FAITH: Banished from the Father’s House
Jan 24th, 2008 by azdean
I posted a short story last Friday (the 18th) called The Daughter where I attempted to show that our Father not only takes us off of the streets of sin and shame and into His house where we can gratefully serve Him for all He’s done, but that He has also adopted us as one of His sons or daughters. This is an amazing thing.
But yesterday, on the Daily Reflection posted on The High Calling website, the scripture used was Genesis 3:23:
So the LORD God banished them from the Garden of Eden, and he sent Adam out to cultivate the ground from which he had been made.
Consider that the Hebrew word used in this verse for “banished” actually means “to send out, to stretch out, as a finger”. There was something very personal in how God sent Adam and Eve out of the Garden. He didn’t just banish them from paradise. He banished them from His presence.
The reflection that Mark D Roberts wrote for that verse in Genesis said that, “there remains in us a yearning for things to be put right”. In other words, there is a yearning in us for the paradise that we lost to be restored.
But that yearning goes much deeper — for our banishment was from a person, not just a place — however wonderful that place was. Across the ages, we still feel the sting and shame of that rejection, and we yearn to be reunited — not just with gardens and paradise — but with Him.
As Christians, it is easy to think that our redemption has satisfied our yearning, but we are frequently like the “daughter” in my fictional story. We are very grateful for being allowed back into the Father’s house, but it is quite hard to overcome the sense of shame and that sense that God personally rejected us — literally banishing us from paradise with His very finger that ordered us to leave His presence.
For me, this is why the story of the prodigal son resonates so deeply. Common sense tells us that the best thing we could possibly hope for is that the Father will take us back in as a slave. We don’t even deserve this, and yet we know our Father is loving and merciful so at least we can hope for this. But our Father’s mercy and love is FAR greater than anything we expect, for Jesus tells us that the Father is constantly looking for our return and when He sees us, He comes running out to meet us with arms open wide.
He may have banished us with His finger. But He paid the price for our return and welcomes us back with open arms. He doesn’t just take us in as servants, but as sons and daughters. He doesn’t leave us naked, but puts His robe on us and puts a ring on our finger.
We deserved to be banished. We felt the sting. But He never forgot us and planned all along to bring us back. So we could feel the love of His welcoming embrace. And erase the sting forever.
Amazing!
