An Open Letter to the Lost Sheep

The first thing I want to say to the many sheep who are without a shepherd is this – God sees you. The second thing I want to say to you is this – God loves you. The third thing I want to say to you is this – God is with you, and the fourth thing I want to say to you is that God still has a great plan for your life. Whether your exit from the local church is the result of wounding by church members, or church leaders, or whether it is the result of the unfolding of a new assignment from God that has required you to leave your present church community and head in the new direction in which His Spirit will guide you – be assured that the Lord God is with you. He loves you, and He has an awesome plan for your life.

The year was 2015 when I physically went into exile from the local church after receiving a devastating blow from the leadership of the church in which I had attended, and served in, for nearly fifteen years. From the exile, I was led straightway into a prolonged season in the wilderness. From firsthand experience, I can tell you that the Devil waits for us in that dry, lonely place for one reason only, and that is to destroy us.

In the wilderness, the Adversary of our soul’s toys with our minds by planting poisonous thoughts in our heads. He lies to us, and creates illusions before our eyes in order to deceive us into believing that his lies are really the truth. In our weakened state, he tries to convince us that God has forsaken us, lost sight of us, has no more use for us, and that the Good Shepherd has abandoned us to starve to death alone in the wilderness. But Jesus said in John 10 that his sheep will know his voice, and they will run from the voice of the stranger because the stranger comes only to steal, kill and destroy. He has told you, little sheep, that Satan is the father of lies, and that when he speaks a lie, he is speaking “his native language” because “he is a liar and the father of lies,” and there is not a speck of truth in him. (See Jn. 8:44)

In Matthew 4, we read where Jesus was led into the wilderness by the Spirit of God to be tempted by the devil. In this account of scripture, Jesus teaches us how to survive the wilderness experience by, not only knowing the truths given to us in God’s Word, but also by knowing how to strategically enforce God’s Truths as spiritual weapons against the father of lies. Here, we read that Jesus had fasted forty days and forty nights. His body was weak and hungry, but His Spirit was up for the fight.

Though you may be weakened from your struggle, you must remember, the same power and authority Jesus displayed against the devil, in His weakened physical state in the wilderness, is available to you. You have the authority to demolish every lie the devil presents to you by confronting those lies with God’s Truth. Jesus, our Big Brother in the faith, has gone before us and taught us how to remain strong, and how to fight back in the wilderness. John 1:5 is there to remind us that the darkness is powerless to stand against the Light. Every lie will ultimately be demolished when confronted with God’s truth.

You don’t have to become a casualty of hopelessness in the wilderness. You don’t have to faint or lose your way. Jesus Christ has shown us that there is help for us in the wilderness, and that there is a way out of the dry place. We need only to read the story of Hagar, found in Genesis 16, to know that God sees us, wherever we may find ourselves. Even when despair and grief back us into a wall or drive us into a desert; knowing that God is right there with us, though we can’t see or feel Him, can mean the difference between life and death, between ruin and victory.

Hagar, too, was in a wilderness when the eyes of God saw her there in that dry, barren desert, alone, afraid, and running away; from what, even she did not know. She was pregnant with purpose, and yet she found herself in a wilderness, without a vision for her life. But when she heard the Lord call to her in the midst of her despair, Hagar realized that she was never alone. The lie the devil tried to convince her of was exposed when she heard God’s voice calling to her in her dry place. Suddenly, those feelings of hopelessness, despair, and rejection had to flee the moment she realized that God was with her, that He loved her, and that He had a great plan for her life. It was there, in the hopelessness of the desert, that Hagar named the Lord – El Roi, for she said to the Lord, who spoke to her in the midst of her anxiety, sorrow and fear, “You are the God who sees me. I have now seen the One who sees me” (See Gen. 16:9-13).

Yes, God sees you too, little sheep, right where you are, and He will come to rescue you from your despair, your wandering, and your hopelessness. In Psalm 139, David reminds us, even as he seals it in his own heart, that there is no place we can go, or hide, where God is not already there. He is the Good Shepherd. He is our Savior and our Redeemer. His eyes are always upon us. If He sees the sparrow fall, and has numbered all the hairs on our heads, we can rest assured that He is intently mindful of every aspect and detail of our lives. (See Matt. 10:29-31). God cares about you. You are continually on His mind. He is concerned for your life.

You can rest assured, little sheep, the Good Shepherd is coming to get you. Lift up your head and “look, for He comes, climbing on the mountains, leaping and running over the hills” (SS. 2:8)! He knows you feel cut off and rejected. He is aware of your wandering state. He knows you’ve been wounded, and when He comes, He will guide you to the green pastures where He lovingly grazes His sheep. When He comes, He will gather you under the shelter of His Almighty wings. He will pour His healing oil on your wounds and bind them up, so great is His lovingkindness towards you. Yes, He’s coming to restore you. He’s coming to rescue the one. He’s coming to rescue you.

You might be feeling fatigued by this season of separation from the flock. It can get very rough, I know, because I’ve been there, but don’t you quit walking. Don’t stop moving forward.  Proverbs 24:10 says, “If you faint in the days of adversity, your strength is small.” So, I want you to think of this season of exile as the season where God will have great opportunity to strengthen your faith. I want you to think of this journey through the wilderness as the place where you learned greater discipline, the place where you learned how to fight back, and not lay down and die when the devil threw you the death blow. I want you to value this season more than any other, because if you walk it out correctly, this can prove to be the season where you learn how to obey God by hearing His voice alone. The authenticity of your personal relationship with God will soar to new heights.

I believe that the heart of God is filled with excitement as He anticipates the journey with you. There is so much He wants to reveal to you about Himself. There is more that He wants to show you about His love, His provision, His grace, and the tender compassions He has for you. This is not just an ending; it is more than that. This is an exciting new beginning! Enjoy the journey, knowing that the Lord walks with you.