Yesterday I lost my wedding ring. I was splashing about in a river when the wet band apparently slipped off my finger. I’m devastated. I can’t afford to replace what I lost, as the price of gold is at an all time high. But even as I’m feeling sorry for myself, I realize that I’ve lost only my wedding ring—many others have lost their marriages.
Some had spouses who set out in foolish, sinful quests to “find themselves.” Others lost their spouses to tragic accidents. One friend describes his wife’s head injury as the day he ‘lost’ her. She’s alive and functioning, but is no longer the person he married.
Many others have lost jobs—whether to redundancy or the fluctuations of a fickle economy—and even more have lost their health. Some days I look at my prayer list and I’m overwhelmed to realize that many friends and families are shouldering heavy burdens of tragic loss.
God has lost things too. Jesus told parables about a lost sheep (Luke 15:4-7), lost coin (Luke 15:8-10) and lost son (Luke 15:11-32) to describe God’s compassion for lost people. God understands the anguish of losing something valuable, and the desperate, heart in your throat longing to have it back. He’s like the shepherd who leaves the 99 sheep to find the lost one (Luke 15:4), the woman who swept her entire house to find her coin (Luke 15:8) or the father staring out the window for the distant silhouette of his returning son (Luke 15:20).
How should we respond to our loss? We should unashamedly grieve for what we have lost and may never have again (Ecclesiastes 3:4). But we grieve in hope, knowing that—in ways we cannot comprehend—all things will be made right when Jesus returns. And so we pray with all the saints, “Come, Lord Jesus!” (Revelation 22:20).
NLT 365-day reading plan passage for today: John 4:1-42
More:
Read Revelation 21:1-5 to learn how God will make all things new when Jesus returns.
Next:
Make a list of what you’ve lost. Ask your heavenly Father to help you recover each item, and if they’re irretrievable, to comfort you in your loss.
jimgroberts on June 21, 2012 at 12:06 pm
But Jesus made a remarkable statement “Build-up your treasures in Heaven – where your treasure is your heart is also. This is why Job was able after life-shattering losses of family and possesions to say
“Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart.
The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away;
may the name of the Lord be praised.”
But one thing we have that cannot be taken from us – our salvation – we can give it away but we can not lose it. So in all things we can rejoice –
“Amasing Grace how can it be …. Once I was lost but now I am found”
winn collier on June 27, 2012 at 7:51 am
Ugh. I lost my wedding ring 6 years ago. In my yard somewhere. Sinking feeling. I ending up getting a ring tattooed on my finger. Not losing this one.