We were in the garden section of a home improvement store discussing what type of cherry and apple trees might be best for our yard when Little Miss wandered away. We watched her as she skipped up and down the rows of flowers singing a song, being the star of the show in her head. We waited for the moment she would realize she had wandered so far from us.
She stopped mid skip and hit the panic button. “MAMA!! DADDY! Where are you?!”
“We’re right here, turn around!”
She turned on her heel, took one look at us, and started up her show again. Then she stopped mid-skip as if she had just remembered something. She marched over to us, arms crossed, eyebrows furrowed and demanded to know, “Why did you leave me? Why didn’t you tell me you were coming over here?!”
Ked looked her in the eye and said, “Sweetheart, we would never leave you. You’re the one who wandered away. We haven’t moved.”
She cocked her head to one side as if replaying the scene in her head and then said, “Oh…”
How like her we can be! We get caught up in our own little world happily skipping along doing our own thing with no thought of God and His ways when suddenly we realize – He’s not here! Then we crossly demand to know why He abandoned us.
In reality, we’re the ones who left His path.
We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to our own way;
and the LORD has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.Isaiah 53:6
Have you ever seen sheep wander? My in-laws live next door to a sheep farm. Whenever we hear cars driving by loudly honking their horns, we know the sheep have escaped….again. They find the weak spot in the fence and they scatter up and down the busy road. I’m amazed one has never been hit because cars coming up the have limited visibility and would not expect to be greeted by a herd of sheep! The farmer has put the fence up for the sheep’s protection, to keep them close to home and out of danger of death.
No wonder Jesus calls Himself the Great Shepherd.
Yet when we’ve gone our own way, God provides the way home. When we call out to Him, He responds.
Romans 10
9 If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. 11 As Scripture says, “Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.” 12 For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, 13 for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
1 John 1:9
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
Do you know Him as your Savior? Have you wandered away from His path? He’s waiting for you to call out to Him.
Love this. I could see the picture you painted. 🙂
So true! I experience this phenomenon with the college students all the time. They know the truth but they want to do their “own” thing and then when their life takes a turn for the worse they wonder where God has gone. I know it happens in a more subtle way with my own life as well.
p.s. I loved the picture of those sheep they look snarky don’t they?