My Shepherd

His heart never stops beating with love for His church and He is always ready and willing to carry our burdens

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I have been reflecting more and more lately on a fundamental truth which, I’ll be honest, so often escapes me, and I suspect, many of us, because it has become so embedded in our thoughts that we ignore it.

That truth is: who Jesus is and what he does in our lives, day in and day out.

It is a truth that was included in scripture nearly 3000 years ago when the prophet Micah wrote: But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days. Therefore he shall give them up until the time when she who is in labour has given birth; then the rest of his brothers shall return to the people of Israel. And he shall stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God. And they shall dwell secure, for now he shall be great to the ends of the earth. And he shall be their peace. (Micah 5:2-5 (ESV))

Our understanding of this has to start with our acceptance that we are no longer our own but, like sheep we need a shepherd. In considering Jesus’ place in our lives, we should be continually asking ourselves; Does He have absolute supremacy, that of a King and a Shepherd? 

By supremacy, I mean that supremacy which the wise and tender shepherd exercises over his needy and loving flock; He commands and should receive our obedience, but it should be loving obedience, given freely and joyfully, when if we are honest about ourselves we know we often obey grudgingly after a lot of delay  (Isn’t “I’ll pray about that” often our response and a means of delaying action?).

Do we recognise that Jesus’ reign is wholly practical?

Another translation of “shepherd” is “feed”. Jesus, as head of His church, actively provides for our needs. He is not a ruler who sits on His throne in state, He is totally ‘hands on’. He does everything we would expect of a shepherd; He feeds us, He guides us, He watches over us, He preserves us, He restores us, and He cares for us.

Do we appreciate that His reign is on-going?

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The scripture says; “And he shall stand and shepherd” not “He shall shepherd now and then and then leave” not “He shall give us a revelation of Himself one day and abandon us the next”. Scripture tells us that His eyes never sleep, and His hands never rest. His heart never stops beating with love for His church and He is always ready and willing to carry our burdens.

Finally, have we accepted that Jesus does not reign alone?

He reigns “in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God.” Wherever Jesus is, God is there also. Whatever Jesus does is an act of Almighty God. The one who stands in intercession for us and lives within us, through the Holy Spirit, is “God of very God”, and one day every knee will bow before Him. When we give all these things their due place in our thoughts we shall “dwell secure” and “He shall be our peace”.

We should be overjoyed that we belong to a shepherd/king whose humanity connects with us and whose divinity protects and provides for us. We are left with no alternative but to bow down before Him and worship as the ‘sheep of His pasture.’

During lockdown, as a fellowship, encouraged by Pastor Kevin, we focused on the 23rd Psalm;
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
 He makes me lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside still waters.
He restores my soul.
He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

This beautiful Psalm says it all, really, but I have to confess, despite having said it and reflected on it almost daily during lockdown I can’t recall the last time I looked at it since then. How fickle my mind is. If you are like me, I pray you will be encouraged by the Micah passage and by the Psalm and that you will have a blessed week.

(My gratitude goes again, to Charles Spurgeon for his daily reflection on the verse from Micah which I read in August and has been lying dormant since then)

Author: Alan Cameron

May God bless and enrich your life

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