0297. The Home Longing

The Home Longing

"How many hired servants of my father’s have bread enough and to spare, but I perish with hunger" (Luk_15:17).

1. This longing for home began when the prodigal had spent all, and when he was left to "feeding swine."

When he began to be in want, those who had treated him so well, during the days while his goods lasted, forgot and forsook him. He was forced to the meanest of tasks for a Jew–the feeding of the swine. Not that alone, but his toil was not sufficient to meet his needs, he was "perishing with hunger," no one would give him to eat.

This is the tragedy of serving sin. Sin will wreck you, rob you, and leave you wounded and naked on the road to die. Sin will take your health, break your heart, wreck your home and then turn a deaf ear to your cry. Sin is a pitiless tyrant. Sin paints roseate pictures of its gardens, but its flowers yield a perfume that produces the sleep of eternal death.

"And in hell he lifted up his eyes being in torment," and begged a drop of water for his parched tongue.

2. His utter despair brought him back to his senses. "He came to himself," then he thought of home. His dire distress brought back the memory of his father’s bounty. He said: "How many hired servants of my father’s have bread enough and to spare." The far country gave him less than was enjoyed by the servants at his home.

Home looked good once more. It had once seemed too tame, and too secluded. To be a "son" was, in the former days, not even worth the while, but now, to be a "servant" was his highest boon. "If I could only get back to the back yard, if I could black my father’s boots and do the chores, I would be satisfied," thought the prodigal.

There he sat and there he considered his ways. Home was gone, food gone, character gone, goods were gone, clothing was gone, father was gone, joy was gone–there he sat, and longed for a servant’s place.

He was penniless, for he had "spent all;" he was friendless, for "no man gave unto him;" he was hungry, for he said, "I perish with hunger."

Illustration: A blind boy was flying his kite. He seemed the picture of contentment as he sat there, holding onto the string. A gentleman spoke thus to the lad: "My little boy, why do you fly a kite when you are blind and you cannot see it in the sky?" The little blind lad replied, "Mister, I just like to feel it pull." And, there was something that had begun to pull on the heartstrings of the prodigal son–it was the father’s house and the father’s love.

Autor: R.E. NEIGHBOUR