Before he came home, the Prodigal Son did a little brainstorming in the pig pen he called home. “I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants.” ’ ” (Luke 15:18–19, NKJV)
Great plan. He wasn’t returning home with just a problem, he was returning home with a solution to a problem. “Make me like one of your hired men.” I blew the whole son/inheritance thing, that’s broken. What if we fixed it by me being like a hired man?
That was his plan. And it was solid. But when he returns and the father runs to him, embracing him the second he appears on the horizon, what happens? He’s not allowed to say, “Make me like one of your hired men.” He gets the rest out. The repentance, the confession, that spills out of him like marbles down stairs but “make me like one of your hired men” doesn’t.
I think one of the reasons is that the father didn’t need the solution. A well put together plan wasn’t the price of admission to his arms. Maybe, despite what we think sometimes, God cares more about souls than He does solutions.
God doesn’t want our solutions. He is the solution.
God doesn’t ask for our fixes. He is the fix.
God doesn’t need our plans. He is the plan.
God doesn’t want your solution.
He just wants you.

Click Here for Tabernacle Sermon Podcast