THE sinner, too often, is like a prodigal in a far country, who has received a letter from home—he knows the handwriting and the postmark, but he does not like the contents of the letter, so he puts it aside. He knows its language, but he thrusts from his soul its appeals to him to return.
Now the sinner knows whence the Scriptures come; he knows that it is God who speaks, and that he is called by God’s word to heaven, but he likes not the words—he loves his sins, he loves the world—so he thrusts from his conscience the words of love which reveal to him his evil ways.
As time rolls on, the prodigal finds that the warnings of the letter are coming true. After all, the far country is not what it promised to be, neither are the friends what they professed to be. Love, he finds, is not to be had away from the old home, and in his straits the prodigal needs love, for it is when we are in need that we require kindness most. We do not expect to find the world disinterested, but our own people care for us naturally. So the wanderer thinks of home. He opens the letter laid aside for years, and as he reads it his heart rises into his throat. Proud and bad as he is, he cannot but weep!
Which had been dead those years his soul, or the letter? The letter is the same as when it was written—not a dot of an i, nor a cross of a t is altered, but his soul is changed. Then the prodigal bows his soul; he believes the message of love, and returns home at the letter’s bidding. So does the word of God work within our hearts, when, by God’s grace, we at length feel our need of His goodness. We may have His word upon our shelves or in our hands for years, and yet be dead to it. The word is living, but we are dead. At length our souls feel their need, and we open the Book. It is God who speaks to us. It is the word we heard in our childhood; it is the same old, old story, but now it comes straight home to a broken and contrite heart. It is all true, and ever was true; but now we believe it, henceforward it is true to us. We learn that God is love—that He loves us—and, with tears and penitence, we turn to God; we return to Him at His bidding.