We ought to be stunned, and in turn filled with an unshakable joy as we consider how far God stooped to redeem us. God, after all, so loved the world that He sent His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him would not perish but have eternal life. While we were yet sinners Christ died for us. He came less to rescue us from the evil hag, more to rescue us, the evil hag. May we never lose sight of the depth of our desperation- we were dead in our trespasses and sins, nor the reach of His grace- He made us alive, nor the fullness of His promise- we will see Him as He is.
That said, the glory of our first rescue should never obscure from our sight the glory of our ongoing rescue. That is, the astonishing grace does not cease at our salvation. Because neither does our sin stop at our salvation. He continues to pursue us, because we are ever so prone to wander.
There is something profoundly moving about Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, leaving the 99 to go find and bring back the one. I feel the tenderness of His touch as I picture that wayward lamb, safe across His shoulders as He returns to the fold, smiling. What is all too easy to miss, however, is that it is, in this context, a lamb that He went in search of. Have you ever considered that? This is not a picture of Jesus out in pursuit of His enemies, of Jesus raising from spiritual death those buried in their own sins and enmity against the Father. This is not the good shepherd chasing down a goat and by the power of the Holy Spirit turning it into a lamb. This wayward one had already been won. This word picture, from His own lips, is about the lengths Jesus will go to rescue those He has already rescued.
We, for whom the Shepherd has already laid down His life, who already have been led beside still waters and feasted upon green grass, who have already been lovingly held against His bosom, leave. Depart. Wander off. Seek out water that does not slake and grass that is poison. We, who have been given the gift of life, twice, walk away from the one who not only made us, but who gave up His own life that we might live again. We, like our mother Gomer, go back out on the streets and give ourselves to those who abuse us for their own pleasure.
And He chases us down. Not to execute vengeance against us, but to pour out His love on us. He washes our muddy, bloody, filthy wool until it gleams again. And He puts us back into the fold, where we are safe, secure, under His loving watchful gaze. The grace of God that redeems us is beyond our imagination. The grace of God that sustains us, that seeks us, that binds us, only He understands.