By Libby Scroggins
Last week in Bill Fullilove’s class, we learned about reading the parables. I considered a question I’ve long had in my “Theology Questions” notes about the parable of the 99 sheep, which says:
“What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!’” (Luke 15:3-7 ESV).
I raised my hand, conflicted with concern for the 99, a group I considered myself a part of. “I’ve never understood what it means that the Lord would leave 99 to chase one. Is that large group left on their own?” As Bill explained that while a shepherd cannot be in two places at once, the Lord can, I realized I was asking the wrong question. All I could hear in my head was the resounding thought: “What makes you think you’re not the lost sheep?”
For the past few years, a prayer of mine has been that the Lord would reveal the log in my own eye (Matthew 7:5) and make me increasingly aware of my need for Him as my Savior. When I first prayed this, I didn’t realize the depth of what I was asking.
This past year, I have experienced anxiety in a new way. I have sought certainty and answers to remedy my anxious heart in the face of the unknown. In doing so, I created “little g” gods of comfort and control, whose false sense of security is exposed when I realize I have very little answers.
Last Sunday at Capital Pres Fairfax, the sermon was on the story of the golden calf, and Patrick Quinn said that our idolatry attempts to reduce God to something we can see and touch, something we can understand. Yet, our God is divinely transcendent.
It seems that each time I hear a sermon on idols, I start by thinking I’ve already addressed the idols I tend to worship, only to leave realizing how deeply my sinful heart still seeks after other gods. Left to my own devices, I would fall into a destructive cycle of seeking certainty in a chaotic world for which we rarely have answers. When God says “You shall have no other gods before me,” it is out of love and wisdom, knowing that the little gods we create only lead to destruction.
This necessary reminder I received this past Sunday is a clear example of the Good Shepherd leaving the 99 to redirect me, His lost sheep. I am humbled this week by the Lord’s kindness, as He graciously revealed my pride and how often I assume I am not in need of a Savior to lead me back to the flock after I repeatedly go astray.
I pray that for the rest of my life, as I walk with the Lord, I would become increasingly aware of myself as a lost sheep, deepening my celebration of the cross that allows Jesus to carry me home on His shoulders and rejoice.
Libby Scroggins is a member of the Capital Fellows class of 2024-25. She is from Magnolia, TX ,and is a graduate of Wake Forest University. This year, she is working at The Clapham Group in Springfield, VA
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