Pack Up and Move

The Prodigal Son...
his money was wasted...
and he was alone in a famine.

A few days later this younger son packed all his belongings and moved to a distant land, and there he wasted all his money in wild living. About the time his money ran out, a great famine swept over the land, and he began to starve. He persuaded a local farmer to hire him, and the man sent him into his fields to feed the pigs. The young man became so hungry that even the pods he was feeding the pigs looked good to him. But no one gave him anything. Luke 15:13-16 

Meditate.

 

God often uses famines. Pack up and move before the famine. It didn’t matter where this young man was, there was a famine in the land. The Prodigal Son was on his own since he’d received his inheritance and spent it on wild living. Now there was a famine and his job taking care of dirty pigs was hardly a good job for a young Jewish boy. Pigs were considered unclean and Jews would never eat them. Yet, right now he’d like to eat the food he was feeding to those beasts. Ah, just a corn cob or pea pod. He was so hungry that he was starving. No one shared with him. Famine or not, you’d think someone would offer him a meal…or even scrap of food. Nope! He had no money, no food, no friends. He had greedily spent his inheritance. That was inheritance for which he didn’t want to wait. Give it to me now, he had demanded of his father.

Then he (Jesus) said, “Beware! Guard against every kind of greed. Life is not measured by how much you own.” Luke 12:15

What did greed get this young man? Nothing. He had a short time to enjoy his inheritance, and then it was gone. Now hunger has overtaken his life. He has no money and is working for probably a pittance. What would they pay someone to feed pigs? He has no home, no food, no money. He has left his family and his friends have left him. Alone.

            What do we learn about Jesus from this portion of the Prodigal Son parable?

 

Prayer – Lord Jesus, help me to consider options…and not be greedy. You were such a good example—always enjoying a good meal when offered to You—but never greedy.

 

Verse of Salvation ~ (Part of Jonah’s prayer from inside the great fish.) But I will offer sacrifices to you with songs of praise, and I will fulfill all my vows. For my salvation comes from the LORD alone. Jonah 2:9

 

© 2026 Text, photos, and illustrations by Mickey M. Hunacek. All rights reserved. 

All scripture quoted from the New Living Translation (NLT) unless otherwise noted. 

New Living Translation copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. 

Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

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