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The father in Jesus' parable of the prodigal son did not chase his son when he left. He let him go. He let him take the inheritance, leave, and waste it. There is no record in the parable of the father sending word, pursuing him, or trying to negotiate his return. He waited. And "when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him" β which implies the father was looking. He had been watching the road. When he saw his son, he ran. The God who is patient with the rebellious teenager is not passive. He is watching the road.
Get These Verses Daily β FreeβAnd he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.β
The father saw the son while he was still a great way off β which means the father was watching the road. He had not stopped looking. He ran when he saw him, before any explanation or condition. This is Jesus' description of how God responds to the one who turns back.
βTrain up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.β
The Hebrew word 'train' β chanak β means to create the first taste, to initiate into something. What was given in faithful parenting does not disappear during rebellion. The prodigal 'came to himself' β his father's house was what he remembered. The investment outlasts the departure.
βCan a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee.β
God's attachment to the wandering exceeds even the most instinctive maternal bond. The rebellious teen is not beyond this attachment. The parent praying for a child who has gone far is praying alongside the God whose love for that child is described as exceeding even theirs.
βCast thy burden upon the LORD, and he shall sustain thee: he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.β
The Hebrew word 'cast' β shalak β means to throw. The grief and fear of watching a child rebel is a burden designed to be thrown before God rather than carried indefinitely. God sustains the parent who throws it, not the one who holds it together by their own effort.
βAnd there is hope in thine end, saith the LORD, that thy children shall come again to their own border.β
God spoke this directly to a weeping parent β the passage just before contains Rachel weeping for her children. God's answer is a future promise: 'thy children shall come again to their own border.' This is not a guarantee of timing. It is a word of hope spoken into the waiting.
Proverbs 22:6 promises that the child trained in the way they should go will return to it when old. This is a general principle, not a mechanical guarantee. But it frames the investment of faithful parenting as something that outlasts the rebellion. The Hebrew word for "train" β chanak β means to create the first taste, to initiate into. What was put in does not disappear during rebellion. It is the thing the prodigal remembers when he "came to himself" β the memory of the father's house.
Luke 15:11β32, the parable of the prodigal son, describes two responses to a rebellious child: the father who waited and ran, and the elder brother who kept records. Jesus told both stories. The father's response β running, embracing, celebrating without prior conditions β is the model. The elder brother's response β accurate record-keeping of the wrong done β is the failure mode. Parents of rebellious teens are more vulnerable to the elder brother's temptation than they realize.
Commentary is from a charismatic Protestant perspective, drawing on KJV text and public-domain sources including Spurgeon, Andrew Murray, and Matthew Henry.
Isaiah 49:15 reaches for the most visceral parental attachment as a comparison for God's attachment to his wandering people: "Can a woman forget her sucking child?" The expected answer is no. God then says his attachment exceeds even that. The rebellious teen is not beyond this attachment. And the parent who keeps praying for a child who has gone far away is not praying alone. They are praying alongside the God whose attachment is described as exceeding the most instinctive human bond.
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