Never Lost to God

The money I had put aside for my church offering had somehow disappeared. It wasn’t a huge sum, but I searched carefully everywhere inside the house and even looked outside, thinking it might have blown away through the open front door. Eventually I gave up and forgot all about it for several months.

On New Year’s Day, I was cleaning the house and decided to rotate the seat cushions on the sofa. As I removed the last one, I found my missing money, still folded, resting against the inside of the sofa arm. It must have fallen out of my pocket and worked its way down into the folds of the couch as we sat on it day after day.

As I replayed in my mind what had happened, it occurred to me that I would have found the money sooner had I not stopped looking. I believe that is the kind of persistence we are called to in today’s quoted scripture verse. I can also see how this idea extends to our relationship with God or, rather, God’s relationship with each of us.

Although our sinful actions separate us from God and we at times turn our backs on God, we are never lost to God. Like a gentle shepherd, God persists in seeking us until we are found.