Pig Pen
You are going to fall; it is not a matter of if but when. Proverbs 24:16 says that even a righteous man falls seven times. Sometimes, it is sin that causes us to fall, and sometimes, it is just trouble as a result of living in this world. Some of us veer to the left or the right, choosing our own path. Some of us stay the course that the LORD has set before us, and yet, we all end up in the same place, fallen.
“When I fall, I will arise; when I sit in darkness, the LORD will be a light to me” (Micah 7:8). There are two types of fallen people: those who stay fallen and those who get back up. Those who fall towards God, those who fall away from God, those who use the fall to examine themselves, and those who blame God for everything.
The parable of the Prodigal Son describes a young man who goes to his father and says, “Gimme, gimme!” “Gimme what is mine, gimme everything I am entitled to! Keep your love, wisdom, guidance, and instruction, and gimme your stuff!” Knowing the incredible foolishness of this request from his son, the Father grants it anyway. He gives his son all the requested riches, everything he asks for. After all, the son has free will to do what he pleases, so he takes the riches and blessings of his father and squanders them out in the world, wasting them in prodigal living. When the party is over, all his fortune is gone, and the son finds himself living in a pig pen. As a Jewish man, he is not supposed to be anywhere near pigs, let alone bunking with them and eating their leftovers. He realizes that he had it better in his father's house, so he returns home, resolved to work as one of his father’s servants. When he arrives, his father rolls out the red carpet, having seen him coming from afar. Joyous to have his son home, he throws a lavish party, sparing no expense to celebrate the return of his once lost son (Lk. 15:11-24).
The son made a huge mistake leaving his father, but it was his mistake, not anyone else's. The trouble he got into was not his father's fault, his sin put him in that pig pen. The son ruined his own life because of greed. The great thing about this young man was that he was not so full of pride that he refused to get up and go home. He realized that the only way out of the mess he had made was to go home, back to his father. When he returned, he was not scrutinized or condemned; nothing had changed in his father's heart towards him; he still loved him, maybe even a little more than before.
How did you get here? How did you fall so far from God? It does not matter; get up and go back home to the Father. God is our Father, and God is love, but if you want off the straight and narrow path, He has given you free will so He will not try to stop you. The LORD sees you headed straight toward the pig pen. He does not care about the details of how you got there. He is interested in when you are going to get up and come home.
God gave us the Way, Jesus Christ. He invites us to walk along with Him throughout life. Many of us choose to veer to the right or left, turn off His designated path, and go another way. We may have a good time or two, but we end up in darkness, broken, and fallen, and then we wonder, where did God go? Why did He let this happen to me? We ask, why did He leave me? He did not leave, you are the one who left home. You veered off course, but there is good news, there is always good news when you serve a good God. The Father is still there, exact path, and the same plan; nothing has changed about His love for you. He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ (Phil. 1:6). The LORD still wants you with Him, but He is not changing course for you, and He will not wallow in the pig pen with you. He will, however, be there with open arms when you decide to come home.
If you are walking in darkness, get off that path and walk with Jesus Christ in the light. We all make mistakes and fall; the question is, will we allow God to work in our lives after we fall? Will we stay in the pig pen? Or will we allow the LORD to take our failures and turn them into victories?
