"Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said"--
"I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of
mine."--John x. 14.
The Good Shepherd.
"The Good Shepherd"--well can the sheep who know His voice attest the
truthfulness and faithfulness of this endearing name and word. Where
would they have been through eternity, had He not left His throne of
light and glory, travelling down to this dark valley of the curse, and
giving His life a ransom for many? Think of His love to each separate
member of the flock--wandering over pathless wilds with unwearied
patience and unquenchable ardour, ceasing not the pursuit _until_ He
finds it. Think of His love _now_--"I AM the Good Shepherd." Still that
tender eye of watchfulness following the guilty wanderers--the glories
of heaven and the songs of angels unable to dim or alter His
affection;--the music of the words, at this moment coming as sweetly
from His lips as when first He uttered them--"I know my sheep." Every
individual believer--the weakest, the weariest, the faintest--claims His
attention. His loving eye follows me day by day out to the
wilderness--marks out my pasture, studies my wants, and trials, and
sorrows, and perplexities--every steep ascent, every brook, every
winding path, every thorny thicket. "He goeth before them." It is not
rough driving, but gentle guiding. He does not take them over an unknown
road; He himself has trodden it before. He hath drunk of every "brook by
the way;" He himself hath "suffered being tempted;" He is "able to
succour them that are tempted." He seems to say, "Fear not; I cannot
lead you wrong; follow me in the bleak waste, the blackened wilderness,
as well as by the green pastures and the still waters. Do you ask why I
have left the sunny side of the valley--carpeted with flowers, and
bathed in sunshine--leading you to some high mountain apart, some
cheerless spot of sorrow? Trust me, I will lead you by paths you have
not known, but they are all known _to_ me, and selected _by_ me--'Follow
thou me.'"
"And am known of mine!" Reader! canst thou subscribe to these closing
words of this gracious utterance? Dost thou "know" _Him_ in all the
glories of His person, in all the completeness of His finished work, in
all the tenderness and unutterable love of His every dealing towards
thee?
It has been remarked by Palestine travellers, that not only do the sheep
there follow the guiding shepherd, but even while cropping the herbage
as they go along, they look wistfully up to see that they are near him.
Is this thine attitude--"_looking unto Jesus_?" "In all thy ways
acknowledge Him, and he will direct thy paths." Leave the future to His
providing. "The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want." _I shall not
want!_--it has been beautifully called "the bleating of Messiah's
sheep." Take it as thy watchword during thy wilderness wanderings, till
grace be perfected in glory. Let this be the record of thy simple faith
and unwavering trust, "These are they who _follow_, whithersoever He
sees meet to guide them."
"THE SHEEP FOLLOW HIM, FOR THEY KNOW HIS VOICE."