Good Shepherd

www.bible.com/1713/jhn.10.11.csb

Where there is a shepherd, there are probably sheep. Sheep as you might have guessed are animals. Strangely they are some of God’s creatures which seem to have been made specifically for man. As early as Genesis 4 Abel is pictured as being a tender of sheep, so this is something that men have been doing essentially since the beginning. As such, sheep have been used as illustration to great extent throughout history. Even people who have not grown up around sheep probably know what a sheep is. “Mary had a little lamb” is something we pick up from early childhood. Christianity has been no small help to this idea, since Jesus Himself is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Jesus is the “Good Shepherd” and we have been taught even as kids that “the Lord is my Shepherd.”

If Jesus is the good Shepherd, who or what does He shepherd? Is there some divine flock of sheep out there that Jesus keeps busy with? More than you know. Since Jesus is the Shepherd, there must be sheep. And we are it. If sheep have needed man from the beginning for their survival, then man has needed God and His Son Christ Jesus from the beginning too. Just as sheep cannot survive in the wild physical nature, so man will not survive the wild landscape of the spirit without Jesus. We need His leadership, direction and sometimes prompting to go where we need to go. The Bible does not err when Isaiah says that “we like sheep have gone astray.”

Lord Jesus, thank you for being my Shepherd. Thank you for leading me beside still waters and restoring my soul. I pray during this time that you would keep my heart in peace when there is turmoil and disruption around me. I need Your peace. I need Your absolute stability in my life, for it is the only thing that does not change from day to day. Thank you Jesus. Amen.