Wisdom and Revelation...

Ephesians 1:17 (Contemporary English Version)

17I ask the glorious Father and God of our Lord Jesus Christ to give you his Spirit. The Spirit will make you wise and let you understand what it means to know God.

Job 36:26 (New King James Version)

26 “ Behold, God is great, and we do not know Him;

Today a friend contacted me and asked me to pray for her - it seems her husband that left her 7 years ago wants to come home....

I remember how devastated she was when he left - it caught her completely by surprise and she sank into a deep depression as a result. She was hospitalized for over a month and others came and took care of her and her home in the interim.

Now, he wants to come home.

Wow.

What a decision that has to be made.

I am reminded of a catchy phrase that the Lord whispers in my ear regularly - "Sing like nobody's listening; dance like nobody's watching; love like you've never been hurt."

A lesson that I had to learn first hand and continue to be taught - "love like you've never been hurt" and now my friend is facing the same thing.

And then I think about Jesus. I think about the parable of the prodigal...isn't that what it's all about? Loving like you've never been hurt? Isn't that what the father did? Even after his son came to him and demanded his inheritance stating something like "give me what I've got coming to me" and then left and spent it foolishly...

Even so, when he came home the father was overjoyed! He not only welcomed him back home but he made him the guest of honor - all the pain and separation dissolved into thin air and they were once again united....

I know this is a picture of how God feels when we return home to Him - that He will always welcome us with open arms; that we have nothing to fear and that "the porch light" is always lit -- He's always waiting with His arms extended ready to hold us close.

But I also think that there is a practical, earthly application. Aren't we obligated to forgive even before forgiveness is requested? And shouldn't we welcome with open arms one who wants to return after a period of separation? Are we able? No, not in our flesh we are not. But, yes!, when we lean into the arms of Jesus and lean on His understanding and not our own, we are able to do all sorts of difficult if not impossible things...

Ephesians 1:17-19 (English Standard Version)

¹⁷that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, ¹⁸ having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, ¹⁹and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might