I know that people usually are looking at the two sons or the Father when reading the parable of the prodigal son but today the Lord brought my attention to the 'hired servants' and how good even they had it under this particular Father.
Then he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into the fields to feed the swine. And he would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods that the swine ate, and no one gave him anything. But when he came to himself...' The young man realized that he didn't even have it as good as the swine he was feeding and in that moment he remembered how good even the hired servants in his Father's house had it. He said to himself, 'How many of my Father's hired servants have bread enough to spare, and I perish with hunger!' Did you catch this phrase...'have bread enough to spare?'
The word I want to share with you today is the word enough. Enough; (4052) to superabound (in quantity or quality) to be in excess, be superfluous, to cause to superabound or excel. You know what that tells me? This Father is one generous employer! The son remembered how generous his Father had been even with the hired servants. He knew that they didn't have just what they needed to get by but that they even had an excess amount, or as he put it, 'bread to spare!'
When I was looking the word enough up I also noticed that it was used twice in Genesis 33 by 2 different people and that it had 2 different meanings. The first was in verse 9 and it is Esau talking to Jacob ...But Esau said, "I have enough, my brother; keep what you have for yourself." It is the word rab; 7227; it means abundance (in quantity, size, age, number, rank, quality) So basically Esau was telling his brother, "I have an abundance or a lot go ahead and keep it. I don't have a need for it."
The second time it is used is in verse 11 by Jacob when he responds and says, "Please, take my blessing that is brought to you, because God has dealt graciously with me, and because I have enough." And he urged him, and he took it. This time the word is kwol; 3605; and it means the whole; hence all, any or every. It comes from a root word 3634 that simply means; to complete and is translated as (make) perfect. So while Esau is saying he has an abundance or a lot; Jacob is claiming that God has dealt so graciously with him that he has the complete, right perfect amount. He has it all.
We, as His people need to know, beyond a shadow of doubt that, He is "Enough!" He is my all in all! He is the abundance that provides all my needs. Seek ye first the kingdom of God and all these things will be added unto you! isn't just empty words. Its a promise that we can depend on the fact that He is the 'enough' we need! He is the enough that completes us!
The young man had it right. Its better to be a hired servant in the house of his Father than to spend one more moment attached to a citizen of the world struggling to get by. Why? Because in the Father's house there is always ENOUGH!
O Lord God, a day in Your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in Your house, O God, than dwell in the tents of wickedness. For You, O Lord God are a sun and a shield; You give grace and glory; No good thing will You withhold from those who walk uprightly. O Lord of hosts, Blessed am I as I trust in You! Psalm 84:10-12
Check out http://snackpackdevotionsforkidz.blogspot.com
Following us on Facebook or Twitter options are now available!
No comments:
Post a Comment