You Cannot Run from God

(Luke 15:14-20 KJV) And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want. And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him. And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants. And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.

There have been thousands of sermons preached on the subject of the Prodigal Son. With each sermon it is easy to become personally involved and begin picturing ourselves as one of its characters. We can imagine ourselves as the Prodigal Son, or the father, or even the older brother.

However, there is another character in this story that we never imagine ourselves as being and that is the pig farmer. We can imagine what one of the main characters thought, but we never imagine what the pig farmer might have thought when hiring this young Jewish man to feed his pigs. Was he happy because he hired cheap labor, or did he have thoughts of disgust because he saw the Mark of Greatness on a young man who was wasting his life and trying to run away from who he was created to be?

The fact is, there is a presence in each one of us that oftentimes reveals more about who we are than what we actually say. A presence, a look, an anointing, the way we carry ourselves and even the confidence we have...speaks volumes as to who we really are.

One day while driving in our downtown area I noticed a homeless woman covered with a blanket, sitting next to a building. Seeing homeless people in most downtown areas these days is not an uncommon scene. However, in this particular case this woman looked as completely out of place as the Prodigal Son must have looked feeding pigs.

She was not only pretty, but she looked as if she had the hand of God on her life. I was certain that she was trying to run away from God, but she was probably unaware that she could not escape His presence and love, no matter where she went or what she did.

In the few seconds that I looked at her as I drove by, it seemed that I prophetically knew all about her. I wanted to stop my car and jump out and run up to her and start shouting, "I know who you are. What are you doing here? Go home, you cannot run away and hide from God." However, I was in heavy traffic and there was no place to park, so I passed her by.

The fact is, one may lie to himself but God will show others who you 'really' are. He will show others your anointing and the call that He has on your life. One cannot escape the mark of God.

The Prodigal Son tried to hide his identity by working in a pig pen, but he did not fool anyone...not even the pig farmer.

I wonder how many folks who are reading this meditation are denying their spiritual identity and think that no one knows who they really are. They are trying to run away from God, but they cannot.

Father,

As the Prodigal Son came to himself, I pray by now that the woman on the street I saw covered with the blanket has also come to herself. Help each of us Lord to know who we are in You so we can unashamedly walk in our spiritual identity and anointing. Father I suppose all of us have a little bit of the spirit of the Prodigal Son in us, but help us Lord not to yield to the "Prodigal temptation."

Amen