This weekend I watched an advertisement for a new kind of dog collar that contained a GPA that kept track of the dog and brought him home safely. The claim was that it was 93% effective, the first of its kind. Other collars could deliver a pain when a dog left the designated perimeter, but those also sent a pain at the dog’s return. This one hurt at leaving , but the return was painless. The ad. Proclaimed it almost perfectly kept the dog in easy distance of its owner: “Pain to leave, none to return.” The testimonials were gushing.

It certainly seemed remarkable to me, and I enjoyed watching the ad. It occurred to me that the notion “pain to leave, and pain to return” was self defeating, and very reminiscent of much of the behavior of human beings. It seems like a hopeless cycle that would naturally result in getting lost.

The Scriptures describe a different relationship for us with God. The psalmist, like us, would wander, but when he seeks a return he has hope: Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and grant me a willing spirit to sustain me. (Psalm 51:10-12)

The dog collar comes with a trainer who in one session helps the dog know the new routine. Prone as the dog is to wander, he is happy to return painlessly to his yard. The pain of leaving is enough to keep him home.

In 1758 Robert Robinson wrote the hymn Come Thou Fount Of Every Blessing, which contains these lines: “Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, prone to leave the God I love.”

It took a long time for the makers of an electronic dog collar to realize that the pain of returning would discourage the dog and fail in its design to keep him in range. The psalmist and the hymn writer knew that the gracious, forgiving God would wait for His wandering children with warmth and understanding, and without strings attached, for them to return. During Lent we can examine ourselves and return peacefully to our Lord from all the ways we may have wandered. We may wander in self examination for forty days, and our return will be an extraordinary joy without pain. The Prodigal experienced that joy.

Love in Him,

Prue