Of Sheep and the Shepherd's Song

 

Monday, May 9, 2022

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.  Psalm 100:1-3

I saw before me what seemed to be a glass sea mixed with fire. And on it stood all the people who had been victorious over the beast and his statue and the number representing his name.  They were all holding harps that God had given them.  And they were singing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb:  “Great and marvelous are your works, O Lord God, the Almighty.  Just and true are your ways, O King of the nations.  Who will not fear you, Lord, and glorify your name?  For you alone are holy.  All nations will come and worship before you, for your righteous deeds have been revealed.”  Revelation 15:2-4

My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.  John 10:27

The imagery of God’s people as sheep is plentiful in Scripture, and a common metaphor for those who follow the Shepherd.  Less on the front burner is that of a Chief Shepherd who is also a sheep.  Yet, the connection is unmistakeable.  In any account of the Incarnation of Christ, He is the Lamb, who will be slain – a sacrifice for sins.  The Shepherd is also a sheep. 

Leaping from the Incarnation to the eschaton, the last days, and of Christ’s coming, and our gathering ‘round the throne of God to worship the Ancient of Days, the meaning of my sheep hear my voice, and they follow me is Revelation’s flock singing the song of Moses and the Lamb.  It is here we see that glorious condescension of the Christ of eternal glory stooped to enter the manger.  He became one of us, that we might recognize Him, and hear his voice.

While in seminary in the port city of New Orleans, our family hosted two Japanese officer trainees for a day.  They spoke no English, and we were clueless as to their language.  We all pointed, gestured, and did whatever possible to convey meaning to our conversation.  In the end, all we could do is smile and misunderstand. 

In Eden, God spoke human language, and Adam and Eve understood.  By the time of the tower of Babel[1] humankind had gotten far enough away from God to not listen for His voice.  They lost the sound of their Master, like wandering sheep straying from their shepherd.  That is, by the way, the story of most sin…selfish wandering, mindlessly grazing on whatever satisfies a momentary appetite.  God sent prophets to remind them of what the Shepherd’s voice sounded like; one after another the prophets were ignored, and eventually slaughtered to stop their bleating.  The wandering continued, unhearing.  

Finally, God sent his son to be a sheep…some heard, others prepared a cross.

In the final account of Revelation, the continuing, eternal story of after the end, the restored Eden will be filled with the sound of God’s flock, singing the song of Moses and the Lamb.  Even those who have died will hear his voice, and follow Him.  The sheep will hear the Lamb, one who became one of us, to speak clearly the love of God.

For You Today

One day our journey will be complete, and the flock will lie down together in perfect harmony with all creation.  And we’ll sing.  We’ll sing the song of the Lamb throughout eternity.  And we’ll be on key, in perfect harmony!

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road with Jesus; have a blessed day!  

[1] Title image: Pixabay.com   Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©  

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[1] See Genesis 11

The Tools of a Shepherd

Thursday, March 19, 2020

The Lord is my shepherd; I have all that I need.  He lets me rest in green meadows; he leads me beside peaceful streams.  He renews my strength.  He guides me along right paths, bringing honor to his name.  Even when I walk through the darkest valley, I will not be afraid, for you are close beside me.  Your rod and your staff protect and comfort me.  You prepare a feast for me in the presence of my enemies.  You honor me by anointing my head with oil.  My cup overflows with blessings.  Surely your goodness and unfailing love will pursue me all the days of my life, and I will live in the house of the Lord forever.  Psalm 23:1-6

There are so many dangers associated with tending a flock of sheep.  Ancient shepherds lived with the sheep to keep watch, because predators were everywhere.  The shepherd’s tools are well known, rod and staff.  The staff was a guide to help move the sheep along to the next place where there would be water and grazing.  Sheep tend to wander, so even the staff was a means of protection against just stumbling along, and perhaps winding up in a place that’s barren and unsustainable. 

I was watching a TV drama where one of the main characters was talking to a co-worker.  She asked her friend, have you ever felt like things happening to you were all connected; like you were being driven to something?  Had I been in on that conversation I would’ve jumped in and screamed, YES, YES…are you not listening?  Of course you’re being moved along, you senseless, non-attention-paying sheep!  That’s the Great Shepherd guiding your steps.

