Rest.
It seems real rest is impossible for those of us who love and pray for a prodigal, but in reality, it is a God-given gift for all of us. Yes! Even for us!
Jesus said it this way, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-29, underline added). He definitely included us! We have often been heavy laden, but He gives the plan for rest: take His yoke instead of those we continually try to carry.
Sometimes the yoke we carry is guilt over our past actions. Sometimes it is worry about whether we contributed in any way to our prodigals’ leaving the faith. Sometimes it is fear that they will never be saved because they have free will. Sometimes we are in the heat of the battle and don’t know our part or what to do or not do. Sometimes we fear for their lives. Sometimes we worry over the Lord’s soon return and whether they will be saved in time. Sometimes it just seems hopeless.
So, if the yoke the Lord has for us is easy and light, why does rest seem so elusive?
Those yokes we put on are not the yokes the Lord has for us to carry. Those wrong yokes can be destroyed through asking God to forgive us for our sins and forgiving ourselves; faith in God’s saving power; fear’s being replaced by power, love, and a sound mind; trusting our armor and Guide and our prodigals’ Defender and Savior; or asking the God of hope to “fill [us] with all joy and peace in believing, that [we] may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” (Romans 15:13). All wrong yokes can be destroyed by trusting the Lord.
Proverb 3:5-6 reminds us: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.”
It is not God’s perfect will for us to be heavy laden with a yoke never intended for us, but the enemy wants to destroy us and will use our prodigals’ choices to do so.
So. Let’s put things into their proper perspective in our diligence “to enter that rest” (Hebrews 4:11). We are not almighty, all-sufficient God, and we cannot always be with them nor command the armies of angels to fight for them or to minister to them. We are not their Father, Savior, Deliverer, Redeemer, Healer, Provider, Banner, Helper, Shepherd, Righteousness, Most High God, or Sanctifier.
BUT!
BUT we know Who is! We know Who is all of them and more!
He is also their Creator and Creator of all things!
He is Jehovah, the great I AM!
He is all-powerful, all-knowing, all-wise God.
Satan is nowhere near Elohim in power and might, nor can he or his demons be everywhere all the time! In fact, they are outnumbered by heavenly angels two-to-one!
We know all of these things because they are revealed in the Word of God, and the biblical formula for resting is the Word mixed with faith (Hebrews 4:1-3a). We take God at His Word, because He cannot leave a promise unfulfilled, and He cannot change, so all the things we read about Him in His Word will always remain the same, and the things He promised will come to pass. Therefore, when Isaiah 59:1 tells us: “Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, That it cannot save,” we trust that His arm is long enough to save our prodigals!
Our best strategy is to stay in our Bibles and rest without acting, speaking applying healing salve, or rescuing unless or until the Holy Spirit directs us to do so, and then we rest throughout those processes. (This goes for our own prodigals or for the prodigals of others to whom God sends us.) Otherwise, it is on Him. It’s His responsibility and definitely in His purview, so we rest!
“Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest” (Hebrews 4:11).
