Who could imagine such a thing? A God who looks for the lost and sinful in order to have a relationship with them? Unbelievable! That’s what the professional religionist thought in Jesus’ time, especially the Pharisees. Everyone knows that God hates sin, right? Everyone knows that God won’t fellowship with sinners, right? This way of thinking was exploded by Jesus in Luke 15. It doesn’t matter how the lost got lost, if through ignorant following natural desire like a sheep for grass or carelessness by the woman with her money.
It doesn’t matter. Lost is lost. It can never find itself. It is helpless and hopeless. There we have a definitive statement on the lost condition of man. The Pharisees reaction? Good riddance! They were not worthy of God’s love anyway. God would take care of it someday and burn all that rubbish in Hell.
But Jesus says “No”. In verses 8 through 10 He describes God as having the same emotional reaction as a poor peasant woman who has lost a coin. The woman conducts a grief stricken search for the coin. God conducts a search for lost people. All the way to Mount Calvary is God’s “trail of tears”.
A basic question: What kind of Father is God anyway? Haughty and rejecting? Tender and seeking? God is persistent in His search for His lost children. He found one among the miserable at the Pool of Bethesda. He found another, Bartimaeus, begging on the roadside.
Has He found you yet? Where were you when you found God, or better said, when He found you? If you have not yet been found by God, stop where you are, stop running and shout “God, here I am. I want to be found today.” Isaiah 65:1 (NIV) says “I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me; I was found by those who did not seek me.”
“O Blessed Hound of Heaven, thank You for keeping up the pursuit
for Your lost creations. I pray we all get tired of running from You. Amen”
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