by Victoria Heinecke

I once was lost but now am found.

You can listen to today’s devotion by clicking on this SoundCloud link.

“Wallet, phone, keys, mask.”

It’s my mantra before I go to work, as I make sure I didn’t leave anything behind. Of course, my car won’t start without the keys, so that’s the most important item. If I misplace my keys, I could be late for work as I waste time digging around for them.

In a comic strip, when the protagonist loses her keys, she accuses them of turning into salt and pepper shakers. She always finds them right where she left them, but sometimes can’t see them even when they are in plain sight. Has that ever happened to you?

Sometimes I’ve felt like a lost set of keys, only it’s not because my Father has misplaced me. He always knows where I am, and I can’t change shape in order to deceive him. Unlike my keys, however, I can move around, but Abba Father still knows where I am.

There’s an old saying: “If you don’t feel close to God, guess who moved?”

“Then Jesus told them this parable: ‘Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders…’“
Luke 15:4 New International Version (NIV)

There are times when people feel as if God is silent or doesn’t hear them. Sometimes we wonder if he’s still there. Sometimes it happens when the demands of the world crowd God out of our lives. We get overextended and busy. The Bible goes onto the shelf, closed.

That’s when God seems to be silent, when we tune our ears to other matters.

Not only is he there, but when you get lost, he will chase after you. He calls your name, and you will hear him.

“(the LORD) says, ‘Be still, and know that I am God;’”
Psalm 46:10a NIV

Open the book. Hear his voice.

Copyright Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado