Digging Deeper – December 4, 2023
12 The younger son told his father, ‘I want my share of your estate now before you die.’ So his father agreed to divide his wealth between his sons.
13 “A few days later this younger son packed all his belongings and moved to a distant land, and there he wasted all his money in wild living.
Luke 15:12-13 (NLT)
THE NEED TO ESCAPE
Have you ever felt the need to escape? Maybe coming up on the holidays you’re feeling overwhelmed, exhausted, or overworked. You’re just ready to get out of the office, out of the house or just out of the current rhythm of your everyday life. I think we all have these seasons, but I encourage you to dig deeper into the reason you’re feeling this way.
Maybe it’s just a healthy need for more work/ life balance. This is important! God wants us to have rest. He literally shows us what that looks like in Genesis! Sabbath is good, important, and necessary. Spending time away from everyday life can be healthy for gaining fresh perspective, renewed energy, and God-given inspiration.
But we need to be careful when we find ourselves looking to escape because a lack of reliance on God. Have we failed to trust His plan? Have we avoided spending time with Him, finding rest each day in His presence? Are we leaving Home because we are choosing to follow our own path instead of God’s for our life?
When the Prodigal Son left home, he was wanting his father’s things (his inheritance), but not his father. The relationship between the son and his father was just a means to an end of the son getting what he wanted at that moment (instant gratification). And now he was ready to stray far from home.
The parable of the Prodigal Son could be a more extreme example of escape than what you have experienced in your life, but we all have choices in our lives where we must decide: are we going to follow God’s path, or is the path we can create for ourselves better? Choosing our own path is a tougher, more tiresome road. We will find exhaustion and that “need to escape” much more often.
When we choose to follow the path God has set for us, we can find rest and fulfillment in Him and in knowing that our satisfaction is found in Him alone. We will never find satisfaction apart from God. In fact, the more time we spend with the Lord reading His Word, praying, and digging deeper, the more satisfaction we will find and we’ll see the path before us more clearly.
Our ultimate escape will one day be the plan that God has perfected, the return of Christ– when the world is restored to how God created it to be. Our longing for escape will be satisfied completely. May you find a great desire to be present, find rest, and follow the path God has set forth for you. And may your time that you spend escaping everyday life be filled with healthy rest in the Lord!
Courtney Miller is the Special Needs ministry Director at NorthStar Church. She was born a Texas girl, but has lived in Georgia the majority of her life (Go Dawgs!). She married her husband, Chris, in 2012. They have two children with a third on the way.