Don’t Get Lost Looking for the Lost

In  1 Samuel 9:3-5, we saw an interesting story of the disappearance of the donkeys of Saul’s father. While we don’t know how the donkeys went missing, Saul’s father gave him the task of searching for them in the company of a servant. 

“Saul went through the mountains of Ephraim and the land of Shalisha, but he and the servant could not find the donkeys. They went into the land of Shaalim, but the donkeys were not there. They went through the land of Benjamin, but they still did not find them. 5 When they arrived in the area of Zuph, Saul said to his servant, “Let’s go back or my father will stop thinking about the donkeys and will start worrying about us.” (1 Samuel 9:3-5)

Now, Saul’s statement here is quite instructive. After wandering far from home in search of the lost sheep, he realised that very soon, his father will stop worrying about the lost sheep and start worrying about the potential of a lost son. So, he advised the servant that it’s time they returned home. 

Saul understood the father’s love as well as the father’s motivation in his ministerial calling, a balance that so many ministers struggle with to their own detriment today. Of course like Saul’s father, God is in the business of seeking and saving the lost, in fact, Luke 15:7 tells us that “…there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 righteous people who don’t need to repent.” However, he is not willing to facilitate this venture at the expense of his children. 

In choosing his Apostles, Mark tells us that “He appointed twelve[a] that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach” (Mark 3:14). Notice that the primary purpose of his calling is for his messengers to first be with him, the secondary purpose (which by the way is under probability) is to send them to preach. 

Unfortunately, unlike Saul, so many children of God today are actively in search of their father’s lost sheep and have wandered far from home that God is more worried about them today than he is about the sheep they are looking for. God has waited for them hopelessly at the place of fellowship and communion but they are on crusade grounds. How Sad?

Dear friend, your walk with God is more important than your work for him. And if in the execution of the work you have drifted, now is the time to go back home, your father is now more worried about you than the lost sheep you seek. May the Lord give you an understanding of these things in Jesus name.