Romans 10:21

New International Version (NIV)

“All day long I have held out my hands
to a disobedient and obstinate people.”

For Meditation

He needed his son’s help, so he confidently called his foreign number. Shockingly, the young man cut him off on the third ring. Almost instantly, a text message popped up.

“Watching football, dad!”

“Thank you … Have a great evening watching football,” dad texted back visibly cut to heart.

“I’ll call you when I’m done.”

His wife asked for the phone; and you know what mama was going to do. But dad wouldn’t allow it.

Later that night, another text popped up.

“Hi, dad … You still up?”[Silence]

The phone rings the day after. It was a cold early Wednesday morning, and dad was still snuggled in bed. He checked the number and pulled the warm bedspread over his head. With a cup of coffee in hand later, dad texted his son:

“What I wanted to talk about is past. Have a good day.”

“Okay, you too.”

Unknown to dad, mama had reprimanded her son the previous day and he was seeking an opportunity to apologize. Dad, however, was bent on giving his son a taste of his own medicine, so he declined the son’s call a second time.

At high noon, dad sat by a pond in a nearby park preparing a message for that evening’s seminar. He couldn’t miss the voice that spoke so clearly:

“Are you offended by your son’s behavior? Do you know the number of times you have declined my call because you were too busy doing something else you loved?  Your failure to respond to my call for your attention has always communicated the same message your son texted to you.What if I turned away from you when you called or refused to hear your plea for forgiveness when you prayed? How would you feel?”

1. Has the Lord had you straight up in the face that way before?
2. Have you ever considered how God feels when we prioritize everything above His call on our life?
3. How many times have our actions said to the Lord: “Dad, I am in the middle of something. I’ll call you when I am done here?”
4. How would it sound to us if the Lord turned the tables on us?
5. What if He were to cut off the flow of His mercy and grace because we chose our pleasure over His delight?

I learned this lesson the day I sat by the lake in the Park, preparing for a three-day marriage seminar. My son had wounded me by his behavior, but the Lord used that painful experience to open His heart to me in such circumstances, and to teach me a good lesson in spiritual sensitivity and obedience.

So: May you never experience the cruelty of a son’s rejection like I did, ever; but as you accept this wish, may you determine to drop everything in response to God when He demands your attention at any time.

Nothing is worth more than the call of God in Christ Jesus.

Shalom