Rest in the Presence, episode 22 (rebroadcast)

0:00 Do you love a prodigal? Do you feel like you are lost in a scary and endless wilderness? Welcome to the When You Love a Prodigal podcast. I am Judy Douglass and I spent more than 15 years in that wilderness. I believe together we will discover help and hope for your journey. Did you appreciate last week's conversation with Alan and Gem Fadling? Did you feel like they were talking about you always in a hurry, rushing from one commitment to another? Were you able to apply some of their helpful suggestions for living an unhurried life? Hopefully you will find lots of rest over the next four weeks as we discover what God offers us in the way of rest. Today we will start with this word from the prophet Jeremiah. He says, stand at the crossroads and look. Ask for the ancient pass, ask where the good way is and walk in it and you will find rest for your souls. When our prodigal Josh was 15 and in one of his brief better seasons as a prodigal, he served for a week as a junior

1:31 counselor at a wilderness camp for at-risk boys. He was barely older than they were. One activity included a five-mile hike with each counselor leading a small group. Josh and his boys came to a crossroads looking for the right turn to take the right path to get back to camp. Unfortunately, they took the wrong turn and their five-mile hike turned into 10 miles. When they finally made it back to camp, they were sore, tired, and not happy.

2:14 These boys had not intended to take the wrong path on their hike, but sadly for our wanderers, they have chosen the wrong path for their lives or at least for this part of their lives and they have no rest because choosing the wrong path is exhausting. Unfortunately, we sometimes choose the wrong path as well. We have entered the fray with our prodigals. There's a battle going on. We seek to be in control, to make things happen the way we want, to win that battle. And our minds are exhausted from striving to know where our prodigals are and what they're doing, trying to find something that works to bring them back. Our hearts are so weary from the battle, the confusion, the loss, the fear. Even our bodies are tired, depleted from conflict, sleep deprived, worn out from going to and fro looking for help. So are you tired, weary? Do you need a break? When you love a prodigal, it is usually normal to say yes to those questions. I am tired. I am weary. I really need a break.

3:47 Here's what God says. He says, take the day off. Take the day off? That doesn't sound possible. God is a great fan of rest. He rested after creating the universe. He provided a day of rest for us. In fact, He commanded us to rest. He said, everyone in the home plus the animals in their stalls need to take a day off and rest. He required that even the land get a year off every seven years. I think God is serious about rest. And rest is especially relevant and needful to anyone who loves a prodigal. As we consider God's attention to rest, our first focus will be on finding rest for ourselves, our bodies, our minds, our spirits. Then in the weeks to come, we will also talk about praying rest for our prodigals. Just think how weary they must be as they fight against you, the demons and addictions, and against the eternal God. Perhaps some rest for their souls will give them the desire, the will to abandon the fight they have chosen and walk a different path,

5:20 a good path. As the scripture I quoted at the beginning encourages us, let's look for God's good and ancient paths that wind their way to rest, rest for our souls. We will begin with the greatest place for rest in the presence of God. During the darkest years of our journey with our prodigal, I had a friend who was there for me. She came when I needed her. She listened. She wept. She encouraged. She prayed. I could be sure that I could lean against her when I was weak, or she would catch me before I fell, or pick me up when I crashed. Her presence was often a place of rest for me in the midst of the seemingly never-ending turmoil and weariness. But she could only hold me up for so long. She grew weary in the battle as well. But there is one who is always there for me, who knows and feels my deepest pain, who listens and weeps and encourages and prays. He invites me to lean on him, his everlasting arms always waiting to catch me. His right hand reaches out to pull me up. Trying to live away from God's presence is exhausting. We know it.

6:58 When we try to control our prodigals, we grow weary. Exhaustion haunts us as we pursue every effort to restore our loved ones. Our prodigals also grow weary as they run from God and seek pleasure and even meaning for their lives apart from him. But there is rest in his presence. In Exodus, God said to Moses, my presence will go with you and I will give you rest. So today, if this is a bad day in your journey, or tomorrow, on your hard days, remember God says, my presence will go with you and I will give you rest. Moses understood how vital it was to be in the presence of the Lord. He replied, if your presence does not go with us as we head into the promised land, if you don't go with us, don't even send us. We can't go. He says, unless you're with us, we're not going. God was pleased and replied, I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you and I will proclaim my name, the Lord, in your presence. And God's presence went with them. David assures us in Psalm 16, you make known to me the path of life. You will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal

8:36 pleasures at your right hand. Jesus himself said in Matthew, I am with you always, even to the end of the age, always he's with us. He is available, waiting for us to come to him. When we seek him out, when we dwell in his presence, we will find rest. The same is true for our prodigals. We can pray for the presence of God to surround them, comfort them, overwhelm them. We can ask God to give them a taste of the rest they are missing as they wander far from his presence. And the Apostle John in 1 John confirms it. He says, we set our hearts at rest in his presence so we can know that when we are weary, we can go into the arms of God and in his presence, we will find rest for our bodies and our minds and our souls, Lord, our souls at rest. And the same can happen for our prodigal, but we can only for the most part pray that God's presence would surround them and they would become aware of their weariness and remember where they'll find rest for their souls in

10:10 the presence of God. Something to think about. When have you finally given up and fallen into God's arms and the rest he gives? Or and what has helped you to dwell, to keep living, to dwell in the presence of God? God bless you. Thank you for joining me today on the When You Love a Prodigal podcast. If you enjoyed today's episode, please subscribe, rate and review the show on Apple podcasts or wherever you listen. Your review helps the show reach more people with the hope and encouragement of Jesus. Don't forget, take a look at the show notes and for more helpful information, resources and books, check out judydouglass.com. That's Douglass with two S's. You can find me on Facebook and on Twitter and Instagram at JudyDouglass417. Until next week.