So, if the staff is for guiding, where does the rod come in?  That may be the most important tool in the shepherd’s hands.  The rod was for protection and discipline.  There are enemies of sheep that are too formidable for any sheep.  A rod was about the length of a man’s forearm, fortified with pieces of metal or rock strapped to the end.  It became a club in the hands of a skilled shepherd to drive off wolves and other predators. 

But it also became a different kind of protective tool each night.  As the sheep gathered close to the shepherd, he would use his rod like a diagnostic tool, pulling back the thick wool covering each sheep.  This was to allow the shepherd to see if there were any wounds that needed tending.  This was the comfort part of rod and staff of which David wrote.  David was a good and faithful shepherd tending the family’s flocks.  When he penned Psalm 23 it was with fond memories of simple, but profound experiences keeping watch.

And this is the task our Heavenly Father gave to The Good Shepherd, God’s son, Jesus.  We human beings are like a flock of wandering sheep who have a peculiar habit of wandering away from the Shepherd, as Isaiah said:

All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God’s paths to follow our own. Yet the Lord laid on him the sins of us all.  Isaiah 53:6

For You Today

What Isaiah said about God laying the sins of us all on the Christ of the cross, is God’s rod combing over our sheepish, wooly backs, revealing the sins of our foolishness and pride.  His omniscient eyes don’t miss a one…no matter how big or small.  And the Good Shepherd removes our sins and heals our wounds.

Take a moment just now and thank him in your best sheep prayer that the Good Shepherd is willing to live with His flock…us!

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

Go to VIDEO 

Title Image:  Pixabay.com  Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation©

For other posts on Psalm 23 see In Green Pastures and Beside Still Waters  or  Enough

Awake in the Pigpen

[1]

Friday, May 27, 2016

Jesus told them this story:  “A man had two sons.  The younger son told his father, ‘I want my share of your estate now before you die.’  So his father agreed to divide his wealth between his sons.  “A few days later this younger son packed all his belongings and moved to a distant land, and there he wasted all his money in wild living.  About the time his money ran out, a great famine swept over the land, and he began to starve.  He persuaded a local farmer to hire him, and the man sent him into his fields to feed the pigs.  The young man became so hungry that even the pods he was feeding the pigs looked good to him.  But no one gave him anything.  “When he finally came to his senses, he said to himself, ‘At home even the hired servants have food enough to spare, and here I am dying of hunger!  I will go home to my father and say, “Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, and I am no longer worthy of being called your son.  Please take me on as a hired servant.”’    Luke 15:11b-19^(NLT)

I was about 30 seconds out of seminary in 1983, sitting in the study of our first full time church.  I began to reflect on awakening in the pigpen of my life about 10 years prior, and the journey from pigpen to pastor.  I wrote down this little verse:

I can recall, O Lord, when first You called,

And how I dawdled, debated, and stalled.

          Come, child, You said;

 My way, I said;

So started this weary wanderer away from home.

Lord, I have strayed throughout the years,

And now I can see, through blur and sting of tears

Thy face, Thy loving smile;

Which beckoned all the while,

To welcome this weary wanderer home.

And now, Father, in spite of all I’ve done;

Could it be that there is still some

          Place of service, need for me,

          A life – love’s reality,

To warmly see this weary wanderer home?

I see my need so deep; yet deeper still

Is Your love….I draw from Your endless well.

          And life is giv’n; I need run no more;

          Except when, in serving Thee, 

          You show

This former weary wanderer a brand new home.[2]

Having been raised in a devout Christian home I wandered from the faith through my middle teens and twenties.  Awakening in the mess of a self-made pigpen of selfishness, greed, and the kind of unhappiness that not only makes you miserable, but draws everyone else around you into your downward spiral…well, to say the least, I knew there had to be a better way than mine to navigate the rough waters of life.

I’m a slow learner when it comes to admitting I’ve messed it up and need to change.  In short, I was, and sometimes still am, a prodigal son.

And aren’t we all?

And doesn’t the wandering always lead to the pigpen?

For You Today

Like a patient, loving father to the prodigal, Father God has a ring, sandals and royal robe waiting for you at the party.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road today…have a blessed day!

Go to VIDEO

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[1] Title Image: By Sebastien Dusart, via Wikimedia Commons

[2] “Wandering” ^©Russell Brownworth, April 1983