The Search Party
“’For this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I myself will search for My sheep and look after them.’” –Ezekiel 34:11
Inspired by Pastor Rob’s message series, I had some fun the other day thinking about the word search. The first thing that came to mind was search and rescue, followed by searchlight. One is a team on a mission; the other is an apparatus that projects a powerful beam of light. Of course, both those things could be said to be apt descriptions of God, couldn’t they?
Take for instance, David’s words in Psalm 139, verse 11-12, where he says of the Lord, “If I say, ‘Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,’ even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.” In this passage, nothing escapes God’s watchful eye. His Search and Rescue team—Father, Son and Holy Spirit—know their mission. Find the lost; bring them safely home.
Jesus knew His mission, too, that day when the crowd He had fed the day before went searching for Him (John 6:24) in Capernaum. He very deftly turned a searchlight on their motive for seeking Him out: “Very truly I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw the signs I performed but because you ate the loaves and had your fill.” Truth be told, a free meal may fill your belly but never your soul. Only the Bread of Life can satisfy the hunger that’s deep within each one of us.
The final word that came to me regarding ‘search’ was search party. And with it this thought: The Lord searches for us even before we search for Him. “The eyes of the Lord are everywhere, keeping watch on the wicked and the good,” Proverbs 15:3 says. And David supports that thought in 1 Chronicles 28:9, admonishing his son: “…for the Lord searches every heart and understands every desire and every thought. If you seek Him, He will be found by you…” No matter where we are in our faith journey, my friends, Jesus lights our pathway and will one day lead us home. And that’s a rescue story worth writing home about!
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