Fallen But Never Alone

No one can sing about failure quite like Sarah McLachlan. We all screw up. We all fail. We all fall from time to time. Sometimes we fail again and again at the same thing. While this may bring us shame, we need to remember that no matter how many times we fall down, God is not ashamed of us. He loves us. And he picks up back up, brushes us off and sends us on our way again.

In Jesus's parable of the lost sheep, the sheep was not crying for the shepherd. Maybe the sheep ran off on it's own and became lost. Maybe he was too ashamed to cry out and ask for help. Maybe he felt that the shepherd would be angry or judgemental of him and so he stayed silent, lost and alone. But the shepherd knew he was missing and went looking for him. He didn't stop until he found him. Jesus doesn't care how we've failed. All he wants is for us to be with him, and he won't stop until he has us. There is no failure too big for God to raise you up from. No sin too great, no hole too deep. God desires that none should perish, and I tend to think that God gets what he wants. Our failure is not bigger than God. We know that even in the darkness of our misery - even if it is self-made - we are never alone.