During a meeting, I detected a coin on the floor. At first I thought it might be a penny. Someone probably dropped it then decided it wasn’t worth the effort to retrieve it. The coin was so grungy and dark, even when I held it up to the light, I couldn’t discern its denomination.
Curiosity, or latent OCD, got the better of me. I shoved it in my pocket. After I got home, I rubbed the coin with a squeeze of toothpaste. I saw bits of Eisenhower’s face. I rubbed some more. I saw the year it was minted and the inscribed words “Liberty”. I flipped it over and rubbed the other side until the images of the torch, olive branch and oak branch surfaced. No more mystery. I held a shiny dime from 1976, minted in Denver. Not a penny.
It reminded me of the woman who searched for her lost coin in Luke’s Gospel. While nine remained on the table, she hunted and hunted for the tenth one.
[Jesus said] “Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Does she not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it? And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.’ In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” Luke 15:8-10
What does the lost coin symbolize? A lost soul in need of a Savior? Most definitely.
But I can see where it can also be that deep hidden sin lurking out of sight. The grungy one we’d prefer not to deal with yet. We say, “Lord, let’s tackle the easy ones first. The nine lying open on the table. This one’s being swept under the rug for now, okay? Don’t search for it.”
Human wisdom tell us to let sleeping dogs lie. There are some issues better left alone. But godly wisdom disagrees with that philosophy. Sin begins to cling to us like dirt. We become camouflaged in the ways of the world. It’s hard to determine our purpose or worth.
I have learned I can’t hide things from God for very long. Like the tenacious woman searching for the lost coin, God will search out the sin in our lives. He will exhaust every means to bring into the open what we’ve been trying to hide from Him, and perhaps from ourselves. Knowing all, He encourages us to confess the sin, wipe it clean and then shine forth His glory in our lives.
taken from What Can She Tell Us– a Bible study of the unnamed women in the New Testament.
Where Did You Find God Today? 