How many times does something happen in my life and I ask, “Why?” “Why did God allow this to happen?” I try to do the right thing, knowing that I will fall short of perfection. Yet, I believe that I have done enough of the right things to live a life where goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life. Yet, they do not. These deplorable events happen. How I react displays my character.
The day his younger brother returned was such a day for the older brother. He had been busy in the field doing what was expected of him. He returns home to the sound of laughter and music. A party was commencing, and he was not informed. When the older brother learned the reason, he became angry. Nothing seems to come his way except toil and trouble, and now this.
The older son had a problem and was not aware of it. He was bitter with life. He did not know his Father’s love. Trouble and deplorable things happen to everyone. Knowing and adhering to righteousness does not guarantee happily ever after.
When a sinner returns to the heavenly Father, I can rejoice with the Father, or I can be like the older brother. The forgiving love of the father symbolizes the divine mercy of God, and the older brother’s resentment is like the attitude of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law who opposed Jesus.
