Redeeming lost souls was not an easy thing, even for the Creator of the universe.
It required suffering by the Son of God. There was deep humiliation at the hands of worthless men and betrayal by close friends; there was excruciating pain and anguish, followed by the torment of crucifixion. And beyond that, there was what seems to have been a deep and unfathomable sense of utter loneliness, leading to the mournful cry, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Matthew 27:46).
The death of the Messiah on a Roman cross would not be the way any human would have chosen to accomplish redemption. This was the unexpected path to freedom. Easter demonstrates that redemption is God’s work, and the Lord of Glory asked for neither mankind’s counsel nor permission.
In the aftermath of the crucifixion, God passionately pursues lost souls – like a shepherd pursues a wayward sheep. In fact, some might say God gets downright pushy. But who could blame Him? If death could not dissuade the Son of God, why would anything else?
The God who answers
To get our attention, He uses means, both expected and unexpected, to break through the clutter and white noise of life, penetrating the blindness of closed minds and the deluded self-righteousness of hardened hearts.
That process can get pretty ugly. After all, we are slaves of sin who, by and large, love our chains. Thus, God often uses circumstances to alert us to our desperate situation, and this can make the cure seem worse than the disease.
For example, Psalm 107 presents four illustrations of situations whereby the Lord makes Himself known to the lost.
First, there are people wandering in a trackless desert, with no idea of how to find a town or city. They are hungry and thirsty, filled only by discouragement (vv. 4-9).
Then there are prisoners “in misery and chains;” darkness and death haunt their steps. The burdens of their lives humble them. They stumble about in distress, and humanly speaking, there is no one coming to help (vv. 10-16).
There are “fools” who have rebelled against God and are the cause of their own suffering (vv. 17-22).
Finally, in contrast, there are hardworking seafarers who simply get caught in a random, yet mighty, storm that threatens to sink and destroy them (vv. 23-32).
These circumstances are undoubtedly meant to represent the various troubles that afflict us all. It is certainly not an exhaustive list. Yet, we feel the desperation of those stricken by sin and misfortune.
Those in all four groups respond in common fashion: “Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble” (vv. 6, 13, 19, 28). There is within them all a desperate plea for salvation, albeit of a natural and temporal kind. Still, it is a shadow of the deeper longing for eternal life that exists within the hearts of many of the lost.
We may take great encouragement in noting that these four groups of people in Psalm 107 also have something else in common – the answer of a merciful and gracious God. In each case, the Lord delivers and saves them: “He brought them out of their distresses” (v. 28).
The God who draws near
At the close of each section, after the afflicted have been rescued, the Psalmist exhorts them all: “Let them give thanks to the Lord for His lovingkindness, and for His wonders to the sons of men!” (vv. 8, 15, 21, 31).
We are not told if they honored the Lord in response to His gracious kindness. It is not uncommon for people to ignore the mercies of God. After all, only one leper returned to Jesus to thank Him for His healing power; the other nine, freshly made whole, moved on to enjoy their new lives without thinking “to give glory to God” (Luke 17:11-19).
So, the Scripture reveals that the Lord often does something else: He draws near to people and makes His presence even clearer. Something happens that causes people to think about God.
For example, in the New Testament, Jesus (and later His church) performed miracles that shocked people, clearly indicating that God had drawn near. When confronted by the Pharisees, who declared that Jesus was operating miraculously according to demonic power, Jesus said, “But if I cast out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you” (Luke 11:20).
Sometimes, that’s how we see that God is near – in actions that are so stunning that we can say nothing else other than that was “the finger of God.”
However, such demonstrations of God’s power are, by definition, rare. They are miracles, signs, and wonders – acts that amaze and awe because they happen infrequently.
Fortunately for us, the nearness of God is more frequently made evident in less dramatic fashion. Perhaps, at the funeral of a friend, a person thinks about Him; someone else is overcome by a sense of the Divine during a violent thunderstorm or the timely coming of desperately needed rain; yet another senses God’s hand in the clearly intelligent design of nature.
Good works done by Christians in the name of Jesus Christ can point people to the Lord as well. When an act of mercy meets the desperate need of a neighbor, then they might “glorify your Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 5:16). Why? Because they know that God is near to them.
Moreover, as Christians, the love we have for Jesus can impact people and bear witness to His transforming power.
Author and humorist Garrison Keillor tells a story about a Thanksgiving when his family gathered in Minnesota. They prepared to eat by asking a family member to pray and give thanks to God.
Everybody in the family knew that Uncle John couldn’t pray without talking about the cross and crying. Sure enough, Uncle John prayed, talked about the cross, and cried. Meanwhile, the rest of us shifted nervously from one foot to the other and longed for the prayer to end. All of us knew that Jesus died on the cross for us, but Uncle John had never gotten over it.
While Keillor undoubtedly meant the story to be humorous, it is nevertheless a powerful testimony of the impact of the love of Jesus on Christians. And when it continues to impact us, people are made aware of God’s nearness.
The God who pardons
While all these things can impact the sinner on behalf of a loving God, nothing cuts to the heart like God’s perfect Word – preached, read, or shared and applied by the Holy Spirit to a sinner’s heart. Nothing causes joy like the heartfelt acceptance of the pardon offered in the gospel.
During the ministry of Jesus, even miracles were not enough to convert stubborn sinners. Beautiful sunsets might cast God’s shadow on the heart of a lost person, but sunsets cannot redeem a polluted soul. The kindness of a Christian might prick the conscience of the rebel, but the dark waters of rebellion, having receded for a time, often flow right back into the estuary. Even the evidence of the Creator in His creation can be rejected and suppressed by the idolator who refuses to surrender his gods.
Without the clarion call of the gospel message, none of the above truly explains the why of what is happening. They can trigger a hunger and a thirst for righteousness, but only the clear, biblical gospel can point the wandering soul to that which satisfies his longings – God Himself.
Paul states, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes” (Romans 1:16).
The proclamation of the good news is divine power, and it strikes deep into the heart. When the apostle Peter preached on the day of Pentecost, those present “were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, ‘Brethren, what shall we do?’” (Acts 2:37).
The God who knocks
The church must be ready with the answer to that question – especially at Easter.
Many of us who attend church faithfully have heard of “CEOs,” or people who attend “Christmas-Easter Only.” Some jokingly call them “Chreasters” for the same reason.
Yes, we might make fun of such sporadic attendance, but at least these folks are there with us. They might come for their own reasons – ones that have nothing to do with a hunger for God. Maybe they are honoring Mom or Dad and going to church with their parents while they’re in town for the holidays.
The Lord Jesus wants them. Like the Messiah having dinner with sinners in the Gospels, God desires them to be with Him.
Even for the Christian, Jesus is pictured as knocking on the door and desiring fellowship with His people (Revelation 3:20).
Paul understood the heart of God toward lost people when he said in 2 Corinthians 5:20 that Christians are “ambassadors for Christ.” We represent the Savior in a passionate manner: We beg people “on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.”
Most amazingly, Paul reveals the heart of the Father toward spiritual wanderers and prisoners, fools, and those drowning through no fault of their own. Paul says we are to plead with the lost to be reconciled to God “as though God were making an appeal through us.”
God pleading with people to receive the peace that He offers only makes sense in light of the suffering of Christ on Golgotha long ago. He is the God who answers heartfelt cries for help. He draws near to people who have forgotten Him. He offers pardon through the gospel.
He is the God who knocks on closed doors.
(Digital Editor's Note: This article was published first in the April 2025 print edition of The Stand. Click HERE for a free six-month complimentary subscription.)
