Thirty-three years old, was he. And, he was reading a particular story from his bible that sparked his thoughts for a song called “God Is Calling the Prodigal” (abbreviated title is “Calling the Prodigal”; depicted in this 18th Century masterpiece by Pompeo Batoni). Charles Hutchinson Gabriel would travel a musical road for several more decades, but this was one of the earliest steps he took on that journey. Was he thinking of himself or maybe someone else as he wrote three verses about responding to a patient and expectant father, a parent who has open arms for a child who has been flagrantly reckless in all his financial habits? He’d just moved far away from his native Iowa, when his words about someone who’d wandered far afield made it onto a page. Could Charles have thought of himself as prodigal at the time? Maybe it was just a sermon topic that grabbed his attention, as it had in the rural Iowa community where he'd been raised, and where he had a reputation for that specific method of song-writing since his teenage years.
We won’t know with total clarity, on this side of eternity, why Charles Gabriel composed a song about the Prodigal Son –unless someone reading has some further insight!. And yet, we can gather something key from what he gave us in 1889. Gabriel reportedly wrote thousands of songs over his lifetime, to the point of using several pseudonyms in order to promote their publication. So, one can imagine that Charles Gabriel must have used some well-worn modes of songwriting, if thousands could be attributed to him. Sermon topics and bible stories must have been one of the more common approaches in his repertoire. This story of a prodigal son – a wildly extravagant offspring, who was so self-focused and ill-disciplined, that it was not a surprise that he quickly blew all of his resources – presents a quandary for the responsible Christian. Like others who heard the story Jesus told, and which was recorded in just one of the gospel accounts (Luke 15), Charles must have heard hearers cheering that the irresponsible son had gotten what he deserved when he found himself in a pigpen. But, if that were the end of the story, you can imagine that Charles asked himself, ‘What would that say about God’? What if each of us got his due for even the one time that we made a mistake, especially a big one? Could that internal question have been one Charles asked himself, as he composed his three verses? Rather than focus on the great joy the sinner has in receiving grace, Gabriel instead concentrates on ‘the loving voice’ of the Father (all three verses). The story, as printed in most bibles today, says ‘The Lost Son Parable’, but was that how Charles saw it? I, the weary prodigal, do indeed need to recognize my condition. But Charles also emphasizes the key to a life-saving maneuver: hearing and responding to a Father’s love. Seek to recover a place in ‘His presence’ (v.1); appreciate that He’s a ‘patient, loving, and tender’ being (v.2); understand that His house always has ‘bread’, indeed an abundance that reflects His character (v.3). And, He’s eager to share.
Charles Gabriel must have heard the story so many times by the time he was 33. You and I get a reprieve, a grace that is crucial, and yet one that is impossible to repay. How far down can one fall, and still get redemption? It’s a bottomless cavern, this well of His grace. It’s like hitting the lottery, with millions beyond what I could possibly spend in my account. For Charles, the prodigal needs to realize one thing about himself – you get ‘weary’ (refrain), and there is a bottom. That’s the difference between God and me. He doesn’t get tired, or come to a place where there’s no more to give me. He’s always calling, and inviting, and blessing. That’s God. I may be a prodigal, reckless in my attitude and behavior. Thank God that He’s even more lavish toward me and you.
Biography on the author: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/g/a/b/r/gabriel_ch.htm
More biography here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_H._Gabriel
And here: https://hymnary.org/person/Gabriel_Charles
All the song’s verses: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/htm/c/a/l/l/callprod.htm
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