I cannot remember all that Phillip Keller says in his book, “A Shepherd Looks at the 23rd Psalm” but do remember having a small flock of sheep for a short time. They are not very smart and easily frightened, have short memories and bad body odor. They need a swift-thinking sheepdog to get them into a pen or moving in the right direction. The shepherd can endear himself to the sheep but it is not easy. The slightest thing can put these animals into a panic with an unpredictable response — and sometimes I’m like that. A twist or unexpected event can bring out the sheep in me. Instead of running to my Shepherd, I head for what I think is a safe place, always a mistake.
In the OT, a shepherd could be a literal herder of sheep but the term is also metaphorically applied to leaders and more importantly to God as a shepherd. Most people have heard that God cares for His people in Psalm 23: “The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want . . . ” Psalm 80:1 is a prayer: “Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, you who lead Joseph like a flock. You who are enthroned upon the cherubim, shine forth” and Isaiah 40:10–11 is a prophecy: “Behold, the Lord God comes with might, and his arm rules for him; behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him. He will tend his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms; he will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young.”
In several OT passages, God promises to take over the shepherding that the leaders failed to do saying things like “Behold, I, I myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out. As a shepherd seeks out his flock when he is among his sheep that have been scattered, so will I seek out my sheep, and I will rescue them from all places where they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness.”
These and other verses point to Jesus who in John 10:11 and 14 calls himself “the good shepherd.”
While Jesus told Peter to “shepherd my sheep” the most common references about shepherding are about Jesus Christ as He cares for His people.
Hebrews 13:20–21. “Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.”
1 Peter 2:24–25. “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.”
In His care and promise to never forsake His people, Jesus does what those OT ‘shepherds’ failed to do. He also appoints and equips people to take this role in caring for His church.
Ephesians 4:11–13. “And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ . . . .”
Should those shepherds also fail, the Lord who is greater will never leave us or forsake us. He cares deeply for the weakest in the flock and does what no human leaders can do.
GAZE INTO HIS GLORY. When I start my computer each day, I see a picture representing Jesus holding a black sheep on His shoulders. It reminds me who I am and who He is. My willy-nilly behavior and easily frightened nature are held firmly by the One who died for me and who lives for me. Without my Shepherd I would be playing in dangerous places, filled with bad attitudes, and wandering off in pastures where there is no sustenance never mind assurance and freedom from fear. As the song says, “I’m no longer a slave to fear; I am a child of God” — one of His sheep — and deeply thankful for Jesus, the good Shepherd of my soul.
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