Breakfast at Tiffany’s: I will arise

And when he came to himself, he said… “I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee…” Luke 15:17a-18

The story of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-32) is the story of a young Jewish boy who decided the life planned for him and the rules he must live by are all too confining and dull. He goes to a far country, gets in with the wrong crowd, suffers financial reverses, and winds up in a pigpen. For him, as for so many, the pigpen is a symbol of a hopeless “holding tank” with no way out.  

In a very true sense, the story of the Prodigal Son is the story of every person who decided to turn away from the Heavenly Father, taking the Father’s gifts in order to sustain a lifestyle which is not pleasing to the Father.

The Jews from the Old Testament detested pigs. They were unclean animals. We see here that the Prodigal Son had sunk so low that he was below the pigs, feeding them. As you live against Father God, you will fall so far as to even go against your deepest belief system.

No human being was ever meant to be at home in a pigpen. It is important to remember that every prodigal has the image of God stamped upon them. We are all made in the image of God. We are not all children of God, but He made us to become children of God! No one was created to dwell in a hopeless situation. God says, “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you… thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end” (Jer. 29:11). 

When the Prodigal Son started thinking about the wholesomeness and provision at his father’s house, he had a moment of clarity. He said, “I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee” (v. 18).

There is a new starting point when a person remembers they have a choice in how they will live. When a person says, “I will arise,” they are finally saying:

I am not going to blame others anymore.

I am not going to wait for help.

I am leaving this evil place and this hopeless situation.

If you want God, be of good cheer because God wants you. The father of the prodigal was watching with 20/20 vision and so does God. The father ran to meet his repentant child and declared, “For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found (v. 24).” God waits for our choice, and then when we choose Him, He runs to us. He meets us! It is not our perfection, but His declaration that speaks hope: “For this my son.” Our hope is in a loving Father God, not in our record as a miserable sinner.

Are you overwhelmed and exhausted because of what seems like a hopeless situation? Perhaps it is time to say together with the Prodigal Son, “I will arise.”