The parable of the lost sheep

Normally I am awake by 7:00 but this morning, my hubby woke me just before 9:00. I’m supposed to take meds an hour before that and was very sound asleep, so much so that I felt like I needed to be carried to the kitchen for my pills and carried throughout that day. Because of little energy to the point of helplessness, I was ready to see something precious in this parable:

“Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, ‘This man receives sinners and eats with them.’ So he told them this parable: ‘What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’ Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.’” (Luke 15:1–7)

The devotional writer echoed how I responded. I pictured the sheep lying across the shoulders of Jesus, the good shepherd. He is holding its four legs securely in His strong hands. The sheep is relaxed, not fighting. All the weight and burden of being a lost sheep is on the Shepherd’s shoulders and the sheep is secure in the Shepherd’s care. He has nothing to fear and nothing to do — but rest:

“The LORD your God who goes before you will himself fight for you, just as he did for you in Egypt before your eyes, and in the wilderness, where you have seen how the LORD your God carried you, as a man carries his son, all the way that you went until you came to this place.” (Deuteronomy 1:30–31)

How does this happen? Most animals would struggle and try to free themselves from this lofty place and from the grasp of their captor. Not this animal, because Jesus said:

“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.” (John 10:27–29)

Trusting Jesus puts me in a place of rest, not of fear or struggle. He is the Savior, and I am content to be saved by Him. Besides, nothing can hurt me for whatever comes at me must first tackle with the One who holds me. He cares for me so I can look forward to each day knowing that my great, all-sufficient Shepherd is rejoicing as He brings me home.

^^^^^^^^^

Jesus, I love the next delightful thought added by the devotional writer. He notes that because of those who are ‘saved sheep,’ our Good Shepherd experiences joy, the joy that sustained Him as He died for our sin — “the joy set before Him” (Hebrews 12:2). Like the shepherd in the parable, You rejoice in the salvation of sinners, in my salvation. You are smiling as I rest on Your powerful shoulders. Even in my sleepy state, I realize that this rest in You is far better than a good, long sleep (and certainly better than being a lost sheep)!

 (Link to a photo)