“Good understanding giveth favour: But the way of transgressors is hard.” (Proverbs 13:15, KJV)
This verse has had a strong impact on me throughout my life, having been raised in church. I never wanted to find myself away from God as an unfaithful one: a transgressor.
Twenty-three years ago, our son, a licensed minister, decided he was done with how he was raised. Our world and family were suddenly and drastically changed, but not for the better. God’s mighty hand is always at work. We see it today, though we could not see it then. God Himself faithfully ministered to us for the next twelve years. All things were working for good.
When God’s covenant children walk away from Him, He doesn’t walk away from them. The way of the transgressor is hard, yet we have the sure promises of God that He will never leave nor forsake us (Deuteronomy 3:18, Hebrews 13:5).
We were challenged at times to believe that God was with our son in his rebellion; however, God’s Word cannot lie. (Read Numbers 23:19, I Samuel 15:29, Hebrews 6:18.) We chose to trust and believe in God’s faithfulness that wherever he was, God was with him, loving him. After his return, our son shared how God’s presence was always with him, and though he wasn’t being faithful, God was. God’s love endures (Psalm 136).
Jeremiah 31:17 became our hopeful prayer. “And there is hope in thine end, saith the LORD, that thy children shall come again to their own border.”
We believed, “All the promises of God in Him are yea, and in Him Amen, unto the glory of God by us” (II Corinthians 1:20). As Vesta Mangun has said, it was time to “Live out what we say we believe,” and we did.
Diving deep into the Word with prayer and fasting, we found anointed, scriptural counsel. (Read John 14:26-27.) Our lives were miraculously changed as we intentionally and fully placed our trust in God, allowing Him to work in ways we never could have imagined. Our son returned in December of 2012, a broken man. Today, he is a healed and restored intercessor with his father. He ministers daily to prodigals and their parents.
Our prodigals are returning, for we stand on the promises of God. They will not be the same as when they left, for many are broken. However, we can trust God, our Father, our Healer, to heal and restore (Jeremiah 30:17, KJV).
In the end, the latter will be greater: lives healed, hearts mended, and families reunited. God’s Word is sure.
