Rest in the Presence, episode 22 (rebroadcast)

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Do you love a prodigal? Do you feel like you are lost in a scary and endless wilderness?

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Welcome to the When You Love a Prodigal podcast. I am Judy Douglass and I spent more than 15

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years in that wilderness. I believe together we will discover help and hope for your journey.

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Did you appreciate last week's conversation with Alan and Gem Fadling? Did you feel like

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they were talking about you always in a hurry, rushing from one commitment to another? Were

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you able to apply some of their helpful suggestions for living an unhurried life? Hopefully you

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will find lots of rest over the next four weeks as we discover what God offers us in

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the way of rest. Today we will start with this word from the prophet Jeremiah. He says,

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stand at the crossroads and look. Ask for the ancient pass, ask where the good way is

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and walk in it and you will find rest for your souls. When our prodigal Josh was 15

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and in one of his brief better seasons as a prodigal, he served for a week as a junior

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counselor at a wilderness camp for at-risk boys. He was barely older than they were.

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One activity included a five-mile hike with each counselor leading a small group. Josh

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and his boys came to a crossroads looking for the right turn to take the right path

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to get back to camp. Unfortunately, they took the wrong turn and their five-mile hike turned

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into 10 miles. When they finally made it back to camp, they were sore, tired, and not happy.

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These boys had not intended to take the wrong path on their hike, but sadly for our wanderers,

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they have chosen the wrong path for their lives or at least for this part of their lives

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and they have no rest because choosing the wrong path is exhausting. Unfortunately, we

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sometimes choose the wrong path as well. We have entered the fray with our prodigals.

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There's a battle going on. We seek to be in control, to make things happen the way we

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want, to win that battle. And our minds are exhausted from striving to know where our

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prodigals are and what they're doing, trying to find something that works to bring them

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back. Our hearts are so weary from the battle, the confusion, the loss, the fear. Even our

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bodies are tired, depleted from conflict, sleep deprived, worn out from going to and

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fro looking for help. So are you tired, weary? Do you need a break? When you love a prodigal,

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it is usually normal to say yes to those questions. I am tired. I am weary. I really need a break.

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Here's what God says. He says, take the day off. Take the day off? That doesn't sound

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possible. God is a great fan of rest. He rested after creating the universe. He provided a

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day of rest for us. In fact, He commanded us to rest. He said, everyone in the home

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plus the animals in their stalls need to take a day off and rest. He required that even

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the land get a year off every seven years. I think God is serious about rest. And rest

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is especially relevant and needful to anyone who loves a prodigal. As we consider God's

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attention to rest, our first focus will be on finding rest for ourselves, our bodies,

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our minds, our spirits. Then in the weeks to come, we will also talk about praying rest

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for our prodigals. Just think how weary they must be as they fight against you, the demons

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and addictions, and against the eternal God. Perhaps some rest for their souls will give

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them the desire, the will to abandon the fight they have chosen and walk a different path,

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a good path. As the scripture I quoted at the beginning encourages us, let's look for

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God's good and ancient paths that wind their way to rest, rest for our souls. We will begin

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with the greatest place for rest in the presence of God. During the darkest years of our journey

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with our prodigal, I had a friend who was there for me. She came when I needed her.

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She listened. She wept. She encouraged. She prayed. I could be sure that I could lean

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against her when I was weak, or she would catch me before I fell, or pick me up when

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I crashed. Her presence was often a place of rest for me in the midst of the seemingly

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never-ending turmoil and weariness. But she could only hold me up for so long. She grew

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weary in the battle as well. But there is one who is always there for me, who knows

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and feels my deepest pain, who listens and weeps and encourages and prays. He invites

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me to lean on him, his everlasting arms always waiting to catch me. His right hand reaches

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out to pull me up. Trying to live away from God's presence is exhausting. We know it.

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When we try to control our prodigals, we grow weary. Exhaustion haunts us as we pursue every

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effort to restore our loved ones. Our prodigals also grow weary as they run from God and seek

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pleasure and even meaning for their lives apart from him. But there is rest in his presence.

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In Exodus, God said to Moses, my presence will go with you and I will give you rest.

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So today, if this is a bad day in your journey, or tomorrow, on your hard days, remember God

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says, my presence will go with you and I will give you rest. Moses understood how vital

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it was to be in the presence of the Lord. He replied, if your presence does not go with

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us as we head into the promised land, if you don't go with us, don't even send us. We can't

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go. He says, unless you're with us, we're not going. God was pleased and replied, I

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will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you and I will proclaim my name, the Lord,

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in your presence. And God's presence went with them. David assures us in Psalm 16, you

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make known to me the path of life. You will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal

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pleasures at your right hand. Jesus himself said in Matthew, I am with you always, even

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to the end of the age, always he's with us. He is available, waiting for us to come to

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him. When we seek him out, when we dwell in his presence, we will find rest. The same

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is true for our prodigals. We can pray for the presence of God to surround them, comfort

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them, overwhelm them. We can ask God to give them a taste of the rest they are missing

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as they wander far from his presence. And the Apostle John in 1 John confirms it. He

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says, we set our hearts at rest in his presence so we can know that when we are weary, we

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can go into the arms of God and in his presence, we will find rest for our bodies and our minds

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and our souls, Lord, our souls at rest. And the same can happen for our prodigal, but

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we can only for the most part pray that God's presence would surround them and they would

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become aware of their weariness and remember where they'll find rest for their souls in

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the presence of God. Something to think about. When have you finally given up and fallen

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into God's arms and the rest he gives? Or and what has helped you to dwell, to keep

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living, to dwell in the presence of God? God bless you. Thank you for joining me today

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on the When You Love a Prodigal podcast. If you enjoyed today's episode, please subscribe,

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rate and review the show on Apple podcasts or wherever you listen. Your review helps

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the show reach more people with the hope and encouragement of Jesus. Don't forget, take

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a look at the show notes and for more helpful information, resources and books, check out

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judydouglass.com. That's Douglass with two S's. You can find me on Facebook and on Twitter

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and Instagram at JudyDouglass417. Until next week.