Read: John 10:1-14
The LORD is my shepherd. (Psalm 23:1a)
I used to think that sheep were stupid, but recently I learned that I was wrong. Experts who know sheep well say that sheep are intelligent and social. They are excellent mothers; they make friends with other sheep, and they know how to grieve loss. They have wonderful memories, can see more peripherally than humans, and they know how to take care of themselves when they are not well. Most importantly, they know their shepherd and follow the shepherd’s voice and his leading.
Walking with God our Shepherd is a daily choice, and a relationship of trust and love. In Genesis 48:15, Jacob professed, “[You have] been my shepherd all my life long to this day.” Walking with the Shepherd is a trust relationship because we know that we belong to him. In Jesus’s own words: “I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me” (John 10:14). Walking with our Shepherd is also a love relationship. “The good shepherd lays his life down for the sheep” (John 10:11). Our Shepherd showed his love for us by dying on the cross for our sins.
Walking with the Shepherd may be hard and challenging at times. But be assured that the Shepherd loves you. You can trust him. You can follow him wherever he leads. Oswald Chambers said, “Faith never knows where it is being led, but it loves and knows the One who is leading.” Are you willing to walk with the Shepherd in this New Year and all your life long?
As you pray, trust the Shepherd, and follow him.
About the Author
Nancy Boote, an ordained minister in the Reformed Church of America, lives in Holland, Michigan, with her husband. Besides being a mother, a grandmother, a song writer, and lover of horses, Nancy also has a heart for prayer and seeing racism dismantled.
