Last Saturday as I was getting ready to mow the lawn. I grabbed the gas can so I could fuel up our old mower and when I placed it back in the garage I saw something underneath our old rake - a bracelet.
I remembered my wife telling me a few months ago how she had lost her favorite bracelet. I assumed this was it so I picked it up and took it out to my wife who was working in the garden. I didn't give it to her right away. I wanted to set up "the moment" and "the big reveal."
When I finally showed her the bracelet, oh, how her eyes lit up! She flapped her arms like she was trying to fly and then gave me a big hug. Score!
"Where did you find it?!? I've been looking everywhere for that! I am so happy!" Again with the hugs.
Then the other night after changing my clothes, I come walking out into the kitchen, still pulling a newly washed sweatshirt over my head. Plop. A sock fell out of my sweatshirt.
"THAT'S where it went! It must have gotten stuck inside your sweatshirt when I folded it up."
I told these two stories to my friend at work and she said, "The same thing happened to me last week. I was changing purses to go with the outfit I was wearing that day and there, in the purse, was my MP3 charge cord. Now I can listen to music again!"
People sure enjoy finding lost things. It almost makes me want to take some of my wife's stuff and hide it someplace so I could find it later and be a hero all over again.
Or maybe I should wait to find it until she gets mad at me about something. Then I'd "just happen" to find it. And things would be all better again.
I found something interesting this week while reading through the Book of Genesis. It was something familiar. It was about finding something and joy the person received when what was lost was suddenly found.
"And Jacob lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, Esau was coming, and four hundred men with him. So he divided the children among Leah and Rachel and the two female servants. 2 And he put the servants with their children in front, then Leah with her children, and Rachel and Joseph last of all. 3 He himself went on before them, bowing himself to the ground seven times, until he came near to his brother."
[and here's the part I want you to read]
"4 But Esau ran to meet him and embraced him and fell on his neck and kissed him, and they wept." - Genesis 33:1-4
Now, read this from Luke 15 . . .
20 “And he arose and came to his father. But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him." - Luke 15:20
Hmm. Deja vu!
Jesus was well familiar with the story of Esau and Jacob when He told the parable of the prodigal son. Coincidence? No way. There are no coincidences with God!
God loves to find lost things. He seeks things far greater than socks or bracelets too. He seeks lost human beings. He LOVES when they come to Him in need - receiving forgiveness of sin when they come. Nothing makes heaven happier than a sinner who repents.
"7 Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance." - Luke 15:7
The Lost Are Found - Hillsong
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