It’s official! Lambing season has begun! Tiny balls of fluff now and then make their appearance alongside mama ewe, struggling to get their lanky legs to cooperate and hold them upright. I am amazed every single time I witness this miracle; it never gets old. How can they rise to their feet so quickly, just minutes into this life? Who spoke into them the desire to push up onto their knees, then, balancing carefully, shove up onto their feet just so…teetering precariously until they lean against their mama for support?
Whenever I take the time to stop and really look at the lambs – or the kids - it brings me right back around to our position as sheep: Just as vulnerable, just as precious to Our Creator, just as precariously teetering until we lean on Him.
The devotions this past weekend in Classic Christianity: a Year of Timeless Devotions were on three Shepherd Psalms – Psalm 22, 23, and 24. Sometimes they are known as the Psalm of the Cross, the Crook, and the Crown, as they reveal the multi-faceted role of Jesus as our Good Shepherd. As Easter approaches, they really spoke to my soul about my reliance on my Lord.
First, Jesus is my Good Shepherd, who laid down His life for His sheep-for me. I take for granted, at times, my peace with God. In Psalm 22, we see that facet of our Shepherd – the suffering Christ, creating a way home for His sheep. A thousand years before the fact of Good Friday, Psalm 22 calls out, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken me?” Two thousand years after Good Friday, we can look back thankfully on that terrible moment when the Holy God could not look on His own Lamb because He bore our sins on that tree. That moment lays bare across the Scripture like a jagged tear in the fabric of the Trinity, but it was the moment that our lives became full of eternal possibility through His sacrifice.
And, of course, Jesus is our Good Shepherd, who brings great contentment and peace with His presence. That most quoted of Psalms, 23, reminds us that whatever deep, dark valley we find ourselves walking through, He is there as well. Even as we walk “through” the valley we call Death, and it is a passage rather than an end, He is there to see us to the other side, to eternity, in peace. I think of the wee baby lambs, who quickly know to follow their Shepherd to food, to water, to safety. He didn’t just provide a way; He helps us walk in it.
And, finally in Psalm 24, we see Jesus as the Shepherd King – our triumphant Sovereign! He gives us hope; He gives us a future in Him. He is victorious, and we reap the benefits. He holds our eternity in His hands, and we can trust Him. We can lean against Him now, and we can walk with Him through Eternity. He calls us His sheep for many reasons. We aren’t all that smart, we wander off now and again, and we really are pretty ornery. I hope, nonetheless, that He derives some small pleasure from watching us, His lambs, as we struggle to our spiritual feet and try to grow up into Him. I suspect He does.
Just think with what a mighty love He loves us, His sheep and prized possession.
“O come, let us worship and bow down, let us kneel before the Lord our God, our Maker. For he is our God and we are the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hand.” Psalm 95:6
Classic Christianity
Whenever I take the time to stop and really look at the lambs – or the kids - it brings me right back around to our position as sheep: Just as vulnerable, just as precious to Our Creator, just as precariously teetering until we lean on Him.
The devotions this past weekend in Classic Christianity: a Year of Timeless Devotions were on three Shepherd Psalms – Psalm 22, 23, and 24. Sometimes they are known as the Psalm of the Cross, the Crook, and the Crown, as they reveal the multi-faceted role of Jesus as our Good Shepherd. As Easter approaches, they really spoke to my soul about my reliance on my Lord.
First, Jesus is my Good Shepherd, who laid down His life for His sheep-for me. I take for granted, at times, my peace with God. In Psalm 22, we see that facet of our Shepherd – the suffering Christ, creating a way home for His sheep. A thousand years before the fact of Good Friday, Psalm 22 calls out, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken me?” Two thousand years after Good Friday, we can look back thankfully on that terrible moment when the Holy God could not look on His own Lamb because He bore our sins on that tree. That moment lays bare across the Scripture like a jagged tear in the fabric of the Trinity, but it was the moment that our lives became full of eternal possibility through His sacrifice.
And, of course, Jesus is our Good Shepherd, who brings great contentment and peace with His presence. That most quoted of Psalms, 23, reminds us that whatever deep, dark valley we find ourselves walking through, He is there as well. Even as we walk “through” the valley we call Death, and it is a passage rather than an end, He is there to see us to the other side, to eternity, in peace. I think of the wee baby lambs, who quickly know to follow their Shepherd to food, to water, to safety. He didn’t just provide a way; He helps us walk in it.
And, finally in Psalm 24, we see Jesus as the Shepherd King – our triumphant Sovereign! He gives us hope; He gives us a future in Him. He is victorious, and we reap the benefits. He holds our eternity in His hands, and we can trust Him. We can lean against Him now, and we can walk with Him through Eternity. He calls us His sheep for many reasons. We aren’t all that smart, we wander off now and again, and we really are pretty ornery. I hope, nonetheless, that He derives some small pleasure from watching us, His lambs, as we struggle to our spiritual feet and try to grow up into Him. I suspect He does.
Just think with what a mighty love He loves us, His sheep and prized possession.
“O come, let us worship and bow down, let us kneel before the Lord our God, our Maker. For he is our God and we are the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hand.” Psalm 95:6
Classic Christianity
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