3rd Sunday after Pentecost 1.6.08 Seeking out the lost sheep
Staggering that with all the people in the world, God can know every one of them, and everything about each one, better than they know themselves – every word they have ever spoken, every thought, every hope, dream, desire, fear, longing, sin, suffering etc etc.
And He loves each one better than they love themselves. Self-love is usually distorted by wrong desires, but God’s love is pure and perfect, knowing exactly what each person needs for complete happiness.
This is the true answer to anyone who asks whether God has abandoned us or not. A common question. In reality we have abandoned Him. We have allowed sin to drive a wedge between us, and this leaves us feeling alienated and out of sorts.
Many people do feel like that, so that even if they believe in God, He seems very distant, and they have trouble finding Him.
Yet He says, Come to Me, all you who labour and are heavily burdened, and I will give you rest.
In our desolation we should go towards Him rather than away from Him. That is the crucial point of decision. In distress do we cling to God more tightly or do we move away from Him in bitterness and disappointment?
The devil is raging seeking to devour us (epistle). He has ‘devoured’ us when he can destroy our link with God, that sense of trust that we are loved, and all is under control. So we must be vigilant on that very point.
So, God’s love for each other person should awaken us to a greater value of those around us which we might otherwise regard as just a herd of sheep, and if we lose a few here and there it won’t matter.
We have to value each person greatly. Granted we don’t have time to get to know everyone, and God does not expect this, but at least we can be aware in a general way of the spiritual value of each soul, and cooperate with God’s saving will.
If He wants to save them, then we want them saved.
This means even our enemies, those we have trouble forgiving, those generally held in contempt like murderers, rapists, general undesirables. These are souls; lost lambs, that God goes out to look for, while we would be saying, Don’t bother.
We don’t have to like or approve of everyone, but we must at least grasp their importance.
In reality each person (many of whom feel themselves isolated and unloved) is as though on a raft surrounded by an ocean of love, but they do not see it. It is because they do not give enough attention to God, that eventually they lose sight of Him altogether. They are too busy being either bitter or just distracted by worldly things. It must not be so for us. The world is full of the glory of God, once we put on the right glasses!
Is the world a cruel impersonal place, swallowing us up? Or is it a place which sings in every valley and height of the glory of God? On some days we think the first, other days the second. It is always the second.
So we (also lost sheep) need to look for Him. Don’t make Him come searching over valleys and rivers, but rather go straight to Him. Volunteer for service. As we are comforted we are immediately enlisted to gather in other sheep.
The first thing is to want what He wants for those other people, and the other first thing is to entrust ourselves entirely to Him for our own welfare. We have no ambitions or plans other than whatever He wants for us.
