“I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek Your servant, for I do not forget Your commandments” (Ps 119:176).
We know how sheep get lost, don’t we? When sheep are nibbling grass, their eyes are just a few inches off the ground. They see no danger; they just enjoy the grass. Then they see a lovely tuft a few feet away, and then another, and another, and slowly nibble themselves from the shepherd into the desert—and wonder how they ever got there! Perhaps, as it grows dark and cold, if sheep not only wander but wonder, they begin to think about how to get back where they once were, near to the shepherd. That’s why David’s final petition in the psalm is this: Come looking for me, Lord! “Seek Your servant.”
Another of the Lord’s flock, who wrote a thousand years later, said: “You were like sheep going astray, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls” (1 Pet 2:25). But even when I wander from You, says the psalmist, Your Word will tether me to Your heart. Amen!