Lost Sheep

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As I continued to read from Ezekiel this week, I came across a passage that hit hard:

“Behold, I myself will search for my sheep and seek them out. I will feed my flock and I will lead them to rest,” declares the Lord God. “I will seek the lost, bind up the broken, and strengthen the sick” (Ezekiel 34:11, 15-16a, NASB). 

I don’t know about you, but the last several months have certainly left me feeling exhausted, lost, and broken. 2020 has been a year for the books. 

Worldwide pandemic. 
Racial injustices. 
Job losses. 
Financial insecurities. 
Spikes in mental health disorders. 
Anxiety, panic, fear...
Where do we go from here? 

I’m sure all of you can relate to at least one of these circumstances; I’ve yet to talk to a person who hasn’t felt some of these same burdens. On my part, it’s almost ironic; I was given all of the time in the world to spend with Jesus, but during that first month I felt so lost, alone, and broken that “Jesus-time” became a duty. 

I am so thankful for a God who seeks me, binds up my wounds, and strengthens me in my sickness. 

If you are stuck in a similar place, here’s what you need to know: 

In your brokenness, in your weakness, and in your exhaustion, you have a God who would run to the ends of the earth for you. I know that when I fall away from a passionate relationship with Jesus, I feel an overwhelming sense of guilt and shame. But just as God spoke through the prophets, here is what his Son, Jesus, had to say about the lost: 

“What do you think? If any man has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go search for the one that is straying? If it turns out that he finds it, truly I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine which have not gone astray” (Matthew 18:12-13, NASB). 

No matter where I am - no matter how sick, exhausted, broken, or lost - I have a God who pursues me. When I feel that I am broken beyond repair, God promises to bind me up more beautifully than I thought possible. Just as he promised through Ezekiel, just as he promised through his Son, God promises to restore, heal, and strengthen. 

Do you think you are broken beyond repair? Do you feel that you are so lost you cannot be found? Rest in this: there is no one so lost, so broken, or so sinful that God will not pursue, will not restore, and cannot repair. He wants to build within you an unshakeable Kingdom; something stronger and more beautiful than you can possibly imagine. 

“Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on; you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make any sense. What on earth is he up to? At first, the explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of - throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were being made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself” (C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity). 


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