we’re just “sheep”

“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.”

John 10:11

The Bible likens us humans to sheep. I don’t know much about sheep. I do know that their existence has actually been used as evidence for the existence of God, since they’re said to be essentially defenseless. And that they are easily misled or lost. We all like sheep have gone astray (Isaiah 53).  Scripture also calls God the shepherd of his people. Psalm 23. God identifies himself fully with us as the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Bearing our sins and their consequences.

When it comes right down to it, we’re just sheep. Yes, humans made in God’s image, but in the mix and maelstrom of life, just sheep. We shouldn’t feel bad then that we feel bad. Or that it seems like everything is going crazy, and that our reactions aren’t necessarily the best. We’re always and forever in need of a shepherd, indeed the good shepherd himself, Jesus. That’s where we’ll find the help, comfort, and peace we need. In that relationship. Battered and broken though we are. Ongoing in this life. In and through Jesus.

more cushion

I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep.

John 10:14-15

Jesus is our shepherd, and he knows each one of us. A good pastor knows his people. He understands their felt needs, their propensities, what they need to realize their full potential- what God created them for, to be fulfilled in the new creation in Christ. And it comes out of a heart of love. Pastor is another word for shepherd, and Jesus knows us, his sheep through and through. Out of a heart of love, he gives us the cushion we need, grace to continue on in spite of ourselves and all the troubles we face. We then pass that same love to each other, as we continue on in our quest to follow him.

God as our shepherd in Jesus

A psalm of David.

The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
he refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths
for his name’s sake.
Even though I walk
through the darkest valley,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
Surely your goodness and love will follow me
all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord
forever.

Psalm 23

The Bible aptly uses sheep as a representation of people. We are so easily lost, and in Biblical terms that means lost from God’s good intentions, easily wandering off, and getting ourselves in trouble. And sheep often are hurting as a result.

Scripture’s answer is to point us to God as our shepherd in Jesus, who is called the good shepherd who protects the flock, having laid down his life for them. And gives them life to the full (John 10).

I know I need the good shepherd, who cares for each individual sheep along with the flock. We like sheep are meant to be together in this goodness. Even as we long for everyone else to join us under the Lord’s care. In and through Jesus.

 

God will wipe away every tear from our eyes

And he said, “These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore,

“they are before the throne of God
and serve him day and night in his temple;
and he who sits on the throne
will shelter them with his presence.
‘Never again will they hunger;
never again will they thirst.
The sun will not beat down on them,’
nor any scorching heat.
For the Lamb at the center of the throne
will be their shepherd;
‘he will lead them to springs of living water.’
‘And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.’”

Revelation 7:14b-17

Revelation is symbolic of truth in God’s final judgment and salvation. In the New Testament we’re in the last days, so something of much of Revelation could be present, as well as telling us the forever ending.

So those who have come out of the great tribulation could especially mean those who have suffered for their faith and witness. In a certain sense it might include all of us who name the name of Christ and by faith remain among the faithful.

The thought of the Lamb being our shepherd is touching, and that this shepherding will be forever, wonderful. We are sheep forever, redeemed, made perfect in a sense, yet still sheep in need of the Good Shepherd.

What is especially moving to me is the thought that God will wipe away every tear from our eyes. There is so much in this life to be sorry and sorrowful about. There’s no end. Day after day, year after year, decade after decade, a lifetime of such. That God will wipe away all tears is the way this promise and blessing ends. Somehow there will be a resolution to everything. All in God’s good wisdom and will. To unfold in time in and through Jesus.

 

 

a kind of summation of Psalm 119

ת Taw

May my cry come before you, Lord;
give me understanding according to your word.
May my supplication come before you;
deliver me according to your promise.
May my lips overflow with praise,
for you teach me your decrees.
May my tongue sing of your word,
for all your commands are righteous.
May your hand be ready to help me,
for I have chosen your precepts.
I long for your salvation, Lord,
and your law gives me delight.
Let me live that I may praise you,
and may your laws sustain me.
I have strayed like a lost sheep.
Seek your servant,
for I have not forgotten your commands.

