“For this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.” And they began to be merry. Luke 15:24
Everyone’s life includes at least a little bit of lost and found. Something that you once had and then it was gone, seemingly forever, with no chance of ever being found again. Then, all of a sudden, there it is.
It could have been something you really needed, like your keys or an important document. Or, it could have been something very important because of the sentimental value as in a ring or an item of jewelry that had been lost. Whatever the case may be, you know the feeling of having lost something and the joy of it being found. Sometimes it may have just taken a bit of looking and other times, things are so thoroughly lost that they are beyond hope of ever being found again.
The Lord lost something one time. Not long after He created man in His image, the Creator came for his daily walk with Adam, but he was nowhere to be found. “Adam, Adam, where are you?” So, the Lord had lost Adam, is that it? Oh, no, He knew exactly where Adam was and what he had been up to. This is not a story about a missing person, this is about a lost relationship. Because of Adam’s sin against God, he was put out of God’s Garden and out of fellowship with Him.
The father in our verse today had lost someone as well — one of his sons. Like Adam, it wasn’t that the son was lost physically; he was lost relationally, he had separated himself from his father and from everything good and genuine in his life. The prodigal son was lost spiritually as well as relationally. He had traded everything of value in his life for that which was less than worthless. The end result was that he was lost and had nothing in and of himself with which to be restored, to be “found” again.
Some things that are lost are easily enough replaced and some things don’t even need to be replaced as that which is lost is not even missed. But, those are just things. When it comes to God-given relationships, there is no substitute. People try to replace the emptiness of being separated from God with all kinds of things but nothing can satisfy that need. Without the Lord, we are dead and only He can make us alive. We are lost without Him and are only found by being in right relationship with Him. God did not lose Adam in the Garden that day, but Adam was lost to Him through his choices. The good news is that God already had a plan whereby those who are lost can be found; those who are spiritually dead can be made alive. It’s through Jesus Christ and His sacrifice of love for us!
If you have spent some lonely nights looking out into the darkness for one who has been lost to you, praying and believing for the miracle of restoration and reconciliation, then be encouraged by the remembrance that God’s plan for man included the provision for him to be found even though his being lost in the first place was his own doing. Be encouraged with the knowledge that God can restore that which seems to be beyond restoration and He can reconcile that which seems to be irreconcilable — He is the God of the lost and found!
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