Strange Thing for Christians to Say

The end of the longest Psalm is this verse:
Psalm 119:176 (ESV) I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek your servant, for I do not forget your commandments.

Sounds strange coming from someone who has been writing for 175 verses about how much he loves God's law, trusts in God's law and desires to obey God's law. After all, shouldn't he consider himself a found sheep on the right path?

This introduces the apparent paradox in any who come to God in faith. The ever present reality that apart from God we can do nothing. Isaiah was a great prophet. Yet he wrote, "We all like sheep have gone astray" (Isaiah 53:6). Paul was a powerful Apostle yet "beat his body" (1 Cor. 9:27) to stay strong in the Lord and referred to himself as "least of the Apostles" (1 Corinthians 15:9), "worst of sinners" (1 Timothy 1:16) and a "wretched man" (Roman 7:24).

We are the people who walk with a limp. We cannot do it apart from the grace of God and MOST OF ALL - we are fully aware of it. It is why "the poor in spirit" are blessed. It is why we must judge not. It is why we are to forgive 70 times 7 those who sin against us. For the more we know and understand God's righteous decrees, the more we see our inability to keep them. 

Notice the Psalmist says he is "like a lost sheep." That's an important distinction. We are not lost sheep without a shepherd. We are straying sheep with a Faithful Shepherd. If we are going to last in the Lord it will be because we know we cannot last apart from His strength and perseverance at work in us. We should pray with the Psalmist, "seek your servant." God, when we are lost, find us. When we are at our worst please seek us in your grace.

Acknowledging your desperate situation apart from His grace is the only way to stay in His grace.