Know Your Good Shepherd

My husband John was a good shepherd. When we lived on the acreage near Marshalltown we raised sheep for show. For more than 20 years, John culled his flock, selecting the best ewes to keep for breeding the following year and purchased progressively better and better rams until he had a really good flock of sheep. 

The process was labor intensive, especially during the winter lambing season. Setting up pens, keeping watch on the ewes as they neared their due dates, moving them inside out of the cold and snow to wait, and feeding them properly for a hopefully easy and successful delivery. And this was all while he also worked a 10-12 hour day.

The weekends were packed full of preparation for the week ahead. Moving straw and hay from the barn to the shed, transporting feed to the shed, refreshing the bedding, removing the manure, carefully inspecting the ewes and new lambs for health, and studying the calendar to determine which ewes were next in line to deliver. There were shots to give, tails to dock and lambs to tag and record.

I honestly don’t know how John did it all except that he was a good shepherd. When he walked out the door every morning the sheep would hear him coming even before he called them. They recognized John as their shepherd. They knew him. They trusted him to feed them. They knew he cared for them.

Jesus is our good shepherd. He knows us, and He laid down His life for us when He died on the cross. Jesus cares about us. 

Jesus said: “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 NIV). 

We can trust in Jesus daily for sustenance, strength and mercy.  He won’t leave us hanging in our need. He will answer our cries for help. Jesus will come to us, lift us up, and hold us as a precious lamb, if only we know and believe.