“My people hath been lost sheep: their shepherds have caused
them to go astray, they have turned them away on the mountains: they have gone from mountain to hill, they
have forgotten their restingplace.”
Jeremiah 50:6
Most of us
are familiar with the parable of the lost sheep and the passage about the good
shepherd.
“Then Jesus told them this parable: “Suppose
one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the
ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on
his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends
and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing
in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons
who do not need to repent.”
Luke 15:3-7
“I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life
for the sheep.”
John 10:11
And most of
us have seen the matching artwork, the depiction of a loving, attentive Jesus
holding a lamb in His arms.
“He tends his flock
like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his
heart...”
Isaiah 40:11
Yet, there
seems to be a disconnection. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Jesus loves us; He’s our good
shepherd. But do we REALLY personalize it? And what exactly would that mean to
us?
Years ago,
Bishop T.D. Jakes did a message on sheep. Scripture oftens refers to people as
that creature. And it’s honestly not a flattering comparison. As Bishop Jakes
went on to point out how sheep are…stubborn, stupid and always getting lost and
into trouble. Sheep also don’t have any natural defenses and are helpless.
And we are
sheep. Great.
When I was a
kid ibn vacation Bible school, one of the teachers tried to do a visualization
technique.
(I say tried
because, after all, we’re talking about kids here- lambs- baby sheep. So we’re
talking stubborn, stupid and prone to getting lost. But I digress).
Anyway, she
suggesting each one of us see ourselves as that lamb, that 100th
sheep, once lost, now safely tucked in our shepherd’s arms. And then, from
there, really get the feeling of just how much God loves us.
I know-
again, kids here. Besides, it seems too simplistic.
But, years
later, as fully grown adults, we’re still struggling with that very same
notion. We still look like ridiculous lost sheep, in desperate need of a
patient and capable shepherd to swoop in and save our hides.
"'For this is what the Sovereign LORD says: I myself
will search for my sheep and look after them. As a shepherd seeketh out his
flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered; so will I seek out my sheep, and will
deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and
dark day. And I will bring them out from the people, and gather them from the
countries, and will bring them to their own land, and feed them upon the
mountains of Israel by the rivers, and in all the inhabited places of the
country. I will feed them in a good pasture, and upon the high mountains of
Israel shall their fold be: there shall they lie in a good fold, and in a fat pasture shall they feed upon
the mountains of Israel. I will feed my flock, and I will cause them to lie
down, saith the Lord GOD. I will seek that which was lost, and bring again that
which was driven away, and will bind up that
which was broken, and will strengthen that which was sick...”
Ezekiel 34:11-16
No matter
how old we get, how much money we make, what we accomplish or how together we
appear, we never outgrow our sheep status. And that might be completely
depressing if it weren’t for one large detail we, too often forget, if we know
it at all: God loves us. And it’s not a casual kind of love either.
“Since you were precious in my sight… I have loved you…”
Isaiah 43:4
“The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying,
Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness
have I drawn thee.”
Jeremiah 31:3
Love is why
He puts up with us and our sheepish ways. We just don’t get it. Nevertheless,
God cannot help Himself but to love us. And each one of us is that lost 100th
sheep special to God; we’re that important. Our feelings and experiences
backing that up matter not; it goes beyond us and our finite perspectives.
God’s thoroughly convinced of His love for us. And He doesn’t change His mind.
Again…
“For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels
nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor
height nor depth nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from
the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Romans 8:38-39
We’re sheep.
We cannot change that truth. But we can go a lot further if we choose not to
argue with God in His love and reasons for pursuing, chasing and loving us.
Each of us is that 100th sheep; we are that special. We are the parable.
Copyright © 2015 by
Sheryle Cruse
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