Week 52
Isaiah 40:11 “Like a shepherd He will tend His flock, in His arm He will gather the lambs and carry them in His bosom; He will gently lead the nursing ewes.”
Our Jesus is our Shepherd, and we are His sheep. This is the metaphor Jesus used to describe His relationship to His disciples in John 10 (the Good Shepherd passage). But we also see in the Old Testament this analogy used for God’s redemptive care of His people. Our text today is a good example of this.
Note how our Lord is described in the text as tending His flock. His saved covenantal people are “His flock”, and He tends us. How so? We are told that the Lord tends His flock like a shepherd in three ways.
First, He gathers us. How did we become Christians? He gathered us! He sought us out, put His arms around us, and gathered us unto Himself. This is how we came out of darkness into the light of His goodness and love. We claim no glory for ourselves, and we take no credit for our new life in Christ. He gets all the glory, for He gathered us to Himself in grace, faith, and in love. We came to Jesus because He gathered us.
Second, He carries us in His bosom. There is no more delightful place to be than to experience the nearness of our Jesus. When we are strained beyond our capacity to endure, our good Shepherd carries us in His bosom; we feel His strength and His sweet presence. We can endure anything, as long as Jesus carries us in His bosom; oh, Lord, please carry us near to Your heart that we might feel Your love and care for us!
Third, He will “gently lead” those who are under the strain of life. The “nursing ewes” have the burden of keeping up with the flock as it moves while at the same time taking particular note of her little ones still nursing to make sure they don’t get lost. This is a big job! But the Lord gently leads these who are burdened with care and responsibility. He does not put on us a task (heavy though it may be) without His careful and tender leadership to make sure that we can “keep up.” There will be moments in our journey when we feel we cannot go on, but our good Shepherd will strengthen us and lead us in the way that we should go. He will give us the ability to keep up and go on, as we seek to follow Him.
Christian friend, look to your dear Shepherd this day; He is not uninformed or disinterested about your need and weakness. He loves you very much for you are His! Learn to lean on Him and follow Him in Christian discipleship.
Prayer: Dear Lord, thank You for making me one of Your sheep! Please strengthen and guide me this day that I may follow You. And when I am weak, carry me near to Your heart that I may know Your love for me. Thank You for being my good Shepherd. Amen.