Lost are saved; find their way; at the sound of Your great name.
Those Natalie Grant lyrics are MY JAM and I love the truth that they hold. Later on in the song she sings about the condemned, the weak, the hungry souls, the fatherless and the sick. She sings that they feel no shame, find strength, receive grace, find rest and are healed. All in the name of Jesus.
I love that God rescues us, that He has a heart for the broken. I love that we need Him desperately, and that there is a remarkable difference in a person’s life after they accept Jesus as their savior.
Recently, my church’s high school ministry has been doing a study called “Lost” and I’ve been amazed at how God has used it to minister to my heart. My absolute favorite parable about the lost is found in Luke 15:4-7.
Get ready for story time because (hopefully) this is about to blow your mind, “If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them gets lost, what will he do? Won’t he leave the ninety-nine others in the wilderness and go to search for the one that is lost until he finds it? And when he has found it, he will joyfully carry it home on his shoulders. When he arrives, he will call together his friends and neighbors, saying, “Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep.”
Can you picture that for a second? A shepherd in the wilderness with a whole bunch of sheep, and one of them is missing. The shepherd notices that one is missing. Then, he leaves his 99 other sheep to search for this one little guy who has gone astray, and he FINDS him! Now, if I were a shepherd and it was me and 99 sheep in the wilderness, I probably wouldn’t notice if one of them was gone. If we’re being honest even if I did notice, I probably wouldn’t leave my other sheep to search for that one little wanderer. But the shepherd in this story searches for and finds the lost sheep! Then instead of picking up the sheep in frustration, and muttering angrily under his breath, he joyfully carries it home on his shoulders, and throws a party! A party in honor of a lost little sheep. Verse 7 continues saying, “In the same way, there is more joy in heaven over one lost sinner who repents and returns to God than over ninety-nine others who are righteous and haven’t strayed away!”.
God notices us. He sees people that haven’t accepted Him yet, and he pursues their hearts relentlessly. He sees people that have accepted Him, but have strayed away and He runs after them. When we come to God for the first time, or return to Him for the one-thousandth time, He doesn’t tie a rope around our necks and drag us in frustration because we were not with Him. He rejoices over us because He has found us.
And once we encounter Him, we are never the same. He takes our shame, gives us strength, pours His grace over us, provides rest, and heals us of our brokenness. That is who our God is. His lost sheep are scattered all across this planet, and in our own backyard. He is pursuing hearts across the world, and in your office. Our God is a relentless pursuer, and when He finds even one lost sinner He rejoices.
My prayer is that God will use me to seek out those lost sheep all over the globe on this World Race, but also that He will use me to do the same thing here in little old Oregon in the mean time. I hope you are as encouraged as I am to know that you are noticed, pursued, and rejoiced over by a God who loves you. Thank you for reading, I love you guys!!
