The Good Shepherd

John 10:11

NKJV

“I am the good shepherd…”

The ministry of the good shepherd has so many wonderful aspects to it. Instantaneously one may think of Psalm 23 when they hear of God being our shepherd, and they are not wrong. Psalm 23 is full of wonderful analogies that can bring the deepest and greatest comforts to a Christian at any period of their life. However, there is also what Jesus has to say about His role as our good shepherd, and this is what I would like to expound upon a bit this time around.

First off, our good shepherd is not a thief nor a robber. He does not come in unannounced, forcefully, or in the dark. He is not overcome by an evil desire to scatter the sheep, to steal them, or to kill them. His presence in the night does not cause us to fear, as a thief would. Rather, He comes in through the gate, and we know it is Him because of how He comes. The gatekeeper will only open at the voice of the shepherd of the sheep. Jesus comes to us through the gates of His Word and prayer, and that is how we can know it is Him and not a thief or robber. How else do we know it is Him?

We can know whether the voice we hear is our good shepherd by two simple things, a voice and a name. Jesus says that “the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name.” (John 10:3) When we are God's children and we are counted as sheep among His flock, we will know the voice of Him. His voice is unlike any other, in that it's gentle, quiet, comforting, truthful, and it overpowers all the other voices in our heads. When we hear it, we are put at ease, and it's sound calms the raging sea inside of us. At one word from our shepherd, the wolf will flee, the sea calm, and the clouds give way to beautiful sky. Anxiety, fear, depression, self-consciousness, self-pity, anger, confusion, all goes when we hear His voice! Not only this, but He also calls us by name! Our God, the one who created the heavens and the earth, time and space, matter and atmosphere, knows me by name. He knows you by name. Think about those you love, those you would die for, those who have been by your side and you trust. You know their name don't you? Chances are you know their whole life story. Well, God is the same. When He knows our name, it means so much more than a name. That name is simply an identifier for one of His beloved children, and it's a name He can never forget about because it's engraved upon the palm of His hand. We can trust Him because He knows our name, and thus He knows our needs, our stories, our strengths and weaknesses.

Lastly, our good shepherd leads us out and when he has brought us out he goes before us. The only way someone will follow is if they trust the one who leads. A sheep fully trusts it's shepherd, and thus is willing to follow after his voice, and will by no means follow the voice of a stranger but rather flee from it! This opens up a deep question for each heart that follows Christ: do you really trust Him? We all know what it's like to hear and feel the nudge of the Holy Spirit to act or speak in love. We have all heard the Shepherds voice leading us out. But, we don't always follow it. Perhaps we hesitate, or put a carnal spin on it, or don't listen at all. Why is this? We lack trust. We would rather lean on our own understanding than trust in the Lord with all our heart. How do we solve this issue then? Jesus has an answer for that as well. When the disciples couldn't cast out a demon, they asked Jesus why they couldn't. His response? They had little faith, and faith is trust!! Jesus went on to tell them that it can only come out through fasting and prayer. And that is what we must do if we ever wish to be freed from the chains which hold us back from following the voice of our Good Shepherd. The gravity of the calling does not matter, what matters is our trust in God. A sheep who trusts his shepherd will go anywhere with him, will we do the same with ours? When He calls us, especially with the hard sayings, the places we want to avoid, the situations we would like to shrink back from, the callings we fear because of uncertainty, let us trust the One who has gone before us and loves us.