From J. C. Philpot's Daily Portions
October 8 "I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek your servant;
for I do not forget your commandments." Psalm 119:176 If the Lord did not seek us, we would never seek the
Lord. That is most certain. If you are one that seeks the Lord in prayer, in
supplication, in secret desire, with many a heart-rending groan, and often
by night and by day, be well assured, that you would never have sought the
Lord, had not the Lord first sought you. He is now seeking you. It may be
(as you fear), some time before he finds you; but he will find you at last.
How sweetly the Lord has set this forth in the parable of
the lost sheep! The poor sheep has gone astray; and having once left the
fold, it is pretty sure to have got into some strange place or other. It has
fallen down a rock, or has rolled into a ditch, or is hidden beneath a bush,
or has crept into a cave, or is lying in some deep, distant ravine, where
none but an experienced eye and hand can find it out. Just so with the
Lord's lost sheep; they get into strange places. They fall off rocks, slip
into holes, hide among the bushes, and sometimes creep off to die in
caverns. When the literal sheep has gone astray, the shepherd goes
after it to find it. Here he sees a footmark, there a little lock of wool
torn off by the thorns. Every nook he searches; into every corner he looks,
until at last he finds the poor sheep wearied, torn, and half expiring, with
scarcely strength enough to groan forth its misery. He does not beat it
home, nor thrust the goad into its back; but he gently takes it up, lays it
upon his shoulder, and brings it home rejoicing. Similar in grace are the
Lord's ways with his lost sheep. Men act otherwise. Let a pharisee see a
sheep cast, as it is called in the country, that is, lying helpless
upon its back, he would soon kick it up and kick it home, beat its head with
his crook, or drive the sharp nail into its flank. David's was a wise prayer, "Let me fall into the hands of
God, and not into the hands of man." O to fall into the hands of God; into
the hands of a merciful and compassionate High Priest, who was tempted in
all points, like as we are, and can therefore sympathize with his poor
tempted people! These, these are the only hands for us safely to fall into;
and he that falls into these hands will neither fall out of them, nor
through them, for "underneath are the everlasting arms," and these can
neither be sundered nor broken.