LOST LUGGAGE
You’re scrutinizing the baggage carousel at LAX. The last suitcase descends the chute, but yours is nowhere. Eventually, after reporting your loss, you discover your luggage is patiently waiting for you in London. Looks like you’ll be buying new socks and undies for your trip. It’s a scenario that’s repeated millions of times each year—lost luggage. The overwhelming majority is found and reunited with its frustrated owners. But in rare cases, one bids “adios” to their bags, never to see them again. The airline reimburses the owner, and all is forgotten. Well … not quite.
Lost suitcases don’t exactly vaporize into the cosmos. For three months they sit in airline warehouses gathering dust. Then most are sold to a company in Scottsboro, Alabama, creatively named “Unclaimed Baggage.” The business sorts items, and resells them to the public. Besides commonplace clothing and accessories, bizarre items emerge, among them an engraved tombstone, 3,500-year-old Egyptian artifacts, and even a live rattlesnake.
(https://thehustle.co/unclaimed-baggage-store-that-sells-lost-luggage)
In our world today, it’s easy to feel like lost luggage—especially when hardship hits. Forgotten and forsaken. Just one of eight-billion souls occupying our planet. Perhaps we wonder if God even remembers us. But rest assured that even on our worst days, he sees our plight.
In Isaiah 49:15 God promises, “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands.”
Imagine a nursing mother looking down at her baby and asking, “Whose child is this?” Yet even if that impossible scenario occurred, God assures us that he is incapable of forgetting us. Each of our names are permanently engraved on his palms.
David understood this. As he fled from Saul, he penned these words, “Even if my father and mother abandon me, the Lord will hold me close” (Psalm 27:10). Regardless of how we feel, we’re never alone. Our Father assures us of his continual presence.
In the grief of losing Linda, I’ve encountered times of profound loneliness. Yet I’ve experienced God’s presence most powerfully on my darkest days. During our heartbreaking moments, he draws us closer as we seek him. He’s always with us. Remember, God has your name tattooed on his hand. With our Father, you’ll never be a lost piece of luggage.
Principle: God sees us and will never forsake us.
Ponder:
In what circumstances might you tend to feel like a lost piece of luggage?
How does God assure you that he is with you?
Pursue: For a deeper dive study Isaiah 49.
Prayer: Loving Father, thank you that, unlike lost luggage, you will never forget me or forsake me. Help me to live continually with you in your presence.