According to my wife I am a hopeless case. You see, whenever I come into the house I put my car keys or my glasses down and five minutes later they’ve disappeared! Search as we may they can never be found. Usually this happens when we need to dash off somewhere. It’s always a great relief when they turn up – often where I left them – odd that isn’t it? It’s always a frustration when we lose or misplace something that’s important and a real joy when, after a careful search we manage to find it again.
Losing or misplacing a wallet or watch or a set of keys is bad enough but misplacing a child is something else! I well remember the time when our daughter was only three or four years old and we were living in Cyprus at the time. One day we went to the beach and, being a major tourist spot it was very soon crowded. Our daughter played happily in the sand at the edge of the water no more than a few yards from where we were sitting. Suddenly we noticed she was no longer there! We dashed frantically up and down the beach calling her name, anxiously searching for her among the all the faces. Thankfully, as it turned out, she was only a short way away playing with some other children. But our relief and joy that she was safe was far beyond that of finding a misplaced wallet or watch. So it is with God when one person turns back to him.
There is a story in Luke’s Gospel in the Bible (Chapter 15) that is all about the lost and found and is made up of three stories; a lost sheep, a lost coin, and a lost son. The stories reveal in a special way a God who is actively seeking to find something that is a real treasure to Him as a loving Father – us! I particularly like the story about the lost sheep.
Life for the shepherd in Jesus’ time was a hard and diff cult one. Pasture was scarce and the sheep would often wander into dangerous places in search of greener grass (sound familiar?). The shepherd was personally responsible for the sheep. If he lost one he would at least have to bring home the fleece to show how it had died. There was not a shepherd around for whom it was not all in a days work to risk his own life in order to save one of his flock.
This is the picture Jesus was drawing of God. It is, he was saying, exactly what God is like. God is as glad when a lost soul is found as a shepherd is when a strayed sheep is brought home. God knows the joy of finding the things that have been lost.
Your friend in Christ,
Arthur