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Have you ever been in a huge crowd of people where there were so many people in the same place you had to stand squished up against everyone else? Maybe it was at a football game or a concert. Maybe it was even in a very busy shopping mall!
Sometimes, when we think about big groups of people, it is hard to see each person as an individual. Everyone just runs together into a big mass. Imagine if you got off of a plane and stepped into a busy airport. You know your grandfather is there waiting for you. You look past all the other people until—you find him! You zero in on him and head straight for him. You know what he looks like, what he sounds like, and even what he smells like. And you can’t wait to see him.
Big crowds of people are what we talked about in Sunday School this morning. Do you remember when we learned how BIG a country India is? It is the seventh largest country in the entire world, but it has more people living there than any other country on earth except China! There are more than 2,500 different people groups living in India, and they speak more than 400 different languages. When you think about how many people that is, it is easy for all those people to run together.
But Jesus doesn’t see a huge crowd. He knows every single person there—even better than you know your own grandfather. He knows their names, what they look like, what they sound like, and what is in their hearts. He loves every one of them, and He wants every one of them to know Him. It’s just like the story of the Good Shepherd in the Bible. Jesus is the Good Shepherd. Even if He has 100 sheep, he’ll leave 99 of them behind to go look for the single sheep who gets lost. And when He finds it, He is so happy and excited! He picks it up and carries it home.
Many of the people in India are like the lost sheep. Jesus knows who they are and wants them to know Who He is. He won’t stop looking for them or forget about a single one. This morning, we did a word search, looking for a few of the people groups who live in India. I didn’t quite finish mine, so I’m going to work on it now. Every time I find one of the missing groups of people, I celebrate. Then I say a prayer and ask God to find the lost people and bring them home to Him, just like the missing sheep.
“Dear God, please help everyone who is lost, in India and everywhere else in the world, to hear Your voice and know that You want to bring them home to live with You forever. Help them know they don’t have to be lost or alone anymore. Thank You. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.”
This is the perfect way to end a discussion I was having with my oldest daughter yesterday. We were talking about how my doctor’s office doesn’t call people in the waiting room by name anymore; they call them by number. It turned into a discussion about how people have become so impersonal with each other. What a great way to contrast this with a very personal God.
Shelly, thank you so much for your kind words. I’m very thankful if the post was a blessing.