We were the only two waiting for the other funeral guests to arrive when my brother told me a story he’d read. It was about a little child that could only crawl, who died of starvation and exposure just a few hundred meters from a ministry that was there to find and feed the starving children of that country.
My brother, solid and brave, reached to wipe tears off his brown Alabama-kissed cheeks for a baby who died on the other side of the world. His whisper filled the empty church, “He was so close.”
Outside the window, big feathers of snow covered everything dirty and man-made with a pure white blanket.
That precious child is a picture of so many of us, who are so close to the deliverance from all that torments us, so close to the Kingdom God has promised that reaches for us, searches for us, to rescue, heal, and feed us with what we’ve been missing. But we’ve tried and crawled until we’re so weak, we give out.
The lies we believe suck the life out of us. We’re starved for truth and love, for a gentle hand to dress us and clean us and speak kindly to us—no matter what we’ve done, no matter who we’ve hurt, no matter what we’ve said—If we’re willing to turn our backs on our old way of life with our whole heart, we will immediately find ourselves in the presence of the ministry of God, supernaturally arrived where we are surrounded by all that heals. All that torments is silenced and every accusing thought is unwelcome and barred from coming near us.
Emptiness is filled with fullness and purpose, shivers of death and loneliness are replaced by warmth, and the starving places comforted with truth. Darkness is driven out by Light.
We come to ourselves, and the Father’s Presence erupts with ecstatic celebration that we’ve come home to Him.
Unlike the child in the field who was found too late, God knows where we are and comes running out to us. He finds us and lifts us up when we’re too spiritually weak to even make it, and He carries us.
But something tragic often happens in that moment. All that torments us begins to speak from our own mouths: I’m not worthy of this. I’ve been like this for too long. I don’t deserve God’s love. Leave me here.
Those lies are why we’re emaciated and lost to begin with.
We have to let it go and let God rescue us.
If this is you, go limp in His arms and surrender all that you are to His love. Leave the old ways behind—not in your strength, because you have no strength left, but in His strength, which is forgiveness and grace, available just for the asking. Leave it all behind on purpose, turn away from it forever, and let the breath of God’s Spirit lift your spirit back to life.
Let God redeem you, and you’ll see the power of deliverance have its cataclysmic effect on the darkness in your life.
God will do it, because this is the whole reason Jesus came—for this, for you.
When he came to himself, he said… ‘Even my father’s hired servants eat better than this, with plenty left over. Yet here I am starving to death, feeding these pigs! I will get up and go back to my father and say to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’ So he got up and headed home to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him. He ran hard to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him. The son said to him, ‘Father, I’ve sinned against heaven and against you. I’m no longer worthy to be called your son.’ But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate! For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!’ And everyone celebrated with overflowing joy.”
~ Luke 15:11-24