We have all lost or misplaced things. It is normally the usual stuff such as car or house keys, wallets, purses, and gloves. And let us not forget the inevitable lonely and unmatched sock that seems to surface in almost every other load of laundry!
You know there is something about lost things that also gets God’s attention. As we read the parables about the lost sheep, the lost coin and the lost son (Lk 15:3-24) we see a caring, merciful and detail-oriented God wondering about things lost or out-of-place. Apparently, Jesus is also discomforted and concerned when things are amiss in his kingdom.
In the O.T. King David faced a similar situation. The Amalekites attacked and pilfered the city of Ziklag and abducted all of the women and children:
And it came to pass, when David and his men were come to Ziklag on the third day, that the Amalekites had invaded the south, and Ziklag, and smitten Ziklag, and burned it with fire; 1 Sam 30:1
It was a devastating and embarrassing defeat for the king. The enemy directed a blow right at the heart of David and his men; their wives and children. (Are these not the same battle tactics the enemy uses today as he mercilessly takes aim at the sovereignty and cohesion of the family?)
The defeat was so demoralizing to the soldiers that they wanted to stone him (1 Sam 30:6).
Sometimes it takes losing something ‘dear‘ that we might find something ‘divine‘.
It did for King David. After discovering that his two wives were abducted we are certain that his imagination (as well as the imaginations of other men) must have tried to process some of the possible horrors that their families and the other women and children were now experiencing.
The king lost something dear that day, but he also found something divine. What did he find? He found his prayer life, his lifeline to glory. And he desperately needed to find it real fast:
And David said to Abiathar the priest, Ahimelech’s son, I pray thee, bring me hither the ephod. And Abiathar brought thither the ephod to David. And David enquired at the Lord, saying, Shall I pursue after this troop? shall I overtake them? And he answered him, Pursue: for thou shalt surely overtake them, and without fail recover all. 1 Sam 30:7-8
The spirit of the Lord beckons us to rediscover and reclaim what we have lost in the heated battles of life. The Lord knows all about the ‘lost and found’ departments of our life.
Because, the Bible records in 1 Samuel 30:19 that:
… David and his men recovered all.
Everything. All the wives, sons and daughters were rescued.
The Lord is a perfectionist and does not take pleasure when His creation lives out of kilter to His perfect plan. Like the lost sheep (shepherd), the lost coin (woman) and the lost son (father) in the parables, Jesus will do all within his power to restore things that are lost. Someone once wrote: “You have never looked into the eyes of anyone who does not matter to God.” Jesus cares for lost souls.
What else is it that we could possibly have lost?
Let us revisit prayer one more time. Am I really praying until I am positive that those prayers are airtight and bottled in heaven (Rev 5:8)? Airtight from leaks due to: fear, doubt, sin, unbelief, insincerity or self-centeredness? Is my prayer life consistent and meaningful to both me and the Lord?
If I have lost my prayer life then I need to find it and get it back.
Or how about faithfulness? How faithful am I to the Lord? Do I give 100%, 95% or 80%? Do you know that if one is 99.91% faithful to one’s spouse that in one year (8760 hours) eight of those hours is spent being unfaithful? How would that make you feel tonight when you look over at your spouse lying next to you knowing that he or she is only faithful 99.91% of the time? Is eight hours of unfaithfulness acceptable to you? Or how about four hours of unfaithfulness (99.95% faithful)?
How do you think Jesus feels about his bride, the church he is coming back for (Rev 21:2, 22:16-17), that is maybe not faithful 100% of the time? It is something to think about.
If I have lost my faithfulness then I need to find it and get it back.
And then there is the study and meditation of the Word of God. Have I been spending quality time in the Word? Am I putting aside time to allow the Word to speak to my spirit and allow its light to shine and direct my path (Ps 119:105)?
If I have lost my daily devotions and quality time reserved to study God’s Word then I need to find it and get it back.
And then there is holiness; indeed a very ‘touchy’ subject these days. No apologizes, but without it one cannot even see the Lord (Heb 12:14). How well have I been keeping my inner person sanctified and crucified to corruptible things?
If I have lost holiness then I need to find it and get it back.
Do you feel like you have lost something? Is there something missing in life? Perhaps it is the Lord speaking to our spirit telling us that we have lost some precious things and need to go and find them.
Heaven’s ‘lost and found’ department is open 24 hours a day.
Oh, I think I just heard my number being called!
Messes To Masterpieces 