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"I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek your servant,

for I do not forget your commandments."

~ Psalm 119:176

 

The psalmist has spent 175 verses rehearsing a vast array of truths, experiences, and desires related to God’s Word and his human heart.  Many of his expressions have been of faithfulness and endurance and perseverance in keeping the Word of the LORD, and of his longing for more of the same.   But in the 176th verse, the psalmist concludes with a harsh (but true) reality check… “I have gone astray like a lost sheep;” 

Am I always humble enough to confess the same?  Do I spend time declaring truths, experiences, and desires about God, his Word, and my own heart, only to stop short of seeing the furthest conclusion of reality?  And thereby missing out on all that God has for me?

The psalmist next states, “seek your servant”.  Who is it that would seek out a stray sheep?  A shepherd, of course!  Who is the Shepherd who will seek and save the lost?  Who is the One who knows his sheep by name?  Who is the Shepherd who lays down his life for his sheep?  Who is the One who does not lose any that the Father gives him?

JESUS!

Isaiah 53:6 “All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned – every one – to his own way; the LORD has laid on him (Jesus, the Good Shepherd) the iniquity of us all.”  You can read the parable of the lost sheep in Luke 15:1-7 or Matthew 18:12-14.

Don’t let your relationship with the LORD become one of legalism, performance, and self-righteousness.  YES, love God, love and obey his Word, but rest in the reality that you are a sheep, prone to wander, fully dependent on the Good Shepherd.  He will always seek for you his servant!