Wednesday, November 6, 2024

“Or imagine a woman who has ten coins and loses one. Won’t she light a lamp and scour the house, looking in every nook and cranny until she finds it? And when she finds it you can be sure she’ll call her friends and neighbors: ‘Celebrate with me! I found my lost coin!’ Count on it—that’s the kind of party God’s angels throw every time one lost soul turns to God.” (Luke 15: 8 -10, The Message Bible)

                The lost shall be found.

                I read a story this week about a diver who found a 1965 McMaster University signet ring in the Barbados waters. (McMaster is also my alma mater.) To the diver’s good  graces, he wanted to return the ring to the original owner. All he had to go on were the initials etched inside the ring - FMP. But he contacted the university. They did a search and came up with only one possibility. Sure enough, the 1965 graduate had lost the ring in 1977 while wading in the waters with his son. They had looked for it but to no avail. Now, a diver had found it after digging down more than 30 cm, after his metal detector kept pinging that there was something in the sand.

                Will wonders never cease, eh?

                Losing something precious or, at least, meaningful is a frustrating disappointment. It panics me just misplacing my car keys or wallet or cell phone for even a few minutes. Susan once lost a small diamond pendant I had given her up at the cottage. We searched high and low, but couldn’t find it. Yet, a couple of years later, we accidently came upon it at the cottage.

                Therefore, I think just about any or all of us can identify with the woman who had lost one of her ten coins. This may be all she had to live by and even the loss of one coin was serious and problematic. Perhaps, she had a family to feed, a mortgage to pay, bills that were overdue to put a contemporary spin on it. With a diligent persistence and fierce determination, she turns the house upside down until she finds it. Then, she throws a party.

                But it doesn’t always have to be a loss of something material. We can lose heart. We can lose confidence. We can lose our reputations. We can lose our faith. We can lose our way. We can lose hope. And yes, we can lose family, friends and loves ones. Losses of these sorts may be overwhelming and devastating. How can we ever hope to recover and find joy again?

                One of the lessons of this parable is that we should never give up. Jesus once told another story about a woman who wouldn’t give up in seeking justice for herself. (Luke 18: 1 -8) He used the illustration to support his teaching that people should always pray and never give up. “Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere.” (Ephesians 6:18, New Living Translation)

                Another lesson is the assurance that God never gives up on us, even if we are ready to give up on ourselves.  “God’s love is meteoric, his loyalty astronomic, His purpose titanic, his verdicts oceanic. Yet in his largeness nothing gets lost; Not a man, not a mouse, slips through the cracks.”  (Psalm 36: 5 – 6, The Message Bible) The persistent, even stubborn, Love of God, is looking out for us and is relentlessly ready to welcome us back into his loving arms as surely as the prodigal son was welcomed back by his father, “'for this son of mine was dead and has now returned to life. He was lost, but now he is found.’ So the party began.” (Luke 15:24, NLT)

                Sometimes, we try very hard to hide from God and that is not quite the same as being lost, like Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. We are ashamed, naked in our humanity, feeling like we have done something which is unforgivable toward God or someone we love. Yet the principle is the same – God seeks us out and communes with us his concern, his discernment but also his unending Love.  It is far better to “face” God with all our sins and mistakes than hide from him. God is just going to find us anyway. “I can never escape from your Spirit!  I can never get away from your presence!” (Psalm 139: 8) But we need to believe that this is not a scary, judgmental thing, but a hopeful thing. Rather, “Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9)

                When we think we are buried in the silt and debris, God's Love pings and he looks diligently for us.

                So whether you are lost or are hiding, be assured that God has not given up on you. However God finds you, the band is warming up, the food is on the table, the party is set to go. Just waiting for the honoured guest – you! Won’t that be a wang-dang doodle!

 Dale