And he said unto him, Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine Luke 15:31.

These words are familiar to us. They were spoken by the father in response to the complaint of his elder son who argued that his father made a feast and killed a fatted calf for the prodigal son, but had never even once given him a kid to make merry with his friends. The father’s answer is a wonderful revelation to all of us today who sometimes question God’s presence in the midst of the troubles we face. "You are ever with me" and "All that I have is yours".

Most of the sermons we hear speak of the love the father demonstrated in welcoming home his wayward son. But this is a far greater revelation. If any child of God is ever to experience deep spiritual realities, we will need to understand the kind of life God desires for us to live, and figure out what is hindering us from living it.

The words spoken by the father describes the high privilege that belongs to very child of God. You see, we are always in the presence of God, and everything that God has is ours to enjoy. For the Lord God is a sun and shield: the Lord will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly Psalm 84:11. Even though we can live every hour of our life in the presence of God and all He has is for us, far too many Christians are living the low life of the elder son.

A father always wants his children to know that he loves them. If a child doubts a father’s love, he won’t ask his father for anything. He flees from the presence of his father and feels out of place in his own home. This was the case with the elder son. Somewhere he missed his father’s love for him. Even though he had the most awesome privilege right before him, he never enjoyed any of it.

The elder brother was living with his father "these many years" (see Luke 15:29), yet never enjoyed the smallest benefit of a son. The father would have gladly made a special occasion for him, but instead of asking, the elder son went about murmuring and complaining. If we are dissatisfied with a particular aspect of our Christian life, the worse thing to do is murmur about it. Murmuring makes us miserable and doesn’t solve anything.

This same high privilege belonged to God’s people in Old Testament times. Enoch walked with God until God translated him (see Hebrews 11:5). Once he got in the presence of God, he wouldn’t come out of it. No matter what was going on around him, Enoch stayed in the presence of God. He put nothing above fellowship with God, and he never doubted his place in God.

God promised Jacob, "Behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of" Genesis 28:15. Israel of old would not go into battle without the Arc of the Covenant (visible presence of God) with them. God promised Israel through Moses "My presence will be with thee, and I will give thee rest". We have the same privilege as well. Jesus said "…If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him" John 14:23. In fact, the whole book of Hebrews teaches us that we have access into the holy of holies by the blood of Jesus. The veil is rent; we have the presence of God with us everywhere we go.

The Father never withheld anything from the elder son. Do you know why the prodigal son asked for his portion? Because he knew the father would give it to him. The prodigal wasn’t an arrogant greedy son; he was bold and confident. He had spent many hours in the presence of the father, and most likely had eaten many kids. When the prodigal "came to himself" in the pigpen, he realized that his plan had failed. So he returned to his father, confessed his sin, and picked up where he left off.

You see, the prodigal humbled himself and repented, but the elder son didn’t. He never repented of his unbelief and hardness of heart. He was robbed of the most precious of all gifts; his childhood. He never felt like a child. The years of unresolved anger, loneliness, and frustration grew and grew until it exploded. Unfortunately, when we blame others for our own problems, we continue in the same pattern of failure. The elder son blamed the father and the prodigal, but the fault was his own. And until he acknowledged his sin and repented, he could never take his place as a son. He thought he was serving the father faithfully, but he was in bondage all the while.

Unbelief kept Israel in the wilderness for forty years. Marvelous things did he in the sight of their fathers, in the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan. He divided the sea, and caused them to pass through; and he made the waters to stand as a heap. In the daytime also he led them with a cloud, and all the night with a light of fire. He clave the rocks in the wilderness, and gave them drink as out of the great depths. He brought streams also out of the rock, and caused waters to run down like rivers. And they sinned yet more against him by provoking the most High in the wilderness…Yea, they spake against God; they said, Can God furnish a table in the wilderness? Psalms 78: 12-19. Out of hundreds of thousands of men and twelve spies, only two were bold enough to say, "We can take the land that God promised us". The only two who survived were the two who believed that what God had was theirs.

So many of God’s people today are living like the elder brother. If so, they need to repent. How long would it have taken the elder son to move out of his state of blindness and unbelief? If he had believed in the love of his father, he would have gotten out that same hour. His entire life from them on would have been different.

We can walk in our high privilege by always bearing in mind that the presence of God is with us, and all He has is for us.

By: Edmund Brown