If they be foolish, yet he goes before them, cheers them with his voice, and rules them with the rod of his command. Lead them into pasturage suitable for them. If the sheep suffer privation because the soil is barren, yet is the shepherd able to What if the sheep be weak, yet is the shepherd strong to guard his flock from the prowling wolf or the roaring lion. "I will feed my flock, and I will cause them to lie down, saith the Lord God." Oh, what sweet music there is to us in the name which is given to our Lord Jesus Christ of "the good Shepherd"! It not only describes the office he holds, but it sets forth the sympathy he feels, the aptness he shows, and the responsibility he bears to promote our well-being. He discerns you as you are, claims you as his own, foresees all the ills to which you are exposed, yet tends you as his flock, sets store by every lamb of the fold, and so feeds you according to the integrity of his heart, and guides you by the skilfulness of his hands. The more delighted you will be to see that the Lord accepts you under these conditions, and calls you the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand. The more conscious you are, deer brethren, of your own deficiencies, your lack of stamina, discretion, sagacity, and all the instincts of self-preservation,
Every grain of true wisdom that we possess we have derived from him of ourselves we are dull and giddy folly is bound up in our heart. We say, as David said, "O God, thou knowest my foolishness " and he says to us as he said to David, "I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go." If Christ were not our wisdom, we should soon fall a prey to the destroyer.
We meekly own it to him who is ready to guide us. Sheep, too, are silly creatures, and in this respect likewise we are very sheepish. Our weakness and our want we keenly feel: still we have no cause to murmur, since the Lord knows our poor estate, and succours us with the tenderest care. Unless our bread drop down from heaven, and our water flow out of the living rock, we must die.
Travelers through a wilderness that yields us neither food nor water. Our spiritual needs are numerous and pressing, Yet we cannot supply any of them. But for the shepherd's cure they would soon perish. Sheep have many wants, yet they are very helpless, and quite unable to provide for themselves. We do confess our weakness yet may we not repine at it, for, as Paul said, so we find, when we are weak then are we strong. We have proved our weakness, and day by day we lament it. Let others boast how strong they are yet if there be strong ones anywhere, certainly we are weak. In this frailty of their nature they are a fit emblem of ourselves at least, of so many of us as have believed in Jesus and become his disciples. Not a very flattering comparison you may say but then we do not wish to be flattered, nor would our Lord deem it good to flatter us, While far from flattering, it is, however, eminently consoling, for of all creatures there are not any more compassed about with infirmity than sheep. "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me."- John 10:27.ĬHRISTIANS ARE HERE compared to sheep. At the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington
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