John 10:27 NKJV - My
sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.
In Jesus’ day most people easily understood the role of a
shepherd with their sheep. In today’s world where most of us live in cities and
bustle to and from work, school, and errands, we may not even think about farm
animals and how that life really is. However, we have stories that help us
understand and I have a couple from people I know who herd sheep.
The best news is the Shepherd knows His sheep. Jesus
knows you inside and out. He knows what it will take for us to learn the right
way to follow Him. He will not lead us astray and will be right there when we
get lost.
Any good shepherd will have sheep that quickly learn he
is there to protect them and help them. They will answer when they hear him and
follow accordingly. However, they will not always do this correctly or as
assuredly if the circumstances make things rough. For example, one shepherd had
her sheep get stuck out in the field due to a freak snowstorm. They would not
come down the field towards her so she trekked up to them. The more trusting of
the herd started moving towards her before she got to them and then the rest
fell into line. They went single file across the field in her path.
We are like the sheep and are at different levels of
understanding and trust with God. There is nothing wrong with this because we
all started out from the beginning. Some of us will be more willing to step out
in the midst of turmoil towards the shepherd than others will. Peter was the
only one that climbed out of the boat to walk on the water during a storm since
Jesus said to come.
In following we learn how to emulate the shepherd. As our
trust in Him grows, so does our willingness to try new things he reveals.
One of the shepherds I know was shocked to find her sheep
emulating her one day. She plucks up milkweed she finds in the pasture so it
won’t go to seed and take over. Sheep know not to eat it and will graze around
it. On this one particular day she realized the sheep were following her around
the field. As she watched they were biting off the milkweed and dropping it on
the ground like she had been doing.
We should be like these sheep and doing our best to
emulate our Shepherd, Jesus Christ. We should be like David, who was the
shepherd of his father’s sheep growing up. Psalm 23, written by David, starts
with, “The Lord is my shepherd…” He
knew to trust God even when he went astray and came back due to correction.
Who is your shepherd? If Jesus is your shepherd, do you
trust Him enough to follow through anything?
Hello Althea. I am a Pastor from Mumbai, India. I enjoyed stoping by your blog post on "Follow and Imulate the Shepherd". I enjoyed going through it. I am blessed and feel privileged and honored to get connected with you as well as know you through your profile on the blogger and the blog post. I love to get connected with the people of God around the globe to be encouraged, strengthened and praying for one another. I have been in the Pastoral ministry for last 37 yrs in this great city of Mumbai a city with a great contrast where richest of rich and the poorest of poor live. We reach out to the poorest of poor with the love of Christ ot bring healing to tbe brokenhearted. We also encourage young and the adults from the west to come to Mumbai to work with us during their vacation time. We would love to have you come to Mumbai with your friends to work with us during your vacation time. God willing I will be in the States in September and will be so glad to stop by your place to meet you and your family and see the possiblity of young people from your church come to Mumbai to work with us during their vacation time. I am srue they will have a life changing experience. My email id is: dhwankhede(at)gmai(dot)com and my name is Diwakar WAnkhede. Looking forward to hear from you very soon. God's richest blessings on you, your family and friends.
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