Walking from East to West: God in the Shadows

by Ravi Zacharias

There was a young man who, determined to go his own way, asked his father for his inheritance and in a fit of despair left his home. His father,

outraged by this, slammed the door shut, pushing the son out of his home, and asked him never to return because he was shaming the family by his demands and his disrespect. The son went into the far country and squandered his inheritance by making a sport of life. Then, when he had come to nothing, he went to the top of a hill to jump and to end his life. Just before he reached the top, he fell on his face — so hurt and destitute of any help. When he opened his tear-stained eyes, he saw a cross. On that cross there hung a man, who looked at him with

eyes of compassion and mercy and said, “Come to Me, and I will give you eternal life.” The young man struggled to his feet to get to the cross, and he felt a strong arm supporting him. It was the arm of the one who had paid with his life. The tears were gone and a new life infused, and a lamp and a map were given to this young man to walk by the truth. As he descended toward the bottom of the hill, he saw another man bent over, weeping and asking for ...

light of the lamp. Together they embraced, knowing that the same man on the cross had brought them both there, because the home had been locked to the son and lost to the father. With the help of the map, they walked back to the locked home. The shadow of the cross was on it. The lock had been removed, and what awaited them there was the ...

“When you can see horror and grace put together, you realize there is no place, humanly speaking, where we can find an absolute way to understand these things. Only on the cross of Jesus Christ do love, justice, evil, and

forgiveness converge. Evil, in the heart of man, shown in the crucifixion; love, in the heart of God who gave his Son; forgiveness, because of the grace of Christ; and justice, because of the law of God revealed.”

“Lord, send me anywhere, only go with me. Lay any burden on me, only sustain me. Sever any ties but the ties that bind me to your service and to your heart.”