Grace
"For you were continually straying like sheep, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls." I Peter 2:25.
"Grace never leaves us as it finds us; it makes us the subjects of a change. . . a chance of mind, of heart, and of life. It turns us from darkness [sin], to light [obedience]. It turns us from the power of Satan unto God." William Jay [1769-1853], EVENING EXERCISES, 350.
Just like sheep, we are always straying off somewhere. This is our nature. HOWEVER, GOD CAUSES US TO RETURN TO HIM. [Think about it -- there must be a "return," a doggie-door so-to-speak, so we can return again.] THE GOOD NEWS IS THAT THERE IS A RETURN PROVIDED. It is through the Holy Spirit that we are returned.
The Holy Spirit comes and gets us and directs us by His providence back into the sheepfold. He nudges us along, keeping us from wandering off the pathway here and there while we are in the direct pathway back to our Shepherd.
"I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek Your servant, for I do not forget Your commandments" (Psalm 119: 176). (I love this verse. It's the very last verse in the long 119th Psalm ... this is how I remember it!)
We get downstream, away from our Shepherd. We didn't consciously turn the boat around and head in the wrong way. We just didn't purpose and plan to keep going up stream. We began to drift. We got busy doing this and that and before we knew it we were downstream. Then we realized we couldn't get back up by ourselves. We needed the Shepherd to come and get us. We needed Him to return us back unto Himself.
"Seek Your servant," is our cry. Come and get us [me], so I can enjoy being with my Shepherd.
When we cry out to Him, He hears us. He applies His wonderful grace and returns us to Himself, the Shepherd and Guardian of our souls.