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Apr 07 2016

There is Rejoicing

Posted by Mugs @ 11:15 am in Church,Devotional,Family Print This Post Print This Post

By Mugs Manry

“…I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”

Matthew 17:20

Yesterday morning, I put a ring on my finger. Later, I suddenly realized I was not wearing it anymore. “I must have put it in my pocket or my purse,” I surmised. When I finally arrived home, I went through my purse and my pockets and searched the van. It was not there. I called the places I had been to ask them if anyone had turned in a ring. They answered no. I fretted – trying to remember when and why I had taken it off.

I prayed.

But I was angry at myself for losing something so valuable because of inattentiveness. What had I done? Where had it gone? All the lectures I have given my children on “taking care of your things,” “being responsible,” “paying attention to what you are doing” played in my head. (My children will testify that they have heard a lot of these lectures.)

I drove the route again. I revisited the places where I had gone. I searched parking lots, under cars, benches, bathrooms, floors. I talked to managers and office workers. It was gone.

I prayed.

I told Gabe and Zeke I had lost the ring. I told Dale I had lost the ring. (It was a gift from him.) I felt terrible. I asked God in prayer to let whoever finds it, need it. I awoke this morning discouraged. Squabbling lowered my mood. Hope was distant.

I read Psalm 30. “I will exalt you, O Lord, for you lifted me out of the depths and did not let my enemies gloat over me. O Lord my God, I called to you for help and you healed me. O Lord, you brought me up from the grave, you spared me from going down into the pit. Sing to the Lord, you saints of his; praise his holy name. For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime; weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning. When I felt secure, I said, ‘I will never be shaken.’ O Lord, when you favored me, you made my mountain stand firm; but when you hid your face, I was dismayed. To you, O Lord, I called; to the Lord I cried for mercy: ‘What gain is there in my destruction, in my going down into the pit? Will the dust praise you? Will it proclaim your faithfulness? Hear, O Lord, and be merciful to me; O Lord, be my help.’ You turned my wailing into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy, that my heart may sing to you and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give you thanks forever.”

The phone rang. The ring was found.

I rejoiced!

The ring is valuable. It was lost and by God’s grace, it was found. I am grateful, but I was suddenly overwhelmed with how small a value the ring was compared to the enormity of the value of the lost people I love. I cried. I sometimes doubt that they will ever by found. I lose hope, I stop searching, I stop praying, I stop believing.

O me of little faith.

When we’ve lost something valuable, God knows where it is. God sees it. When someone we value is lost, God sees them, God can rescue them, God can save them. He can restore them to himself and to us. No one is too lost that God cannot reach them.

In Matthew 17: 20 Jesus told his disciples, “…I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”

Pray for the lost ones that you love today and for the lost all around you. A mustard seed is very, very tiny. (I’ve seen one.) It’s o.k. if your faith is only that big. Our God is much much bigger. This week, He has allowed me to experience the real life lesson of the parable of the lost coin.

“Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Does she not light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says,’Rejoice with me, I have found my lost coin.’ In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” Luke 15:8-10

3 Responses to “There is Rejoicing”

  1. Mom says:

    I praise the Lord and rejoice with you. Mom

  2. vanessa says:

    “O me of little faith.”

    Sometimes (most of the time) I feel like that sums me up.

  3. Aunt Robin says:

    what a wonderful story. Praise the Lord!

Leave a Reply to vanessa