Psalm 119:169-176

One can see the last part of Psalm 119 as a kind of summation of this great psalm. There is a mix of faith, hope and love; a dependence on God in looking to God to do what only God can do. But an expectation along with that, that God surely will. And with that, an anticipation of what will come as a result: God’s goodness, and the response of praise to God for such. This is always the tension at play in our lives in God.

The end is appropriate. There is a sense of lostness, the psalmist’s fault and yet almost an inevitable part of our lives in this life now. We do stray along the way, but our response should be the same as the psalmist: a cry to God to find us, to come near to us, since in our heart we want to obey God’s commands. In and through Jesus.

 

 

the shepherd takes care of it all

The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
he refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths
for his name’s sake.
Even though I walk
through the darkest valley,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
Surely your goodness and love will follow me
all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord
forever.

Psalm 23

The Bible likens people to sheep. Sheep are vulnerable, needy creatures, and not particularly bright. But they are able to listen and recognize their shepherd’s voice, and follow (John 10).

What over arches this psalm is the shepherd’s care. Sheep like us can take comfort that no matter what’s going on, the shepherd is present for every provision needed to the very end. In and through Jesus.

the Lord is *my* shepherd

A psalm of David.

The LORD is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
he refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths
for his name’s sake.
Even though I walk
through the darkest valley,^[a]
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
Surely your goodness and love will follow me
all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the LORD
forever.

Psalm 23

It is good to have a good friend and sincere encouragement from them when one’s down. We need that. But when it’s all said and done we need more. We as followers of Jesus have him as our shepherd. We are in this life together, but each one of us are inescapably on our separate journeys. No one can know us inside out except God.

Note that this psalm is expressed with an individual faith. One could well say that the Lord is our shepherd. But in this most well known of psalms, God is called “my shepherd.”

I think that’s helpful. There’s no escape from the fact that we live in our own private world. We have our own thoughts and feelings. We want to enter into the life of others in community, but we do so inevitably as individuals. Doing so can help us change for good. But we never lose our own individuality. As Dallas Willard wrote/said, something like we’re to become like what Jesus would be if he were us. In so doing we’re moving toward the fullness and completion of the realization of what God created us to be. But that’s as Jesus would be if he were Mary or John, or you or I.

The Lord is our shepherd, God is our shepherd in Jesus (John 10). Yes. And the Lord is “my” shepherd. I can count on that today and every day, no matter what, to the end. In and through Jesus.

my go to passage nowadays

A psalm of David.

The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
he refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths
for his name’s sake.
Even though I walk
through the darkest valley,^[a]
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
Surely your goodness and love will follow me
all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord
forever.

Psalm 23

Life is utterly crazy in a good number of ways. I wish it was more laid back and less eventful, really. That’s true at home, as well as in the news we’re inundated with. Life comes crashing in. And for some of us, the life inside has not been any kind of paradise. Really, just the opposite. We press on, but in spite of raging voices or feelings inside of us.

I’m finding for myself that Psalm 23 is becoming my go to passage from the Bible nowadays. Something I keep repeating it over and over again, praying about it, until finally it seems to take hold and become part of my own experience. Or even if it doesn’t.

I’m just a sheep in need of the good Shepherd. That doesn’t excuse me, or any wrongdoing. In fact, that gives me hope that no matter how I might get off track for a moment, or even more, the Lord is present to help me, to be my help. That he loves me no matter what. I’m one of his sheep.

That gives me all the hope I need in the faith and love that is in Jesus.

is God my shepherd?

A psalm of David.

The LORD is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
he refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths
for his name’s sake.
Even though I walk
through the darkest valley,^[a]
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
Surely your goodness and love will follow me
all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord
forever.

Psalm 23

“Lord” in “the Lord is my shepherd” is an English translation capitalized in most English versions when it translates “Yahweh,” the personal Hebrew name for God. Of course in the New Testament Jesus is revealed as the human who not only enacts this, but does so because he in fact is the God-human. So what is meant in Psalm 23 is God, and later that is fulfilled in Jesus, certainly true of the Triune God.

