Lost and Being Found

I visited my sister today, and over morning tea, she told me what happened when Amalie, her young granddaughters cat, went missing.  I knew a little of the story from my nieces facebook page, but Di filled me in on the details.

On Friday morning, the cat was seen in the yard but by evening she had disappeared.

My sister and her distraught granddaughter printed flyers for telegraph poles as well as a letter box drop and all the while little Emma was in a flood of tears.  She wasn't upset just because her cat was lost; her biggest concern was Amalie might have been scared and all alone.

It turned out the RSPCA had picked up Amalie in the next street.  We assume the cat had followed Emma's big sister to the bus stop where someone thinking she was lost, picked her up and called the pound   After a letter, a phone call, a trip to Rutherford and $93 later, Amalie is now home safe and sound and Emma is once again a happy little girl.

This got me thinking.  I wonder how God feels when we wander off and get ourselves lost.  I don't believe for a moment He is happy to see us hurt and I have even more doubts that He is sitting back, watching us, rubbing his hands together in glee and thinking "This will teach them for not listening to me."

In the Bible, Jesus said, "When you have seen me, you have seen the Father" (John 14:9) and John 11.35, the shortest verse in the Bible clearly states "Jesus wept".  Jesus didn't weep because His good friend was dead, he wept because those He loved were heartbroken over the loss of their brother.

After reading these verses, how can we come to any other conclusion except that clearly God's heart breaks for us when we are lost and alone?  For us to be rescued, it didn't cost just $93 and a couple of phone calls, it cost the life of God's own Son.  As the hymn goes... I once was lost but now I'm found. In the light of this, what other response can we give to Jesus' sacrifice for us other than a life of worship and praise?