October 8

I have strayed like a lost sheep; seek Your servant, for I have not forgotten Your commandments. — Ps 119:176 BSB

If the Lord did not seek us, we would never seek Him. That’s for certain. If you find yourself seeking the Lord in prayer, in supplication, with secret desires, often groaning in your heart by day and night, rest assured, you would never have sought the Lord unless He had first sought you. He is seeking you now. It might take some time, as you fear, before He finds you; but rest assured, He will find you in the end.

How beautifully the Lord illustrates this in the parable of the lost sheep! The sheep had gone astray, and once it left the fold, it most likely wandered into some strange place. It may have fallen down a rocky cliff, or rolled into a ditch, or hidden under a bush, or crept into a cave, or ended up in some deep ravine where only the keenest eye and hand could find it. In the same way, the Lord’s lost sheep get into strange places. They fall off cliffs, slip into pits, hide among the bushes, and sometimes creep off to die in caves.

When a literal sheep goes astray, the shepherd goes searching for it. He sees a footprint here, a tuft of wool torn off by thorns there. He searches every nook and cranny until he finally finds the poor sheep, weary, torn, and barely able to groan in its distress. He doesn’t beat it or jab it with a stick. Instead, he gently lifts it, lays it on his shoulders, and carries it home, rejoicing. So, too, are the ways of grace with the Lord’s lost sheep. Men, on the other hand, are not so kind. Let a Pharisee see a sheep lying helpless on its back, and he would kick it to its feet, beat it with his staff, or stab it with the sharp end of his crook.

David was wise to pray, “Let me fall into the hands of God, and not into the hands of men.” Oh, to fall into the hands of God! Into the hands of a merciful and compassionate High Priest, who was tempted in every way like us and can therefore sympathize with His tempted people! These are the only hands safe enough for us to fall into. And when we fall into His hands, we will neither fall out of them nor through them, for “underneath are the everlasting arms,” which can never be broken or separated.