Bible reading for 40.Day 2025 | Isaiah 55:11

“God declares: ‘For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.’” Isaiah 55:10-11

Do you know someone who grew up in church but walked away from the faith? Perhaps it is your own child.

Walking away from the faith

I once spoke to a mother who was a lifelong missionary. She deeply loved the Lord and gave everything up to serve Him. But her son, in his teenage years, fell into bad company, started picking up all kinds of vices and became a drug addict. He also walked away from the God that she and her husband had brought him up to know and stopped going to church entirely.

She described that decade-long season to me as “the lowest time in my entire life”, one that broke her body, her mind and her spirit.

Maybe that is you. Maybe your own child has turned away from God, or you know of someone who has rejected God. If your heart is broken for someone like that, I want to encourage you today.

Words of encouragement

First, God hears and understands your pain. Since the beginning of time, Man has repeatedly turned away from God despite His love and goodness to them. In Isaiah 1:2 (ESV), God laments over the Israelites: “The children I raised and cared for have rebelled against me.”

A pastor whose two sons became involved with drugs in their teenage years once told God in tears that she had failed as a mother. God comforted her with these words: “I am the perfect Father, and I still have many prodigals, including you.” God shares in your brokenness when your children walk away from you, and from Him.

Second, God offers us hope. Hope that we are not yet at the end of the story. Hope that He is still working. Hope that He can reach these children in places where we cannot.

In Isaiah 55:10-11, God declares:

“For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.”

God’s Word is powerful, and He promises that the seeds of His Word – once sown in your child’s heart – will bear fruit, according to His purpose. You may not be able to see or even imagine it now, but will you trust that He is working?

Finally, as we cling to the hope He offers, God gives us His help. He wants us to surrender our children to Him. Philippians 1:6 says we can be confident that “He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”

As parents, we are only earthly stewards of our children. Ultimately, it is God who is working in them, in His good time and in His perfect way. They are God’s children first, before they are ours. They are more precious to God than they could ever be to us.

A faithful God

Going back to the mother with the drug-addict son. She told me that she eventually came to a point where she told God, “If You want him to die, let him die. If You want him to live, let him live. You just do what you see fit with this boy.” She was so worn out that she thought maybe this would be the last prayer she would ever pray for her son.

She was tired, but God was not.

In His grace, the Holy Spirit eventually touched and transformed her son in ways that she could never have imagined. He is now married with two daughters, and he is now a missionary at YWAM Singapore who has given his life to reaching the lost for Christ.

Reflecting on this whole journey, his mother later told me, “The best way to love your child is to surrender your child fully to God. At the end of the day, that was the place that God wanted me to be.”

From this posture of surrender, let us continue fighting in prayer for the hearts of those who have walked away from God, trusting that the Lord hears our pleas for them.

Let us pray:

Heavenly Father, thank You for being a God who never gives up on us. Thank You for being a God who would leave the 99 and go out in search of that one lost sheep. Today, we pray for all those who have wandered away from You. In Your mercy, reach out to them and bring them back into Your fold, no matter what it might take. We trust in Your sovereign and perfect plan for their lives and believe that one day they will return, praising You in spirit and in truth. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.

Reflect:

1. You know and love someone who has walked away from God. Do you find it hard to entrust this person entirely to God? Why?

2. Many of us were once lost sheep that the Shepherd personally went out to rescue. Let’s reflect and take heart in the Lord’s promise to us that He will never leave or forsake His children. (Deuteronomy 31:6)

3. Think about the heart of Father God for these precious ones who have walked away. Does our heart break for what breaks His?

Pray:

1. For those who have walked away from the Lord, that the Lord will bring them home.

2. For those who have loved ones who have left the faith, that they will be comforted by the presence and the promises of God.

3. For those who may not see their loved ones return to the Lord in their lifetime, that they will trust God to the end that all things work together for good. (Romans 8:28)

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