Tag: Sheep

Devotionals

Is the Lord Your Shepherd?     

Loring Schultz

Read: Psalm 23 ESV – The LORD Is My Shepherd – A Psalm of – Bible Gateway

“The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.” Psalm 23:1 ESV

Photo by Antonello Falcone – The Wiseman on Unsplash

This week’s daily devotions on ‘Word for the Soul’ will feature the 23rd Psalm. This is the most recognized Psalm of all 150 psalms in the psalter. Most people can recite it in its entirety, or least some portions of it. So, an assignment for this week, if you have not memorized it yet, now is your chance. (There are only six verses)

David, the author, begins with these famous words, “The LORD is my Shepherd; I shall not want.” (Ps.23:1 esv) David being a shepherd as a boy and young man knew the job of shepherding and the responsibilities it entailed. Number 1 on the list was the protection of the sheep under his care. David spent many long hot days and cold nights watching over the sheep. We do not know how David got paid or if he ever received compensation for his work, but he did his work flawlessly and at the risk of his own life.

The Lord Jesus not only risked His life for His sheep but gave up it up on the cross at Calvary. “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” (Jn.10:11 esv) David was able to see the relationship between his protecting and providing for his sheep and God doing the same for him, but in a much larger capacity. The Lord God providing for David all his life prompted him to write, ‘I shall not want.’ He was never lacking anything he needed. David’s shepherd provided for him.

David could call the Lord God his shepherd because he knew Him, followed Him, and obeyed Him. As you read the 23rd Psalm and attempt to memorize it this week can you say, ‘the Lord (Jesus) is my shepherd’? Do you know Him? Have you accepted Him as your savoir? Is the Lord your shepherd?

Devotionals

Are you following the Voice of Strangers?

Loring Schultz

“A stranger they simply will not follow, but will flee from him, because they do not know the voice of strangers.” John 10:5 NASB

Photo by Quang Nguyen Vinh on Pexels.com

All of us are comfortable with familiar surroundings. The voices of those we hang around with are welcomed at any time. When having a bad day hearing a familiar voice quiets your spirit. We may be quick to follow them to an event to help shed some of those anxious feelings. There is a trust factor with one we have cultivated a relationship with. You would not hang around with a stranger, in fact you wouldn’t recognize their voice. You would not follow the voice of a stranger.

One of Jesus’ seven ‘I am’ statements found in the gospel of John is ‘I am the door.’ Jesus is saying He is the door unto salvation. In Jesus’ illustration of Him being the door, He references the doorkeeper who is an under shepherd who guards the door at night and assists the shepherd in caring for His flock. The doorkeeper recognizes the shepherd’s voice and opens the door to the sheep pen. The shepherd’s sheep have already started to gather around the door for they responded to the shepherd’s unique call from outside the door. He calls them by name, and they follow Him because they know His voice. They will not follow the voice of a stranger.

Not all the sheep in the sheep pen followed Jesus’ in this illustration. They did not recognize His voice. It was the voice of a stranger. To many people today, Jesus is a stranger. They followed the voices of those they are familiar with, the voices of the world and the world’s system. The voices that say all religions lead to God, or just do the best you on your own, or living a life a love and peace will get you a blissful afterlife.

Don’t be fooled by the voices of false teachers or the secular views of the world. These are the voices of strangers to those who truly know Christ as savior. Jesus says, “A stranger they simply will not follow, but will flee from him, because they do not know the voice of strangers.” (Jn.10:5 nasb) If these voices are familiar to you, then you are following the voices of those outside the saving knowledge of Christ. Jesus said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.” (Jn.14: nasb) Accept Jesus’ call to salvation and become a sheep of His pasture recognizing His voice and never again follow the voice of strangers.

Read: John 10:1-10 NASB – Parable of the Good Shepherd – Bible Gateway

Bible Studies

I AM THE GOOD SHEPHERD: Jesus’ seven “I AM” statements – 4

Loring Schultz

“I am the good shepherd; I know my own sheep, and they know me, just as my Father knows me and I know the Father. So I sacrifice my life for the sheep. I have other sheep, too, that are not in this sheepfold. I must bring them also. They will listen to my voice, and there will be one flock with one shepherd.” John 10:14-16 NLT

Photo by Sam Carter on Unsplash

Jesus, in His fourth “I am” statement in the gospel of John said, ‘I am the good shepherd.’ ‘Good’ meaning ‘noble’, ‘worthy’ or a model of what a shepherd is to be. This indicates that not all shepherds were good. The responsibility of a shepherd is to care for the sheep, leading them, feeding them, and protecting them from danger even at the risk of their own lives, ultimately saving them from life-or-death situations.

Jesus says the noble, worthy shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. All of us are like sheep in a helpless life-or-death condition having no hope but to be rescued by Jesus, the ‘Good Shepherd.’ The Old Testament prophet Isaiah writes, “All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God’s paths to follow our own. Yet the LORD laid on him the sins of us all.” (Is. 53:6 nlt) Jesus did just that by laying down His life, offering it as a sacrifice for our sins by dying on the cross, providing the way of Salvation for us.

Throughout history there have been many deceiving shepherds who have led people astray. Prophets from the many false religions in the world administer their deceptive teaching concerning the way of Salvation and eternal life. They may sound sincere and persuasive but, they are sincerely wrong, and it ends in eternal destruction. They strive to lead people into thinking there are other ways to God. But there is no one who has ever said that they laid down their life for the sheep, nor could they, nor did they. There is only one good shepherd. Jesus said, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” Follow Jesus, the only Good Shepherd. He will not lead you astray, but into eternal life.