4
because that was what she’d buy the kids food
with. No coin = no food = whiny, hungry, sick
kids. She needed, desperately needed, that
coin; so that she could feed the hungry kids
whom she loved and be the de facto domestic
head which she was. And this is all a picture of
God’s need for the lost, His need for us,
because He knows the feeding which that lost
one can uniquely provide to His beloved
family. And one wonders of course whether the
Lord’s parable wasn’t drawn from real life inci-
dents in His own childhood with Mary.
Our Part in the Search
God is in search of man, and so is His Son. We
surely all at times get depressed, feeling we
are nothing and nobody, just used rather than
needed. But just as we have our need to be
needed, so does God, seeing we are made in
His image and likeness. We see it all worked
out visually when the Lord Jesus was starving
hungry (Gk.), and saw a fig tree far away. He
walked towards it, fixing His mind upon the
tree. It wasn’t the time for figs, but the tree
had leaves, and He was so hungry, He’d have
been prepared to eat the most immature, un-
ripe figs (Mk. 11:12,13). This is an acted para-
ble of His search for man, for fruit upon us.
The same imagery of a fig tree bearing fruit is
used by the Lord in Lk. 13:6 to speak of His
hope of spiritual fruit from Israel. But when
the Lord finally arrived at the leafy fig tree,
He found no fruit at all, and so He cursed it,
and it withered. The same word is used about
the withering of those rejected at the last day
by the Lord Jesus - they will be withered, and
then gathered up and burnt (Jn. 15:6). So as
the Lord Jesus strode the long way towards
the fig tree, focused upon it with all the focus
and hope of a hungry man, so eager and hope-
ful to find fruit... so He is striding towards us
with the same hope in us, of finding at least
something, however immature, however un-
ripe. But at least something.
The good shepherd searches for the sheep
until He finds it. John 10 is full of reference
to Ezekiel 34, which describes God’s people as
perishing on the mountains, eaten by wolves.
Editorial | God in Search of Man ... continued
But the Lord Jesus set Himself to do that
which was impossible - to search until He
found, even though He knew that some were
already lost. Our attitude to those lost from
the ecclesia and to those yet out in the world
must be similar.
God is searching for us, longing for us, as the
father watching for the prodigal’s return. And
it is this spirit / disposition of God which we
are to have in our pleading outreach to hu-
manity. We’re extending the tragic and even
desperate search of God for man. Our witness
can certainly not be indifferent, take-it-or-
leave-it, just a bald presentation of Biblical in-
formation… there must be some heart and soul
and spirit to it, reflecting none less than the
searching, longing heart of God Himself. Is our
testimony to Jesus in this spirit of the
prophets? With whom have you talked this
week? To whom have you reached out, for
whom have you prayed that they might return
to their God? And how have you talked with
them, with what spirit of appeal? As a dying
man to dying men? Or as an impartial presen-
ter of mere information? Why not make prayer
lists of people whom we desperately wish
would turn to God…? And when one does turn,
this spirit will lead us to do all we can to en-
sure he never turns away again.
| Duncan Heaster
... are determined by circumstances and
capacity. Impossibilities will never be
exacted by the supreme Judge.
What will be looked for and what must
be cultivated, is the diligent accom-
plishment of that which is within our
power. It may be very little, but lets
do it continually, and with a good
conscience, as in the sight and service
of God and we shall be accepted.
Bro Robert Roberts ~ “The Ambassador”1887
Possibilities...