The Waywardness of Sheep

“I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly” (John 10:10).

Why do sheep have the desire to leave the shepherd’s side and travel to places of danger and distance?  There is an inward pull that sheep have that tend to lead them away.  They follow the tract of land that looks greener and more desirous, leaving behind that which is safe and filled with contentment by the shepherd’s care.

Why does God give Pastors to the local congregation?  So that they may instruct and teach the little flock to the perfecting of the saints for the work of the ministry that edifies the body of Christ.  It is God who gives the pastors and teachers so that they may equip the saints for the work and for the building up of His church.  It is God who gives the Shepherds.  It is the under shepherds who are led by the Chief Shepherd.

As in that day, the Old Testament days and the New Testament days, shepherds were looked down upon.  Many people looked and pick out their words, mannerisms, and ways and accosted them for not being the smartest people in town.  But the Shepherds were important in the eyes of God.  Sheep can’t just get along anywhere.  There is no other class of livestock that requires more careful handling, more detailed direction, than do sheep.

The Pastor Shepherd keeps the sheep on the move.  They are shifted from one pasture to another.  The habits sheep form and the desires that sheep have, when left to themselves, are dangerous.  So the Pastor Shepherd is always leading them to go forward.  Let us listen, not only to the voice of the Good Shepherd, but to the leadership of the kind, prayerful, life of the under shepherd.  Why?  Because he cares for your soul.

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  • Terminal

    “Return, and tell Hezekiah, the captain of my people, Thus saith the Lord, the God of David, thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears; behold, I will heal thee. On the third day thou shalt go up into the house of the Lord” (2 Kings 20:5).

    Hezekiah, the king, the captain of God’s people, was a godly man but he had great troubles heaped upon him. His country was under siege and he was deathly sick. National crisis is bad enough but to have a personal crisis is trouble piled high.

    What do you do? He turned to the Lord with tears and used the means God had given him for healing. Sometimes God will alter things in His universe just to meet our needs. Sometimes God heals on earth and other times He heals in glory.

    Friend, we do not know when we will die, but we do know we will. It is up to us to live and to live well in the power of the Spirit of the living God. To live in lethargy, complacency, or self-sufficiency, is to live with the threat of settling down in a world that is cursed with sin and death.

    This is not God’s best. God’s best is to allow our needs to continually drive us to Him upon our knees and for each of us to stay close to Him. Let your troubles drive you to Christ. This is the power of the third day. And by the way, we are all terminal, for we do not know when or where, but we do know we will not live forever in this body of clay.

  • Ransacked

    “And he took away the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the king’s house; he even took away all. And he took away all the shields of gold which Solomon had made” (I Kings 15:26).

    Israel was once a powerhouse of divine wealth. But then the nation plunged into evil by allowing idolatry and apostasy to stagnate their lives. They slid in and swam into a cesspool of evil and sinfulness with glee.

    There was a king by the name of Shishak. He was king of Egypt. On the heels of apostasy Jerusalem was attacked. This devilish King came and took the treasures of the house of the Lord away.

    All over our land today are hearts and homes and churches who were once rich in prayer, the Word of God, good works, joy, but now they are ransacked and barren because Shishak has stolen the treasures of the Lord from the people of God.

    It is time to return to the Lord with acknowledgement of sin. We are dusting ourselves off instead of confessing our sin. How can we teach transgressors God’s ways until we profess our great lack? May God help us to see our exposed sin that sinners see and we do not. There is hope when our hope is in God. May God lay His axe to the root of our lives by His Word and by His Spirit.

  • Liberty

    “Stand fast, therefore, in the Liberty with which Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage” (Galatians 5:1).

    The cross has eliminated sin in the world. We don’t see it or feel as yet but we do know it is coming. God is holy and He can not countenance sin and know this: Sin has been subdued.

    Sinlessness will happen for the child of God when he leaves the earth set for heaven. It may be through death or rapture but the albatross of sin is gone as soon as we head for glory to be with the redeemed of all ages.

    Sinlessness will happen for the earth and for the heavens when God makes a new heaven and a new earth. The Book of Revelation assures us that there will be no more sea, death, tears, sorrow, crying, nor pain. When every vestige of sin is removed God will remove the very effects of sin.

    Times of refreshing are coming. The Kingdom of God rests in the bosom of the child of God. One glorious day we will be totally free from sin. Therefore my fellow believer, stand! Stand in the liberty which Christ has made us free. Do not be confused or entrapped with any sin for God has and will free us from the terrible sorrow of sin! In the mean time live by faith through love to the Father.

  • Flummoxed and Flabbergasted

     
    “They will be called oaks of righteousness” (Isaiah 61:3, ESV).

    The King of Babylon had a bad night. And because he had a bad night everyone else was going to have one as well. He was confused about the dream he had. He did not understand it.

