Monday,
May 1, 2023
Shout with joy to the Lord, all the earth! Worship the Lord with gladness. Come before him, singing with joy. Acknowledge that the Lord is God! He made us, and we are his. We are his people, the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving; go into his courts with praise. Give thanks to him and praise his name. For the Lord is good. His unfailing love continues forever, and his faithfulness continues to each generation.
Psalm 100:1-5
Sheep are not
warring creatures, they’ve been domesticated for thousands of years, and are by
nature gentle. They communicate with
sounds and body language, much like any species, locating food, alerting the
flock to predators, and singling-out their family position.
Perhaps one
explanation of why God’s Word characterizes the people of God as sheep, and
tells us to shout loud praises to our Lord, is because sheep will
bleat loudly and continuously when near their food source. Domesticated sheep tend to view their shepherd
as their food source.[1] That has some
strong implications for the relationship between God and the sheep of His pasture.
The sheep of God’s
pasture have a gentle posture. In teaching
the crowds of would-be followers he offered rest and strength to weary sheep:
Then Jesus
said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I
will give you rest. Take my yoke upon
you. Let me teach you, because I am
humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. Matthew 11:29
John’s Gospel
changes the metaphor from Shepherd and Sheep to Vine and Branches, but the
relationship is clearly the same:
“Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing. Anyone who does not remain in me is thrown away like a useless branch and withers. Such branches are gathered into a pile to be burned. But if you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask for anything you want, and it will be granted! When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples. This brings great glory to my Father. “I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Remain in my love. When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow!
John 15:5-11
For You Today
There are about 2,500 devotional
posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road Devotions
library. To dig deeper explore
some of these: Flat Tire Worship and Of Sheep and the Shepherds Song
Title Image: via Pixabay.com Images without citation are in
public domain.
Unless noted, Scripture quoted
from The New Living Translation©
No comments:
Post a Comment