You can Trust The Father or Mercies and God of All Comfort

(from "Parents of Prodigals: Biblical Guidance for Parents of Gender Confused Children" )

Blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ, The Father of mercies, and God of all comfort; Who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God (2 Corinthians 1:3-4).

".....He leads me beside still waters" (Psalm 23:2b)

Why Lord?

As parents of prodigals, you have probably been on a wild ride just like us.  The question many of us are asking is “Why Lord?” Why must my son or daughter go through this?" Why are you putting our family through this trial?” “How am I going to get through this?”  All of the answers to these questions are found in the Word of God.  We will find hope for our prodigals return, hope and help for our hurting soul, and help from the scriptures, as we walk through this study together.  As we begin to look at the Foundations to Equip, we will need to remember, and constantly be referring to, our key verse (above). It will be a guide for us through the entire study, and to root our souls in God’s truth.  What amazing encouragement we find in our God, His character, and the way He loves and cares for us.  Let's look at 2 Corinthians 1:3-4.  

God, through the apostle Paul, reminds us in these verses who He is.  Paul calls us right back to the cross and wants us to remember who God has been and is to us.  (Psalmist does that here in Psalm 77:11).  2 Corinthians 1:3 start out with praise and worship, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ”.  Paul is praising God for being the God and Father of our Savior and Lord, Jesus.  Paul is in one sense reminding us of the God that is at the center of it all.  He sent Christ to die that we might live (1 Peter 2:24), He sent his son into the world to live the perfect life we could never live, and then to die in our place the death that our sin rightly deserved (2 Corinthians 5:21).  He brought us life through Christ (Ephesians 2:4-5).  We remember that we too were all prodigals, lost, pursuing our own paths of sin. Isaiah 53:6 reminds us that “All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned - every one - to his own way”, in other words, we were all at one time on the prodigal path.  God then pursued us, broke into our world, revealed His love and mercy to us, showed us Jesus’ Love and sacrifice for us on the cross, and then gave us new life in Christ Jesus our Lord (1 Peter 1:3).

God Saved Us; He Can Do It Again With Our Prodigals!

Remember your own salvation story. Recall when God brought you to Himself.  You were not unsavable, not eternally lost, not beyond God’s ability to call out of darkness into his glorious light (1 Peter 2:9).  And neither is your prodigal son or daughter beyond the saving reach of our Savior (Romans 10:12-13).  When God determines it is the right time and hour, grace will flow into our kid’s hearts like water from a tap, God just turns it on!  Hope in your God (Romans 15:13).  He is in the business of saving shipwrecked, sinful people like you and me. He is the Lord, compassionate, merciful and kind (Psalm 103:8-18).  He rules over hearts, even our prodigal kid’s hearts (Proverbs 21:1). They are lost, but may we live to see the day when they are found by our Lord and Savior.  He is still in the business of transforming the lost like our prodigals (Ezekiel 36:26).  

This is the God that we hope in. We need this anchor of our soul and to give us hope for our prodigal son or daughter’s soul too (Isaiah 26:3-4).  Do we believe in the God that can do the impossible (Job 42:2)?  Do we believe in the God that is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, that saving and merciful God?  The one that sent Christ to save, redeem, and renew our lost children?  We need to keep this hope in our Lord, that He can do the impossible.  Many times the deep trials are there to remind us of who God is and to always hope in what God can do (Romans 5:2-5).  

I Lost Hope, but God Wasn’t Done

My son at the very young age of 20, left our home as a prodigal. My wife and I were deeply troubled by his departure from us, the church family, and from following Jesus.  I had always hoped that he was saved, but didn’t know where he was really at, except that he was eagerly following after his sin. There was a long time in which I fell into the thinking that there was no way God could fix him, so I gave up praying for things I could never imagine God doing.  

Over the next couple of years my faith was shallow, and in my mind I began to believe God was unable to do anything for my boy.  After a few years, his marriage blew out and he came home for a time.  Relationships that had been damaged between us began to be repaired, his heart was saying all the right things, and for a time I started praying the right way again with encouragement and faith that maybe God was doing something in my son’s life.

