In all our sin, Jesus wants us to turn to Him. He is not reluctant, silently disapproving, or duty-bound to accept us in all our disappointing failures. How wonderful that He “came not to call the righteous, but sinners” (Matt. 9:13)! Christ does not restore us from sin out of a love peripheral to His true desires. His very purpose was and is to save those who desperately need salvation. His aim is to redeem sinners who have no hope apart from Him.
Psalm 119:176 says:
I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek your servant,
for I do not forget your commandments.
In my walk with God, I have been tempted to despair over my sin struggles and feelings of guilt. Often my inclination is to shrink back from Jesus, convinced that I have lost His favor. I am still justified, I think to myself, but I am failing at sanctification, and He must surely be disappointed in me.
Yet in Psalm 119:176, the psalmist confesses directly to God that he has “gone astray like a lost sheep.” The writer does not hide in shame, despite having professed repeatedly his love for the Word of God throughout the psalm. He admits to God his sinful insufficiency. And he simply asks the Lord to “seek [His] servant.” No frilliness. He asks God to find and restore him. There is something to learn here about turning to the Lord with simple, childlike faith―even, and especially, in the deep pits of our sin. It should not surprise me; after all, Jesus is the Good Shepherd, the one who declared, “I know my own and my own know me” (John 10:14). But I am surprised all over again by the deep, compassionate tenderness of our Savior.
The psalmist also does not shy away from the law. I have often thought, when feeling discouraged by my sinfulness, that I must focus only on gospel indicatives and leave out all the imperatives. But the psalmist remembers the Lord’s commandments, the very Word that he calls “a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” (Ps. 119:105), a comfort especially to a lost sheep. In my sin, the issue is not too much of a true remembrance of the law. The law is good; it not only exposes our need for a Savior but guides us in right paths. And as I repent, putting off sin and putting on righteousness, the law is my guide.
In all these things, I am encouraged that the correct response to my own sinfulness is to draw nearer to (not away from) Jesus and to meditate on (not ignore) the law. Despite our wayward tendencies, Christ beckons to sinners. Even as we are confronted with greater depths of sin, confession and repentance provide an opportunity to draw nearer to Jesus and ask for the grace He already longs to give us.