The story of the prodigal son is one of my favorite stories in the Bible found in Luke 15. So many truths are found in this story. In fact, last summer, I did a short series on the prodigal son and the different truths I had learned from this story.
This past week, as I was preparing to preach in Children’s Church, I came across another truth that I want to share with you today, “Blessings of the Father’s House.”
Growing up, the younger son, the one we know as the prodigal, had everything he needed. His father provided everything and his sons never went without. His sons never had to worry where their food was going to come from, where they were going to sleep at night. Everything was taken care of by the father.
I believe that as these two boys grew up in this house, their father expected them to work. The father wanted them to learn the business and what it meant to have a job and do it correctly. Yet, the father still provided them everything they needed.
We all know the story. The younger son demanded his inheritance, he took it and journeyed to a far country. There in the far country, he wasted every penny of his inheritance until he had nothing left. A famine came and this young man went and found a job in a pig pen. A dirty, lowly job feeding and taking care of pigs. After some time, he realized that the servants at his father’s house were better off than he was. He started his journey home and when he was close, his father ran out and met him and welcomed him home. His father had a feast to celebrate the return of his son!
While this young man was sitting in the pig pen, he was thinking about home and how his servants fared better than he did. He was thinking about the blessings he had at his father’s house.
The first blessing this young man probably thought of was that of peace. You see in the father’s house, everything was taken care of. There was no worry or fretting or stressing out about whether things were going to be taken care of or not. There was a calmness about the house because the father was in control. When the young man went to the far country, there he lived a riotous life, a life of no peace, a life that eventually led him to a point where he was worried about food and his livelihood.
The second blessing that the younger son probably thought was that of provision. We see that when he came to his senses, he realized the servants at his father’s house never went without. While he was living at home, everything he needed was provided for him. In the far country, he had to provide for himself and he came to the point where he had nothing but the slop in the pig pen.
Another blessing I think this young man thought of was the blessing of protection. Why protection? Think of how nervous this young man was when he strolled into town with his inheritance. There were probably a lot of so called ‘friends’ after his money. News probably travelled fast of the rich kid in town and he probably worried day and night about his safety. While he was living at home, he had no worries of whether he was safe or not. He was in the father’s house and inside those walls there was protection.
This story is a parable told by Jesus. A parable is a fictitious story with a lesson to be learned from it. The father portrayed in this story is our Heavenly Father. We have an opportunity to be apart of His family, a child of God. “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.” John 1:12 When we become a child of God, the blessings of the Father’s house become ours.
We can find peace as a child of God. God is there to help us through the storms and give us strength when we are weak. He is there to ease the troubled mind.
God provides for His children. He will supply their need. He will make sure His own never go begging for bread.
Our Heavenly Father protects us from the attacks of Satan. He will take care of His children when they are attacked and threatened.
The blessings of the Father’s house are there for each one of us to enjoy. But you have to be one of His children, are you? Do you know Christ as your Saviour?
