Psalm 114 asks. When God shows up things change; that’s the message of this psalm. Even the rocks and oceans and rivers make a reaction when God arrives on the scene.

The poet picks inanimate, natural objects like stones and water to show just how daunting the presence of the Lord really is. If inert objects snap to attention at the passing of God, then we can have every confidence that anything else that may block his path will also move.

If you follow God’s personal Daytimer as recorded in the Bible, it is clear that there are times when the Lord seems to step back and allow human events to unfold with divine tampering. Then when human events have reached a crisis, or the sins of the people have reached full measure, God steps in the ring and takes control.

That flux of God in and out of human affairs takes some getting used to, especially when it is your life that could use some divine intervention. God doesn’t show up exactly when we would like him to, and he arrives on the scene when we least expect him. But we can be certain of this…God will show up.

Application
There can be stubborn rock slides that block our progress or raging torrents that even a four wheel drive will not cross. There can be insurmountable obstacles that are before us. But of this we can be certain nothing can stop the Lord from accomplishing his will.

Every time we are asked to worship the Lord it is an invitation to re-calibrate what we are daunted by and fearful of. Instead of shaking in fear at the rocks and rivers in our way we should be trembling at the presence of the Lord. We need to be afraid of the right thing.

Prayer
Father, I ask you to show up.� � Amen.