- Seek the Lost
Psalm 119:176
I have gone astray like a lost sheep;
Seek thy servant; for I do not forget thy commmandments.
We have all gone astray and have become lost from time to time, and every time the Good Shepherd seeks out the lost, finds him, and brings him home again. This promise, using the metaphor of the lost sheep, is repeated in various ways in the Bible to give us assurances that the Lord will not let us go, that He will search for us when we wander, that He will seek and save the lost. God is indeed the “hound of heaven” who uses various means to hound us until we surrender to Him. This “hounding” is done through love and tender care, not nagging and harassing.
The Lord has sought us out, He continues to seek us out, and promises to seek until He finds; when He finds He treats us gently, without judging, and draws with cords of love. God and I both take His commandments seriously. We remember His Word of Law and Gospel and respond with faith; we are glad to be securely in the flock and comfortably within in the fold.
This does not mean we can intentionally leave the fold, purposefully go astray, and deliberately ignore the commandments; however, straying unwittingly and unintentionally losing our way we find ourselves in a dangerous place because of sin. It is comforting to know that our God will ever give up on us, but He promises to seek us out until He finds us.