    The King’s advisers were stunned. They were asked to give the details of the dream and the meaning of it. How could they do this? Only the gods could’ve revealed what the King dreamed.

    Daniel was neither flummoxed (confused) or flabbergasted (stunned). He had FAITH in the living God. Daniel asked for an appointment with the King. He would reveal to the King what God would reveal to him (Daniel 2:16).

    Daniel asked to meet before he knew the dream and the interpretation of it. Now that is faith. That is counterintuitive courage. I will tell you the truth, I am flummoxed and flabbergasted.  How could this young man have been so sure? Daniel wasn’t stalling for time, he was asking for a time to meet with the King!

    The fact of the faith is this: Daniel knew who his God was and what He could do. Daniel was soaked and steeped in the sovereignty of God. Faith like that was not built overnight; it began somewhere and at some place.

    Here is what I want us to take from this lesson. Maturity is a slow process and so is the development of faith. But sometimes God breaks the mold and works swiftly in a man. But for the most of us, faith comes slowly, just as slowly as to the oak tree. But growth does come. Daniel knew God and so can you. God planted His seed in you when you were born again. Allow it to grow. Trust and obey for there is no other way.

     

     

  • Tempered Steel

    “Then he {God} chose David, his servant, handpicked him from his work in the sheep pens. One day he was caring for the ewes and their lambs, the next God had him shepherding Jacob, his people, Israel, his prize possession” (Psalm 78:70-71).

    Financial reversals, betrayal, depression, family difficulties, and the consequences of poor personal decisions can wreck a person’s life.  David left tracks for us to follow. Just read the book of Psalms and you will see that David encountered being knocked out of the saddle many times. But David found God to be faithful. The dismal swamps were also seen and David was weighed down, but he also felt the fresh, exhilarating winds on the mountaintops of accomplishment.

    God works strangely. He often enriches by impoverishing. King David was a man taken from the pasture tending sheep to the palace leading a nation. How did God get David in the place of shepherding a nation? He used trapdoors and pit stops. He used transition. God used anointing by the hand of Samuel in secret, of course, but God used anguish by the hand of Saul in public to train and teach David the leadership God had for him.

    You don’t ascend to the status of an All-Star overnight without difficulties and obstacles. Many of us have forgotten that many people go through trials and difficulties, fall through trap doors, and face many pit stops in their lives. We forget that God is working for them and in them.

    Look around and see if you are caring and carrying these “misfortunates” in your prayers and actions. See if the Lord is first place in your hearts for them? Ask yourself do you really care? Sometimes we spend so much more time in other pursuits that we forget how good God has been to us. There is a trail. There is a path God has designed for them and for us. And it would be great if we recognized them as the hand of a merciful and good God.

     

     

     

     

  • Are you Gold?

    “How is the gold become dim! How is the most fine gold changed! The stones of the sanctuary are poured out of every street” (Lamentations 4:1).
    Gold is full of luster, very malleable, and has great value. Gold has a center of gravity and it is not easily rusted. God says of His city and her people they were like gold at one time. But now Jeremiah laments the city of Jerusalem, for she has become tarnished and dulled. Her children, the seed of God’s people, no longer shine for Jehovah God.
    There is change all around us. What was once bright now has become dull. Those that once went after the gold of God’s Word now are seeking the fool’s gold of the world. What once was the wisdom of the ages now has become a book that is hardly touched.
    Where are the fathers that have not changed?  Where are the children that shine as gold? Dads, moms, and grandparents, seem to be out of touch with God. Oh there is a touch but that is about it.
    America used to shine but now she is as brass. What once was gold now has been stolen. So to put on a good act America is borrowed brass that is shined up with fancy patriotic songs that seem to shine. But words can never do the work that only God can.
    Jeremiah is not asking a question; he is stating a fact. And because of his verbal analysis of the state of the nation, he is thrown into jail and into a deep pit left to rot. You know a nation is no longer gold when it rejects its prophets and its preachers. When the people want to get rid of that which is pure you can know that judgment is on the way.
    What once was gold is now but earthen vessels of clay. Dull, lifeless, cracked, and without real value. The gold has been stripped away. The power and presence of God has left that which was once alive and vibrant and expectant.
    Check the facts:  Are you tenderhearted toward God and others? Does the Word of God change you as you read it? Are you growing into the likeness of Jesus? Are your children living for God? Are you as regular in church attendance as beforehand? Does prayer rise in your heart as never before? Are you ready before God to easily repent of sin at every turn? How hard is it for others to get you off the gold path? And how easy is it for God to get you back on it?
    Brass will shine, but it is not like gold. We will either turn back to the gold standard or nothing. We have been robbed of the gold. A cheaper brand of Christianity is with us today. Rather than pay the price we have settled down to being just clay pitchers pottered by our own hands.