Have you ever felt lost?
Once again, I was half watching cartoons with my daughter as I got ready. Parents, please pay attention to the programs your children are watching, there might be subtle and not so subtle things in there, but I digress. This particular one was the family was going to the mall. They made plans to separate and then meet back up. The father refused to use the map of the mall, thinking he knew the directions to where he needed to go. Lo and behold, he got lost, and after hours of everyone walking around, they eventually found the father at the lost and found for kids who had gotten separated from their parents. In his apology to his family, the father made a statement that I thought was absolutely profound. He said: sometimes we have to get lost to be found again. WOW.
That thought literally got stuck in my head for the whole day. ‘Sometimes we have to get lost to be found again’. As I’m sitting here, I realize I had this exact conversation with a friend yesterday about his wife, and I didn’t even know this was going to be today’s thought. Both his wife and myself had to lose ourself, to ultimately be found again.
I decided to check my bible for the story of the lost coin, and other lost items. Jesus loves to tell parables. These particular stories are found in Luke 15. The first thing that caught my attention, was that these three related parables got a whole chapter. From what I observed, typically there are multiple unrelated stories within each chapter, but this one was important enough to be given its own chapter and repeated in 3 different ways.
Jesus talked about the lost sheep first. He hit on a personal level for his audience, as they were likely farmers. Then he shared about money, the lost coin, something they could all relate, and if those two weren’t enough, he got even more personal, he shared about a potential lost son! When something of importance is lost, we stop what we are doing and go searching for the lost item, even if it means leaving the other safe things.
Jesus himself comes searching for us when we are lost. He delights in us, and wants what is best for us. But He will not force a relationship on you, you will have to want to seek Him as well. James 4:8a states: come near to God and he will come near to you. I know this is a personal promise as I too was lost, and started seeking God. Although I’m a continual work in progress, I’ve seen firsthand in my life, that as I’ve drawn closer to God by talking to Him and reading His words, He has drawn closer to me.
Do you feel lost? Don’t despair. God is waiting for you, you only need to invite Him in.
Dear Heavenly Father, help us to not feel lost. Help us to seek you with our whole hearts because you have promised us in your word that when we seek you, we will find you. Please take away any feeling of being lost and hopelessness we might be feeling.