Have you seen my little girl anywhere, ma’am? She has long, light hair.”
I was walking on a country road, when the woman, who thus accosted me came running quickly from a side-lane. It was dusk, and on my replying, “No,” she turned and looked up the road, straining her eyes to see if there was anything like a little girl to be seen. But no little girl was in sight; and the poor woman seemed ready to burst into tears.
“O!” she said, “I took her into the town a mile away, and went into a house for a moment, and when I came out, she was gone.”
“How long ago was that?” I inquired. “It must be several hours back.”
“And have you been looking for her ever since?”
“O, yes! and I have walked miles about the streets, and I shan’t give up till I find her.”
I have often thought of that poor woman’s words,
“I shan’t give up till I find her.” They remind me of that beautiful story in Luke 15, of the shepherd seeking the lost sheep. The poor sheep has wandered away from its home, but the good shepherd loves it, and goes after it. And how long do you think he looks for it? All day and all night? Ah! “Until he find it.”
Children, we all “like sheep have gone astray; we have turned everyone to his own way.”
Many little children, and old people, too, think that they have a great deal to do in order to seek the Saviour. But it is He, who is seeking us. What we have done, is to turn to our own way; and did the poor sheep look for the shepherd, or the shepherd look for the sheep?
The Lord Jesus Christ, never gives up till He finds; and He had to go through death to find His sheep!
“The Good Shepherd giveth His life for the sheep.” And it was for our sins He died.
The Shepherd’s shoulder is a safe and a happy place. He does not drop the sheep halfway, and leave it to find the rest of its way home as best it can. He takes it safely all the way, and then He rejoices. Yes! the Shepherd’s heart is happiest then. The sheep is happy too—far happier than it ever could have been away from Him: but it is the Shepherd who says to His friends and neighbors,
ML 07/12/1931