Thursday, June 19, 2008

A King and His Son

And it came to pass that a king had a son and was well pleased with him and fed him and kept him safe from harm. And the king taught his son laws and rules to live by and gave his son a teacher. And in time, the son grew up and grew fat and coarse and waxed thick and did associate with evil neighbors and hearkened not unto the words of his father. And the king did send messengers to his son telling him to resist these evil men and to obey the voice of his father. And the son paid the messengers no heed. And the king did banish his son from the kingdom, though it grieved his heart to do so. And the son fell on hard times and did wish to be back with his father but found the gates barred. And after a while, the king relented of his anger and sent a messenger saying, return to me. And the son sent a reply back saying, I cannot come, the distance is too great. And the king answered, come as far as you are able, and I will come the rest of the way to you.


So too does God deal with us. God is the king. Israel (us) is his son (Exodus 4:22). God has lovingly provided for all our needs (Psalm 145:15-17). He gave us His holy Torah to teach us how to live. And he sent Moses our teacher. And lo, we have been blessed to live in a land of religious freedom and we are in a land of silk and money and we have not obeyed the Lord our God. For who among us does not sin? And we are tempted by evil influences all day and our own heart and our own eyes often lead us astray. And though we know we are to obey God's voice we all fall short of God's glory. And in hard times it can seem that the gates of heaven are barred though we pray with all our might. But God is a gracious and merciful God. And He asks that we return to Him. And we acknowledge that we cannot do it on our own. Our sins create a gulf between us and God. How can we bridge it? And God says, come as far as you are able, and I will come the rest of the way. "Return to me and I will return to you." Zechariah 1:3

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