30th Mar 26 | 13:54
Studies by Book
Luke 15 11-32 To seek and the save the lost - The prodigal son 08 Man has sought his own course
📖 Luke 15:11-32
19Feb2020 - *Man has sought his own course* - _Luke 15:11-32_ - Bible reading: _Jeremiah 8:4-6_
_Luke 15:14-16 But when he had spent all, there arose a severe famine in that land, and he began to be in want. (15) Then he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. (16) And he would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods that the swine ate, and no one gave him anything._
When a person rejects the ways of the Lord, there is sorrow upon sorrow. Anything that the person does to fill the void, will only be ever more frustrating. The younger son had grown up in the loving atmosphere of his father’s home but yet he wanted to go his own way. He was now sliding down a slippery slope and there was no stopping his wretched state of free fall.
_Romans 1:21 because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened._ This is the terrible state of man. Not that man does not know the ways of God but man does not want to honour and glorify God, neither is man thankful and grateful to God for all that God is to him.
_Isaiah 44:20 He feeds on ashes; A deceived heart has turned him aside; And he cannot deliver his soul, Nor say, "Is there not a lie in my right hand?"_ How often we see people feeding on ashes. We wonder how could people be so foolish, yet this is the deception that sets in, in rejecting God and His ways. When corrected, their ego does not allow them to repent and return to God. Man is not able to see the lie that he is holding on to, in his right hand. Man makes lies his strength.
The younger son went to a citizen of that country for refuge, who did not give him any protection but rather exploited him.
_Jeremiah 8:4-6 “Moreover you shall say to them, 'Thus says the LORD: "Will they fall and not rise? Will one turn away and not return? (5) Why has this people slidden back, Jerusalem, in a perpetual backsliding? They hold fast to deceit, They refuse to return. (6) I listened and heard, But they do not speak aright. No man repented of his wickedness, Saying, 'What have I done?' Everyone turned to his own course, As the horse rushes into the battle._
The sin of man is that man has *sought his own course*. We have glorified this philosophy of life. We are proud to call ourselves as ‘self-made’ persons but we are not willing to acknowledge that the ache and emptiness within, remains. The younger son was still seeking his own course, which led him to a shameful life.
_Ezekiel 16:52 You who judged your sisters, bear your own shame also, because the sins which you committed were more abominable than theirs; they are more righteous than you. Yes, be disgraced also, and bear your own shame, because you justified your sisters._
It was shameful and disgraceful for a Jewish boy to feed swine but that was where this younger son had reached. He had reached a place of shame. This is the agenda of satan. _John 10:10 The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly._ Jesus comes seeking for us, to give us, abundant life.
*Thought to ponder*
```Are you able to see the pathetic condition of the lost, all around you and does it disturb you?```