We are called sheep in Scripture, and for good reason. We go astray, are easily lost, and are quite dependent. To understand sheep better would be a good study in itself, but we need to be careful not to press those analogies from Scripture too far. We need to consider them in their contexts in Scripture. No question that sheep in Scripture are said to go astray, to be vulnerable against attackers such as wolves, helpless and harassed in need of a shepherd. And interestingly, sheep know the voice of their shepherd, each of them having their own name so that they’re known individually by their shepherd.

I am glad that this psalm is attributed to David. David was a shepherd early on which prepared him to be king over God’s people. Kings in the best sense of what they were to fulfill were to be shepherds. David was certainly no perfect shepherd, especially evident from his horrific sin involving Bathsheba and her husband Uriah. He had other faults as well. Yet he was a man after God’s own heart, having a heart for the people.

As I recently picked up from Dallas Willard, Psalm 23 is a prime passage to memorize so that one can meditate, reflect and pray through it. I think one can do well to say it again and again, and talk to God about it. Asking God if God really is our shepherd.

Jesus calls himself “the good shepherd” in the classic passage in John 10. He calls his sheep by name and leads them out to find good pasture, even life to the full. And he lays down his life for the sheep.

The psalm is quite personal. God is “my” shepherd. Oftentimes to push against the individualistic emphasis in our culture in which little else matters except for “me and mine,” we neglect the reality that our faith is personal and that God really does care about and for us individually. Each sheep he knows by name. Yes, each of us are dear to the Lord. He knows us through and through, and really does love and care for us.

I don’t like a lot of things about myself, and have struggled to like myself at all. I often just put up with myself. But that’s not what God wants. The Lord wants us to accept the truth that he made each one of us, and that redemption and reconciliation is for each one of us in and through Jesus. In Jesus the shepherd analogy of Scripture fits to a tee. Do we see Jesus and God in Jesus that way?

We must not let go of this. Everything in Psalm 23 is meant for us, yes each one of us, individually. And we need to see it for others as individuals, as well. Each and every line. Here it is again, to be read and pondered and prayed over until it becomes more and more our own in and through Jesus.

A psalm of David.

The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
he refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths
for his name’s sake.
Even though I walk
through the darkest valley,^[a]
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
Surely your goodness and love will follow me
all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord
forever.

Psalm 23

 

the abundant life the Lord speaks of

I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

John 10:10

A post on a recent book led me to think of our Lord’s description of why he came. Jesus speaks of himself as the good shepherd who ultimately lays down his life for his sheep. God is likened to a shepherd to his people in the Old Testament, perhaps the ultimate, certainly must endearing passage being the beloved Psalm 23:

The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
he refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths
for his name’s sake.
Even though I walk
through the darkest valley,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
Surely your goodness and love will follow me
all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord
forever.

David who according to the superscription either wrote the psalm, or it somehow is tied to him, knew firsthand what a good shepherd was like since he tended sheep as a boy, having some significant experience in doing so.

Scripture does liken people to sheep, an analogy which was meaningful to many people during Biblical times. Sheep are dependent, and given to self-destructive behavior, in short: rather dumb. They really need a shepherd, and when having a good one, they end up flourishing, taking for granted safety from would be predators, and enjoying green pastures.

While Psalm 23 adeptly focuses on the individual, which is of basic importance, passages in Jeremiah and Ezekiel and our Lord’s words in John 10 focus on the flock. Humans are meant to flourish together. And as we especially see in the passages quoted above, it’s from the Lord that such abundant living takes place.

In this world there’s no way that life always seems good. There is many a pitfall, and sin diminishes the good that is to come out of a love that is meant to be for all. So Jesus’s words about laying down his life for the sheep figure in there. That ends up being necessary for the good of humanity and the world. And while such flourishing begins in this life, its complete fulfillment awaits the next life when heaven and earth become one at Christ’s return in the new creation

But make no mistake, Jesus’s promise of life to the full begins in the here and now. And that beginning is in itself both an indication as well as guarantee of what’s to come. Lived in all its variety of gifts from God in God’s love. In and through Jesus.