Have you ever lost anything? Did you find it again? Recently I was shopping in a department store and had baby Ruthie along with me. When I had finished, we went to our van to drive home, but when I looked in my purse for the keys to the van, I couldn’t find them.
I searched all through my purse and in the van, but couldn’t find the keys. I decided that I must have dropped them somewhere in the store. So, we went back in and looked for the keys in all the areas where we had shopped.
Still no keys.
I went to the Customer Service Department and asked them if anyone had found a set of keys and turned them in.
No, no one had.
For the next two hours I searched everywhere in the store, in the van, in the parking lot, and in my purse for those keys! Finally, I gave up and called Grandma on the tele-phone and asked her to come pick us up. I couldn’t waste any more time because my sons would be coming home from school soon.
Ruthie and I were waiting for Grandma out in the van. Just as she drove up I thought I would check in my purse one more time. Once again, I dumped everything out of it, and then I thought I heard the keys rattle! But where were they? (Can you guess?)
They had fallen through a hole in the plastic lining of the purse and were caught between the lining and the outer fabric. Although I was sorry to have caused Grandma an unnecessary trip, I was very glad to finally find those lost keys!
Later that night, my husband and I were startled out of our sleep at 2:00 in the morning. It sounded like someone was trying to start the truck my husband uses for work! He jumped out of bed and yelled out the window, “Hey, get out of my truck!”
We quickly turned on a light and ran out the door to the truck. The man had pushed our truck down the driveway and tried to start it, but was scared off when my husband yelled at him. He had left the truck door open but had taken the keys! I thought to myself, Oh, no! Not two sets of keys lost in one day!
When the police came, the officer told us that this same man had tried to steal a carpenter’s truck a few hours before at a house not far from us. In trying to catch him, the carpenter had chased the thief over into our area. He was on foot and was trying to find a car or truck to drive. Not thinking of any danger, my husband had left his keys in our truck when he came home from work. Now the thief had taken the keys and could come back later to steal our truck!
In case he did come back, we took the battery out of the truck so he couldn’t start it even with keys. Then we parked the van right behind it. Trusting the Lord for its safety, and knowing we had done all we could to protect our truck, we went back to bed. We also prayed for the salvation of that thief.
The next morning we looked for our keys in the bushes where he had run, but the thief had not dropped them.
We had lost two sets of keys in one day. The one set we found, but the other set is still lost. That reminds me of boys and girls. Some have been found by the Lord Jesus and been washed clean of their sins, but some are still lost. Which are you - found, or still lost?
If you are still lost in your sins, Jesus is looking for you. Why don’t you let Him find you? “The Son of man [Jesus] is come to seek and to save that which was lost.” Luke 19:1010For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost. (Luke 19:10). He loves you and wants to wash your sins away with His precious blood that He shed on Calvary’s cross. He wants to make you ready to live with Him forever in his happy home in heaven.
“All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on Him [the Lord Jesus] the iniquity [sins] of us all.” Isaiah 53:66All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:6).
Jesus told a story once about three things that got lost: a lamb, a coin and a son. Why don’t you read the story in your Bible in Luke chapter 15? See if the owners found the things they had lost.
ML-05/23/1993