It's here: Part 9 of the 9 part series - how to get prayers answered
The Rhythm of The Gospels - D17
DAILY DEVOTIONAL
7/18/20262 min read
He Was Already Running.
The Father who never stopped watching the road — Luke 15:20
"But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him." — Luke 15:20 (NKJV)
He had been rehearsing the speech for days.
You can hear him practicing it in the silence of the long road home — each word weighed, the tone calibrated carefully between penitence and practicality. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants. He wasn't coming home expecting a welcome. He was coming home hoping to negotiate a job. He had done the math on himself, and the math was not generous.
What he didn't know, what he couldn't have imagined from the far country, was that his father had been watching the road. Every morning, maybe. Standing at the edge of the property at the hour when travelers appear on the horizon, scanning for a silhouette he had memorized and never stopped missing. And on this particular morning, something in the distance caught his eye. A familiar gait. The same posture he had watched walk away. And before another thought formed, his feet were already moving.
Men of his standing did not run. It was beneath them — undignified, the kind of thing that made people stare. But this father gathered his robe in both hands and ran down that road toward a son who was still looking at the ground, still mouthing the speech, who had not yet lifted his eyes to see what was already coming for him.
He never got to finish the speech.
His father's arms were around him before the words were out. The robe that had been rehearsed as a confession got swallowed by an embrace. And then — before the son could argue, before he could redirect the welcome toward something smaller and more deserved — there was a robe on his shoulders, a ring on his finger, sandals on his feet, and the sound of a feast being prepared.
Here is what this story asks you to sit with today: you may be further down that road than you realize. Not the far country — the road home. The part of the journey where you're still rehearsing a diminished version of yourself, still preparing the speech that explains why you only deserve a hired servant's welcome. Still looking at the ground. Not yet knowing that somewhere up ahead, a Father who never stopped watching the road has already seen your silhouette — and is already running.
You don't have to look up to be seen. He saw you first.
Where has the distance grown between you and God — not through dramatic rebellion, but through the quiet drift of a busy life, a thinning prayer life, a gradual fading of what used to feel close? Today is the road home. You don't need a finished speech. You don't need to arrive cleaned up. Just take the next step toward Him. He will cover the rest of the distance Himself.
Scripture Promise:
"Return to the LORD your God, for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness." — Joel 2:13 (NKJV)
Prayer:
Father, thank you for never leaving us even when we leave you. Thank you for showing us that no matter how far away we are, we are never far away from home. Thank you for always taking us back. In Jesus name I pray, Amen.
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