Following Our Shepherd
"And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them; and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. Yet they will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.” (John 10:4-5)
Following Jesus was not like following a religious system or merely living a safe and moral lifestyle. Rather, following Jesus involved all kinds of changes and hardships and meant having a deep trust for God in the way sheep become so familiar with their shepherd that they follow Him wherever He goes without hesitation.
His voice reveals His choice for His sheep...so that His Word always makes known His will for us. Our obedience starts with our dependence as we humbly lean on Him to meet our every need as we follow our Shepherd at all times and in all transitions of life.
So when it comes our purpose and direction, we must choose to let our Shepherd choose for us, pushing aside every competing voice and dismissing all the voices of the strangers that would cause us to deviate from His will and to receive static and confusion in our lives.
Thus, we are called to know His voice...trust the process...and see a fresh vision of Jesus every day as we live by "every word that proceeds from the mouth of God." (Matt. 4:4).
By themselves, sheep will follow other sheep and sheepishly go wherever they are being led. The same is true for the followers of Christ where our fellow sheep may be the ones that lead us away from the fellowship that we are to have with our faithful Shepherd.
One thing is for sure, Jesus always goes before us and leads us to many diverse locations but no matter where we are at any given time our Shepherd looks after His sheep. This is why the shepherd king David once wrote, "The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want." (Ps. 23:1).
We must learn to follow our shepherd no matter unfamiliar our new destination may be. We have nothing to fear, worry, or be anxious as long as we are in close proximity to our Lord. Whether He is leading us to lie down in green pastures or beside still waters or even through the valley of the shadow of death, we have FULL PROTECTION, CONNECTION, and DIRECTION as long as HE IS WITH US.
From the very beginning, we see that life is filled with transitions, where there is a change or a process of moving from one place to another…
The very first transition took place when Adam and Eve were kicked out of the Garden to start life over as fallen beings in a new environment. As evil thought and deed grew in mankind, God gave Noah instructions to build an ark for the period of time that was necessary for him and his family to rest and be saved until the flood waters receded and he was called to depart and start over in a new world. After that, we saw how God called Abram to leave his father’s house to go to a land that God would show him but he did not know where he was going. Does that sound familiar at all? Then, of course, God called Moses to lead His people to transition out of Egypt and make their exodus into the wilderness before finally crossing over into the Promise Land.
As Moses reflects on all these transitions of God’s people, we see that he says:
"Lord, YOU have been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, Or ever You had formed the earth and the world, Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God." (Psalm 90:1-2)
But THE GREATEST TRANSITION OF ALL TIME was and is and always will be the death and burial and Resurrection of Jesus Christ! Jesus transitioned from His glory in heaven to be born in the humble womb of a young virgin in Galilee. He lived a sinless life of perfect obedience and dependence on His Father until His hour had come for Him to be the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. When Jesus conquered sin and death, He went from the tomb to His glorified body as the Firstborn of the new creation. And as He had spoken to His disciples earlier, He gave them His Spirit and went before them ascending into heaven as the Shepherd and Overseer of their souls.
So with all that has been said and done, He never asks us to figure it out...but to FOLLOW HIM OUT. As we go through transition from one place to another, we will also go through a transformation of going from strength to strength as we abide in Christ and become more and more like our Shepherd!
When following the Shepherd, we are to:
Jesus came to lay down His life and to give us LIFE and that MORE ABUNDANTLY (John 10:10). He gave of Himself and gives more of Himself as we go and grow in Him. Therefore, we can trust our Shepherd to lead us on the paths of righteousness for His Name sake. We can follow our Shepherd because He has already proven His love for us when He gave up everything for us to be with Him!
Even when we are not sure what the future holds, we can be assured that "the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them [and us] and lead them to living fountains of waters. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.” (Rev. 7:17).
So no matter what may come our way, choose to stay close to the Shepherd and stay close to His sheep, knowing that the best is still yet to come. For surely goodness and mercy shall follow us all the days of our lives and we will dwell in the house of the Lord forever!
