We Are All Prodigal Sons and Daughters
How do we know God loves us? Is there any evidence in the Scriptures telling us that He does? Is there an image perhaps to which we can easily point to prove that we are loved by God in the most intimate and unmistakable way? There are actually a whole busload of examples, of which the following may be the most profound and compelling of all. It is certainly the most recent, appearing just the other day in one of the Lenten readings taken from the prophet Isaiah (49:6-15).
What is most arresting about the image is that it reveals a God speaking to Israel as though He were addressing a young child, frightened and alone in a world too menacing to face. He wants to allay the child’s fear of abandonment, of that sudden desolating state in which the child sees no hope of escape, no prospect of rescue or relief. And so the Lord reaches out to the child, to comfort this child after His own heart, with the certainty that He at least has not forgotten him, that He will never forsake him. It is an unspeakably beautiful passage, evoking an intimacy never before expressed between God and the people of the book, of the promise uniquely given to them by God.
And so, seizing upon the most perfect image, He asks, “Can a mother forget her infant, be without tenderness for the child of her womb?” Such an astonishing image that must have been to those about to undergo the pain of exile and loss! What greater consolation could there be than the certainty of knowing that God, not unlike a mother choosing to love her child, is no less moved to love His own child, the offspring of the covenant He first made with Abraham?
Now, of course, God is their Father, the Primal One who fashioned Israel into a people, a nation whos
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LewRockwell.com is a libertarian website that publishes articles, essays, and blog posts advocating for minimal government, free markets, and individual liberty. The site was founded by Lew Rockwell, an American libertarian political commentator, activist, and former congressional staffer. The website often features content that is critical of mainstream politics, state intervention, and foreign policy, among other topics. It is a platform frequently used to disseminate Austrian economics, a school of economic thought that is popular among some libertarians.
