God Speaking

“Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and goes after the lost sheep until he finds it?”

(Luke 15: 4)

Just recently I was minding my youngest granddaughter who has just turned five years old. She was chatting away to me when suddenly she said, I don’t want to get lost. I was surprised by what she said and assured her she wouldn’t get lost and listed all the people around her who were always looking after her. Then she said, well Chase got lost. Then I understood why she had asked me. Her family and I had been watching a sweet movie which was a popular cartoon. She knew all the names of the characters and of course so did I as I had watched numerous cartoons with her. In the movie they show what originally happened to Chase when he was a puppy and his owner didn’t want to keep him and dropped him off on a busy street and he was lost. My little granddaughter could not stop thinking how terrible that would be for her. 

Being lost is certainly a disturbing feeling for all of us and during our lifetime that feeling can take on all different forms. Being lost while trying to find the right street can be annoying, but a road map helps, but when life takes a sudden turn and feeling completely lost as to the right decision to choose, can be overwhelming. Sometimes we feel so out of place in a crowd we can feel lost and feel we must be invisible because nobody noticed us. The young often feel lost as to who they really are and despair of ever finding their own identity. For some, addiction steals away true self and the feeling of lost is left behind. 

I remembered what happened in the movie and reminded my little granddaughter that a dear little boy found the puppy and took him home and loved him. 

That is exactly what our Heavenly Father wants us to remember, and he continues to tell us this in the parable of the Good Shepherd 

“And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home then he calls his neighbors together and says, “Rejoice with me for I have found my lost sheep.”” (Luke 15:  5 – 6)

The whole of Luke Chapter 15 concentrates on what being lost can mean and the story of the Lost Son is one of the most beautiful parables Jesus told his followers and reminds us that whatever trial is overwhelming us with that horrible feeling of being lost and having nobody to find us and help us we can then remember the powerful shoulders of our Heavenly Father who is always standing by to find us. 

One of the most beautiful hymns ever written emphasizes the joy of being lost and then found by our loving Savior and in Amazing Grace the writer joyfully records what happened to him.  

Amazing Grace how sweet the sound

That saved a wretch like me

I once was lost, but now am found

So we don’t despair when we feel lost we hold fast to this verse. 

“For the Son of Man came to seek and save what was lost” (Luke 19: 10)