Morning Devotional

March 4, 2004

"Found at Last" 

by Don Emmitte

Home

For the Son of Man has come to save that which was lost. What do you think about this? A man has one hundred sheep and one of them is lost. Will he not leave the ninety-nine and go to the mountains to look for that one lost sheep? If he finds it, for sure, I tell you, he will have more joy over that one, than over the ninety-nine that were not lost. I tell you, My Father in heaven does not want one of these little children to be lost. (Matthew 18:11-14 NLT).

The story on The Today Show recently was incredible. It details a mother who found her child after six years. It seems Luz Cuevas took one look at the dimpled, dark-haired little girl at a birthday party and instantly knew two things: She was watching her own daughter, who was presumed killed in a 1997 fire; and, she needed a way to prove it. So Cuevas pretended the 6-year-old girl had gum in her hair, removed five strands from the child’s head, folded them in a napkin and placed them in a plastic bag. “Because of TV, I knew they needed hair for the DNA,” Cuevas said Tuesday in an interview. The DNA tests confirmed a mother’s intuition. The girl was Cuevas’ only daughter, Delimar Vera, the girl everyone else believed had perished in a house fire when she was only 10 days old. Investigators believe a family acquaintance stole the baby from her crib, set the fire to cover the crime and raised the little girl as her own.

There are several things that strike me from this story. First is the intimate knowledge of the mother toward her child. She knew her child after all these years. Of course that wouldn’t be so amazing if the child had been a year or more in age when she was lost, but she was only ten days old! Think of our reading this morning. Jesus reminds us of our heavenly Father’s love for us. He knows us and searches for us!

However, there is also the length to which the mother was willing to go to prove her daughter’s true identity. The Bible does not say that God just knew we were lost. He does not sit and wait for us to come back. He actively pursues us through countless experiences and encounters each day. He is not passive in His search for us.

Then there is also the depth of love shown by the mother. She never gave up in her belief that her daughter was alive even though a fire seemingly destroyed all evidence to the contrary. God does not want one to be lost. Even when it seems you have gone so far that there is no hope, the love of God may break through your sin and bring the grace of God into your life. It requires nothing on your part. All that is necessary has already been done. Jesus’ death was sufficient for all your sin.

The story has not been concluded at this writing. The state has placed the child into their custody until a final determination may be made legally. We can only pray for a happy ending. Our story, on the other hand, has a happy ending! Final disposition has already been declared. It only remains for us to go home with our Heavenly Father.