Get Out of the Hog Pen!

One of my favorite stories from the Bible is the one about the Prodigal Son. He is the young man who asked his father for all of the inheritance that he was to get, and then left home. He went out and wasted his money on riotous living~basically, he partied all of his time and money away. When he got completely broke and without friends or food, he found himself in the hog pen feeding hogs. It was then that he realized how far from grace he had fallen. He gets up and heads back home to his father.

There are times in my life when I feel so close to God. I love him and I can feel his unconditional love for me. My heart is just overjoyed. I begin to think that there is nothing that can separate us. Then, I continue living. Then, I run into a bump in the road. I find myself lured into places I shouldn’t be. I fall down. I discover myself in the hog pen.

I become angry with myself for having made stupid mistakes~for yielding to temptation. Hey, don’t judge. God saw you when you ate that piece of chocolate cake when you were supposed to be on a diet.

It is then that I come to myself. I look around and realize that I am in the hog pen. I have wandered off from my Father’s house. I am no longer at the palace. I am in mud. It is at that moment that I cry out to my Father to forgive me and save me. I confess my sins. I crawl out of the hog pen. I spray myself off, change my clothes, and return to my Father.

My God is just to forgive us. He is willing and able to restore us unto him. So, if you find yourself in the hog pen~if you have fallen down, don’t just stay there and wallow in the mess. Get up. Ask for forgiven and head back to the palace.

As the songwriter said, “A saint is just a sinner who fall down and got up.”

Luke 15: 11-32                                                                                    Joel 2: 25