Following Jesus was not like following a religious system or merely living a safe and moral lifestyle. Rather, following Jesus involved all kinds of changes and hardships and meant having a deep trust for God in the way sheep become so familiar with their shepherd that they follow Him wherever He goes without hesitation.
His voice reveals His choice for His sheep...so that His Word always makes known His will for us. Our obedience starts with our dependence as we humbly lean on Him to meet our every need as we follow our Shepherd at all times and in all transitions of life.
So when it comes our purpose and direction, we must choose to let our Shepherd choose for us, pushing aside every competing voice and dismissing all the voices of the strangers that would cause us to deviate from His will and to receive static and confusion in our lives.
Thus, we are called to know His voice...trust the process...and see a fresh vision of Jesus every day as we live by "every word that proceeds from the mouth of God." (Matt. 4:4).
By themselves, sheep will follow other sheep and sheepishly go wherever they are being led. The same is true for the followers of Christ where our fellow sheep may be the ones that lead us away from the fellowship that we are to have with our faithful Shepherd.
One thing is for sure, Jesus always goes before us and leads us to many diverse locations but no matter where we are at any given time our Shepherd looks after His sheep. This is why the shepherd king David once wrote, "The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want." (Ps. 23:1).
We must learn to follow our shepherd no matter unfamiliar our new destination may be. We have nothing to fear, worry, or be anxious as long as we are in close proximity to our Lord. Whether He is leading us to lie down in green pastures or beside still waters or even through the valley of the shadow of death, we have FULL PROTECTION, CONNECTION, and DIRECTION as long as HE IS WITH US.
From the very beginning, we see that life is filled with transitions, where there is a change or a process of moving from one place to another…
The very first transition took place when Adam and Eve were kicked out of the Garden to start life over as fallen beings in a new environment. As evil thought and deed grew in mankind, God gave Noah instructions to build an ark for the period of time that was necessary for him and his family to rest and be saved until the flood waters receded and he was called to depart and start over in a new world. After that, we saw how God called Abram to leave his father’s house to go to a land that God would show him but he did not know where he was going. Does that sound familiar at all? Then, of course, God called Moses to lead His people to transition out of Egypt and make their exodus into the wilderness before finally crossing over into the Promise Land.
As Moses reflects on all these transitions of God’s people, we see that he says:
"Lord, YOU have been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, Or ever You had formed the earth and the world, Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God." (Psalm 90:1-2)
But THE GREATEST TRANSITION OF ALL TIME was and is and always will be the death and burial and Resurrection of Jesus Christ! Jesus transitioned from His glory in heaven to be born in the humble womb of a young virgin in Galilee. He lived a sinless life of perfect obedience and dependence on His Father until His hour had come for Him to be the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. When Jesus conquered sin and death, He went from the tomb to His glorified body as the Firstborn of the new creation. And as He had spoken to His disciples earlier, He gave them His Spirit and went before them ascending into heaven as the Shepherd and Overseer of their souls.
So with all that has been said and done, He never asks us to figure it out...but to FOLLOW HIM OUT. As we go through transition from one place to another, we will also go through a transformation of going from strength to strength as we abide in Christ and become more and more like our Shepherd!
When following the Shepherd, we are to:
- Know the Voice that reveals His Choice (John 10:4-5)
- Trust the Process that leads to Progress (James 1:3-4, Deut 8:2)
- See the Vision that waits for His Provision (Ps. 16:8, 37:2-5)
Jesus came to lay down His life and to give us LIFE and that MORE ABUNDANTLY (John 10:10). He gave of Himself and gives more of Himself as we go and grow in Him. Therefore, we can trust our Shepherd to lead us on the paths of righteousness for His Name sake. We can follow our Shepherd because He has already proven His love for us when He gave up everything for us to be with Him!
Even when we are not sure what the future holds, we can be assured that "the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them [and us] and lead them to living fountains of waters. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.” (Rev. 7:17).
So no matter what may come our way, choose to stay close to the Shepherd and stay close to His sheep, knowing that the best is still yet to come. For surely goodness and mercy shall follow us all the days of our lives and we will dwell in the house of the Lord forever!
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