God’s Search Party

By Peter Lundell –

At the park across the street from my house, a two-year-old boy disappeared from a softball game. I joined the search party with fifty other people, half a dozen squad cars, and a helicopter. We looked everywhere a two-year-old might wander in the darkness.As the helicopter searchlight beamed through the trees, police radioed back and forth, and the volunteers poked around every rock and shrub, I stopped. A child was lost, and all this went on to find him. Nothing was spared for that one child. My lost dog never got such treatment. Children are different.

Then I thought, Could Heaven respond like this when God’s children get lost? In Luke 15, Jesus tells the parables of the lost sheep, coin, and son. In all three something of great value is lost, and there’s an all-out search until it’s found, followed by rejoicing.

As I paused to watch the search effort, I thought, How much does God also want His children found? I thought of the Father grieving over people who turn away and of the effort to draw them back. If the Bible is true, we’re as precious to God as that child was to his parents. And the eternal value of a life certainly outweighs its temporal earthly value.

PRAYER: “Father, my Father. Help me know and feel Your heart for those who are lost and astray from You. Grow in me the love You have for them.”

“Which one of you, if he has a hundred sheep and loses one of them, would not leave the ninety-nine in the open pasture and go look for the one that is lost until he finds it . . . Or what woman, if she has ten silver coins and loses one of them, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search thoroughly until she finds it . . . While [the lost son] was still a long way from home his father saw him, and his heart went out to him; he ran and hugged his son and kissed him” (Luke 15:14, 8, 19 NET).

Today’s devotion is by Peter Lundell, author of Prayer Power. A rising new voice on connecting with God. He is a pastor, Bible college teacher, and conference speaker. Visit him at www.PeterLundell.com for his inspirational “Connections” and free downloads of articles, parables, short stories, and book chapters.