He will feed His flock like a shepherd; He will gather the lambs with His arm, and carry them in His bosom, And gently lead those who are with young. Isaish 40:11
There are seasons in life that responsibilities and problems seem overwhelming and too much to handle. When one problem is solved three more takes its place and soon the options to solve the continual problems run out. I have been through seasons that I found myself backed into a corner where there did not seem to be a way to escape the attack of the enemy. I know as a Christian I am supposed to have the faith to move mountains, but occasionally the opposition is overwhelming. The devil keeps launching attack after attack until I am physically tired and weary with the onslaught. Daniel 7:25 tells us the devil’s strategy “And he shall speak great words against the Most High and shall wear out the saints of the most High and think to change the times and laws.” The NKJV says “Shall persecute the saints of the Most High.” Problems and persecution are everywhere right now. People fought through the COVID attack and the fear it brought to face shortages and now the price of everything has skyrocketed. I am convinced this is strategically done by the enemy to wear out the people in our nation and around the world. The enemy has come in like a flood, trying to do structural damage to our society, hindering communications, and trying to disrupt everyday life. The good news is found in Isaiah 59:19 “When the enemy comes in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord will lift up a standard against him.” The Lord will raise a wall around us for protection. The challenge for us is to know how to navigate around the storms we face in life. The bible calls us sheep and as sheep we need a shepherd. Our God is so loving, He sees what we are facing and is willing to help us. Mark 6:34 “ “And Jesus when He came out saw a great multitude and was moved with compassion for them because they were like sheep not having a shepherd.” Not only does He have compassion, but He is also our Shepherd. He is “Jesus, the Good Shepherd” John 10:7.
As our Shepherd, Jesus gave his life for us. In John 10:11, Jesus said “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep.” Jesus laid aside His divine privileges and became a man to die for our sins. Philippians 2:5-8 “Though He was God, He did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, He gave up His divine privileges, He took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When He appeared in human form, He humbled Himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on the cross.” Jesus left heaven and put aside His divine nature to come to earth, be born in a stable and eventually die on the cross for us because He loves us. John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” Jesus died for our sins so we would have eternal life with God! Jesus said for “the Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, because the Lord has anointed Me to preach the good tidings to the poor. He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of prison doors to those who are bound, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God. To comfort all who mourn.” Isaiah 61:1-2. Jesus came that we would “have life and life more abundantly,” John 10:10. He bore all our sins, sicknesses, troubles, torments, and problems and nailed them to the cross so we would find salvation and walk-through life whole. The Greek word we get salvation from is sozo which means forgiveness of sins, physical healing, and deliverance from the enemy. Romans 10:13 “For whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” All you must do to receive the gifts that Jesus died to give you is to call on His name! Jesus is the Good Shepherd who laid down His life for the sheep.
“I am the good shepherd, and I know my sheep.” John 10:14. Jesus knows you so well, “the very hairs on your herd are all numbered.” Matthew 10:30. The bible says God knows everything about us even before we were born. Psalm 139:15-17 “My frame was not hidden from you, when I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed and in your book they all were written, the days fashioned for me, when there as yet were none of them. How precious also are your thoughts to me O God! How great is the sum of them.” 1 Peter 5:7 He knows your worries and invites you to cast them on Him. Not only does He know you, but He also understands what you are going through. Hebrews 4:15 “For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but he was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.” Jesus knew temptation ( Mark 1:13), frustration ( John 2:15-16), weariness ( John 4:6), rejection ( John 6:66), sorrow ( Matthew 26:38), and feeling alone ( Matthew 24:49.) He knows you; He knows how you feel, and He has compassion on you!
When we lose our way, Jesus comes and finds us. Jesus told the parable of the lost sheep in Luke 15. “What man of you, having a hundred sheep if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness and go after the one which is lost until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it upon his shoulders rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors saying to them, “Rejoice with me for I have found my sheep which was lost.” I say to you that likewise their will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over the ninety-nine just persons who never repented.” Jesus goes after the lost. I love the testimonies of the missionaries in the middle east. They are witnessing to the Muslims about Jesus and the Muslem people keep telling the missionaries, “I know the man in white you talk about.” When the missionaries question them, they say that the Man in White, Jesus, comes to them in their dreams and talks to them! Jesus is searching around the world for the lost sheep! He knows where they are and how to speak their language. He knows where you are and understands your circumstances.
Jesus in not a silent Jesus, He is a speaking Jesus, and He wants us to know His voice. John 10:27-28 “My sheep hear my voice and I know them, and they will follow Me.” Knowing someone’s voice comes from spending time with them. Jesus wants to spend quality one on one time with each of us. Revelations 3:20 “Behold I stand at the door and knock, if any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come into him and dine with him and he with me.” Not only do His sheep know His voice, they follow Him. It is not enough to know what He is saying, we must obey. John 14:15 “If you love me keep My commandments.” When we are listening and following Jesus, we are not tempted to get into things we have no business dabbling in, and we will not be easily deceived. Jesus said, in John 10:7 “I am the door to the sheep.” Jesus positions Himself at the gate for His sheep and will not let a strange shepherd take His sheep or an enemy prowler into harm the sheep.
No matter the storms you are facing, Jesus is the good shepherd, and He will supply whatever you are needing. David was a shepherd at an early age, he tended to his father’s sheep, making sure they were led to food and water. A good shepherd knows his sheep will drown if they try to drink from a rushing water supply, because their wool will absorb the water and cause them to get so heavy, they cannot get out of the water. The shepherds would take their staff and make a furrow and a hole where the water would pool in so the sheep could drink from still waters instead of the washing waters. He fought the lion and the bear to protect the sheep. So it isnot surprising that He referred to the Lord as his Shepherd in Psalm 23. “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pasture, He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for You are with me, Your rod and Your staff they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies, You anoint my head with oil: my cup runs over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” David found God to be faithful to supply al his needs, providing a place for safe rest, supplying refreshment, and restoring his broken wounded soul. He knew as long as he followed the Lord he would not fall into sin and go down the wrong paths. Nothing was able to separate David from God, not even the shadows of death. God was also David’s comforter. David understood that though God did not remove his enemies, God set a table of honor and blessing for him where his enemies had to watch the blessings. He found God to be a God of abundance, not just the God of enough. He was so blessed that those around him got to be blessed as well. David knew the importance of God’s goodness and mercy following him all the days of his life. Romans 2:4 “the goodness of God leads to repentance.”
Harshness will make people quit trying because they can never achieve the lofty standards, but the goodness of God encourages us to keep striving for what He has for us. “Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, because His compassion fail not. They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness.” Lamentations 3:2223. David’s hope was to dwell in the presence of God forever. Will you allow Jesus to be your shepherd? He laid down His life for you, He knows you, He wants a relationship with you, and He wants to help you navigate life. He is waiting for you to call out to Him. Jeremiah 33:3 “Call to Me and I will answer you and show you great and mighty things which you do not know.” Praying for God’s peace and comfort for our community this week.
Cathy Nesmith