I was working on some boring spreadsheet today and my mind began to wander. Generally, it will find a comfy place in some past road trip or maybe on an adventure in the woods. For some reason today, it went to something bad. I thought about a time when Sammy was lost in the woods in a park for what seemed like hours, even though it really was less than 15 mins. He was about 8 when it happened, he did not have enough wisdom to have good sense but was old enough to be mobile – a bad combination. Some strangers that had heard all the commotion found him and brought him back to Laurie. I was still in the woods looking when another stranger came and told me that he was found. Wow, what a great feeling. I was so overwhelmed I hugged the stranger as if he were Sammy. What seemed like hours of terror were overcome with the joy of Sammy being found and ok.
I then thought of all the hours, days, and lifetimes of terror we cause for God (that is right, He is God, but we cause Him pain and break His heart), being lost and without Him. How we don’t have enough wisdom to have good sense, but yet we are mobile and trying to live life on our own – a bad combination. How we intensify the level of breaking His heart because it is not as if we just got lost by accident, but that we choose to be lost, and wander the woods without Him. I then thought of God rejoicing when we are found, and no matter how happy I was to find Sammy, it has no comparison to God’s rejoicing when we come to Him. I am thankful to be found! I am grateful to have grace when I choose to wander the woods on my own, knowing that all I must do is ask and I can come home. What an awesome God!
Luke 15
4 “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? 5 And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders 6 and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ 7 I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.