Because He first loved me...

Last summer, my youngest daughter and two of her friends got lost in the woods behind our house. It was a frightening experience for everyone and filled with lessons. For a time, the children tried to find their way back but ultimately, due to training, they just sat down and waited to be found. Search parties were formed, the children were found and the outcome was good.

For many, they have become lost in this world and they wander in the wilderness seeking their own way out. Like the children in the woods, they cannot find their way no matter how hard they seek. But a search party of three was formed; God, Jesus & The Spirit go looking for the lost.

Truth be told we could never find God on our own were He not seeking us. The psalmist records in;

Psalm 119:176
I have strayed like a lost sheep. Seek your servant, for I have not forgotten your commands.

A lost sheep wanders about bleating plaintively but is unable to return to the flock without help. It requires the intentional actions of the shepherd to locate the sheep and restore it to fellowship within the flock. So it was with the psalmist, so it is with us.

We seek and we may even say at some point that "I've found God" but the truth is that God found us and rescued us. This is a truth that reaches back to the beginning of time and continues to the present moment.

Each time we sin, we stray. When we realize the error of our ways by remembering God's commands, we call out or bleat through confession and repentence. The faithful shepherd hears our cry, seeks us out, washes us off and cleans us up then carries us back to where we belong.

We all like sheep have gone astray but praise God for His faithfulness to forgive us and to rescue us.

Baaaaaaa,
Carl