His stay in our home ended after a short 4 months.  My son returned to his prodigal life, starting the cycle all over again after meeting, who would soon become his second wife.  It was then that I realized my faith was way off in what God could do with my son.  I had been thinking “the die was cast” and the future was just going to play out, as my son lived a life without Jesus.  

What I didn’t know is that Jesus was in my son’s heart and mind the entire time he was a prodigal.  In God’s timing, 15 years after leaving our home and living a prodigal life, the Lord brought some hard but amazing changes into my son’s world.  After finding himself a single father of two, God had gotten ahold of him.  Now 35, he told me he had started going back to church, and had also joined a men’s group at church.  I was thrilled! In the coming weeks he mentioned he was part of a home group and was attending the membership meetings at the church. 

I couldn’t even wrap my head around what God was doing. I was ashamed that I had not been praying for such things with real faith that God could do it.  My son eventually became a member at the church and started taking his two little ones to Bible club midweek and Sunday School.  Wow, what was God up to with my son?  We have had many conversations about his past, the bad choices, trials and hard times he had been through living the prodigal life, and also shared how faithful and kind the Lord has been to him along the way.  

Angels Rejoice When The Prodigal Returns

His heart is now resolved, “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord” (Joshua 24:15).  Who is this God that amazingly restored my prodigal son? He is the Lord Jesus! What is impossible with man (mom and dad encouraging him to follow Jesus) Is possible with God.  Never forget that God is a saving God, he sent the Lord to “seek and save the lost” (Luke 19:10).  That included you, me, and we are praying that it includes all of our prodigals too.  

The God of Mercy

Look at the next phrase in our verse, “The Father of mercies and God of all comfort”.  Here Paul is reminding us of who God is in His character.  Remembering his mercy is beyond our understanding.  The Bible tells us that God is “RICH in mercy” (Ephesians 2:2-5).  Why would a holy God save anyone, let alone me?  The question isn’t “Lord, why haven’t you saved my prodigal?” but, “Lord, thank you for showing incredible mercy and turning me to you”.  Our hope is that this same God, who is the “Father of mercies”, the one that is always showing mercy to the lost, those deep in their sin, is still doing it with the lost all around us.  

What is it for the Lord, who is the Father of mercies, to show mercy to another lost soul?  Our prodigal is just another dead soul the Lord can make alive. He has the power and ability to change the most hardened sinner and bring them peace and joy in Jesus.  This is the hope we have for our prodigals.  Do not cease praying to the “Father of Mercies” to be merciful to your wayward child just as He was to you.  Do you believe that God can do this?  

God is also building stories of His great grace in the lives of the lost (Ephesians 2:7-8).  God magnifies his mercies when we are in such desperate need of them.  Sometimes God has to show us when we are wayward that we are dead and lifeless without him before he shows us grace and mercy (Ephesians 2:4-5).  Imagine the child you raise and longed to know Jesus, longed to have the blessed life you had always wanted for them, was to be restored and given that very heart and life? God can do it! God’s mercies include radical restoration, renewal and blessings we can not imagine. Prodigals do return (Luke 15:11-32), Christ restores those that deny Him (John 21:15-19), and God does restore what has been taken away (Job 42:10-17).   

The God of Comfort

He also is the “God of all comfort”.  He is that reassuring Father that reminds us He can do anything and we can trust Him (Proverbs 3:5-6).  He has it all planned out (Romans 8:28)  We don’t need to fear, He will not let anything overwhelm us when we are staying near to Him (Isaiah 41:10).  He is faithful to always be at our side through whatever may come and He holds us by the hand (Psalm 37:23).  He is The God of all comfort.  

There is not a situation that he is not there calling you to trust him, reminding us that he has everything in perfect control.  He grants the peace that passes all understanding (Philippians 4:6-7).  I know that I need that kind of comfort all the time.  When life is in chaos and the plans of our hearts fall apart, when our loved ones spin off following their idols, when life just isn’t panning out like we anticipated or dreamed it would, God is at the helm.  He is directing it all and ready to comfort us when we don’t understand what He is up to. 

