It never fails to inspire me how many people have found my devotional book Daily Prayer (and its sequel Daily Prayer 2) to be of encouragement, help and inspiration. The number of letters and messages I’ve received thanking me for these is truly humbling, and they inspire me, in turn, in my continued writing. Here’s a session from Daily Prayer that I hope may speak to you.
The God who seeks us out
Read
He told them this parable: ‘If a man had a hundred sheep and lost one of them, wouldn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the desert and go in search of the one that is lost until he finds it? And, when it is found, he places it over his shoulders rejoicing. And then, coming home, he calls together his friends and neighbours, saying, “Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.” In exactly the same way, I assure you that there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner coming to repentance than over ninety-nine righteous people who have no need to repent.’ Luke 15:3-7
Ponder
Why is it that when you drop something it always falls into the most awkward and inaccessible of places? Instead of falling into the middle of the room, somehow it invariably ends up in some obscure nook or cranny, never to be found again. How long we are willing to keep on looking for it depends on the item in question. If it’s a penny piece, we’ll soon shrug and forget all about it; a gold ring, on the other hand, and we’ll keep on looking for many weeks, probably always hoping that it will finally turn up. Few if any of us, however, will keep on looking for ever.
Yet that is the wonderful picture that Jesus paints of God in the three parables of Luke 15: the Lost Sheep, the Lost Coin and the Lost Son. God, we are told, is like the shepherd who goes on looking for his lost sheep ‘until he has found it’! What a wonderful picture that is – a truly astonishing testimony to God’s amazing grace! Here is the ‘love that will not let me go’ of which the hymn-writer George Matheson speaks; a love that goes on looking for us whenever we go astray; never resting and never giving up until we have been restored to the Father’s side. It is a love unlike anything else we can ever know.
Ask yourself
Do you worry about what the future may hold, or have you learned to rest secure in the knowledge that, whatever may happen, God will be with you in it, nothing finally able to separate you from his love?
Pray
Lord Jesus Christ, thank you for the way you watch over me throughout my life, the way you are continually there to guard and guide me, whatever I may face. When I wander far from your side, you do not abandon me to my fate but instead come looking for me, your love refusing to let me go. Though I may forsake you, you never forsake me. Though I am faithless, you remain faithful. I praise you for that great truth, and ask forgiveness for the areas in my life in which I continue to go astray. Help me to follow you more closely in the days ahead, to the glory of your name. Amen.
Remember
This is what the Sovereign Lord says: ‘I will personally search for my sheep and take care of them. Just as a shepherd searches for his sheep should his flock be scattered, so I will go in search of my sheep and rescue them, no matter where they have been scattered in dark and dismal days. I will search for the lost and bring back those who have strayed.’ Ezekiel 34:11-12, 16a
Close
Gracious God, I praise you for the assurance that though I may sometimes lose sight of you, you will never lose sight of me. Watch over me, and lead me safely through my journey of life. Through Jesus Christ my Lord. Amen.