“Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Does she not light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.’ In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”—- Luke 15:8-10
My neighbor is always losing things.
Last week she lost her cell phone. She had looked in the house, the garage, all over, and still couldn’t find it. Because her land line wasn’t working, she asked me to call the phone while we were standing in the garage. I dialed the number and soon we both heard a melodic sound near by. From her purse on her arm, in fact. She dug through her purse, poking in one pocket, then the bottom. The phone had slid into a thin pocket on the inside of the purse out of sight. Oh, she was glad she found her phone!
We all lose things, and depending on the value of the item, we may search diligently for it. I lost my checkbook a couple years ago. I backtracked everywhere I had been, went back to a store, (they even re-wound the security video tape and saw me put it in my purse), called places I had visited, etc… It didn’t show up. Next was the house. I looked in drawers, cupboards, even enlisted my teens to help with the search by going through trash, rooms of the house, etc… Finally, I pulled open a drawer and riffled through it, and what do you know? The checkbook was laying between an address book, some stamps, and cards. It had gotten picked up with a pile of stuff on my table and shoved away!
The stakes get bigger when we lose a person. We can all probably relate to the panic we feel when losing a kid at a store….then the loudspeaker comes on announcing for you to come pick up your crying child at the guest services, and you are struck with such a feeling of relief and love.
Things of value get searched for. The more valuable, the more frantic the search. I love the parable above, because it is a message describing how God searches and searches for us. We are THAT valuable to Him. Though God knows exactly where we are (unlike the missing cell phone), He comes to us time and time again, to love us, reveal Himself, to forgive us, and to invite us to repent and give our life to Him. A song lyric I remember from decades ago by Wayne Watson talked about “The Long Arm of the Lord”. We are never too far beyond God’s reach. What a comfort that can be to us as we go through this life!
Prayer—- “Gracious God, thank you for deeming me a person of great value and worth, and for coming to me when I am lost. Thank you for sending Jesus to die for my sins so I can be part of your kingdom. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.”
Prayer For All Days 