God Comforts Us So That We Can Comfort Others

Lastly, there is the small little purpose clause God throws into the verse.  That is “so that” we may be able to comfort others with the comfort by which we have been comforted by God.  This is our calling as brothers and sisters in Christ.  We love and help each other along life’s path.  We encourage, exhort, support, bear one another’s burdens, and bring our world of experiencing God’s comfort in our lives to comfort each other.  That will be a huge benefit to all of us in this study.  

There are many stories you will hear in our study together of how God has been our hope, shown mercy, and has comforted us through having a prodigal son or daughter.  You are going to hear stories of what we have been through and how God helped us through it when we called out to Him.  Hopefully these stories, as well as the ones of God calling the prodigals home to faith in Christ, will encourage your heart and help you to trust “the God of all comforts.”   

We do hope that God will meet you right where you are, helping you through what you are going through, giving you hope in the Father of mercy, and keeping you close to your God of all comforts as you go through the difficult times of being a parent of a prodigal.  We hope the Lord uses what we have been through to comfort and encourage you, as we have been comforted by our incredible kind and loving Heavenly Father (2 Corinthians 1:3-4).    

Summary & Conclusion

We have briefly looked at: 

1. God’s amazing grace in our lives gives us hope and encouragement that God is a saving God.  He can do it again! 

2. God’s character of being merciful and kind, encouraging us that he can easily save our prodigals

3. God’s great comfort we receive as we walk close to the Lord,

4. And the “So That.” God comforts us so that we can bring help and comfort to others.

Individual Homework / Couples Homework

Truth to Confess/Repent

Blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ, The Father of mercies, and God of all comfort; Who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God (2 Corinthians 1:3-4).

Lord, am I remembering your great love and sacrifice for me?  Does it lead me to praise you for your great mercies in my life?  Am I remembering that I was once very lost, just like my prodigal, but I was not beyond your saving hand?  Am I keeping hope alive in my heart that you can do the impossible?  How have you shown me mercy in my life?  How are some ways I can bring comfort to others because I have been shown comfort by you, my Heavenly Father?  How is my faith in you, Lord?  Is it strong or weak? Where have I been tempted to think “this is impossible” for you?  

Profess / Growth

Lord, you are the God of Mercy and Comfort. Sometimes I forget. But I want to lean into that promise today. I commit to looking to you for my comfort, and having faith and confidence you will provide.

Lord, I am so grateful that you have comforted me. Is it your will that I try to comfort others? Would you show me what I can do?

Unity with my Spouse

As you work through this chapter, look for ways to encourage your spouse. Set a date night to review, or discuss over dessert. Here are some areas to review:

1. Pray together that as you discuss this section, your thoughts and speech will honor God.

2. Lord, am I remembering your great love and sacrifice for me?  Does it lead me to praise you for your great mercies in my life?  

3. Are we remembering that we were once very lost, just like my prodigal and we were not beyond your saving hand?  Share with each other testimonies of God’s mercy and comfort in your lives. Take a moment to praise God.

4. Am I keeping hope alive in my heart that you can do the impossible?  What are some memories of God meeting you in the hardest times that bring you hope in God? Share with each other

5. How are some ways I can bring comfort to my spouse? How can I comfort others because I have been shown comfort by you, my Heavenly Father? 

6. How is my faith in you, Lord?  Is it strong or weak? Where have I been tempted to think “this is impossible” for you?  Be specific as you share your heart with each other.

Memory verse

Choose a verse from this section to memorize. Why do we do this? Why is it so crucially important? Read Psalm 119:11 to find out.

A Powerful Prayer

 Psalm 51:10-13

Create in me a clean heart, O God,    and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence,    and take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation,    and uphold me with a willing spirit.

Then I will teach transgressors your ways,    and sinners will return to you.

Lord, would you please give me a clean heart and a right spirit? And Lord, I ask the same for _____________(my prodigal). 

Please draw me into your presence, and bless me with your Holy Spirit, and _____________ as well. We both need you desperately, Lord. 

Lord, I have joy in your salvation, please give this to _____________. I want so badly for __________ to have your peace and joy.

Lord, please give me a willing spirit to reach out to ______________, teaching my prodigal your ways, doing everything I can to return them to you. I thank you for my true friends ____________, and ___________ who told me the truth, comforted me, and led me to a closer relationship with You. 

Amen.

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