This post is Day 26 in a series of studies about “Psalm 23”. I strongly suggest you begin with the introduction to this study, please click here to read it.

Feel free to comment below with your own thoughts about each verse and how you will be acting on each thought. Also, if you haven’t yet signed up to receive the notifications of new studies, you can do that today (the form is at the bottom of the page).


Psalm 23 – Day 26

John 10:14-15

I am the Good Shepherd. I know my sheep and My sheep know me. Just as the Father knows Me and I know the Father – and I lay down My life for the sheep.

The Thought

A few verses after yesterday’s passage we see Jesus repeating His claim of being The Good Shepherd. He had had several heated conversations with the Sadducees and Pharisee leaders who were the spiritual “shepherds” of that time, and in fact referred to them often as “a brood of vipers” (Matthew 3:7, 12:34, 23:33)! John the Baptist had done the same before Him (Luke 3:7).

When we see sheep in a field or on a hillside (there are plenty of pictures on social media for those who don’t live in sheep rearing areas) they all look more or less the same. But ask the shepherd, and he or she will tell you that every one is different, has their own character and characteristics.

My husband, Malgwyn, has a cousin who used to be a shepherd. She is retired now, but all through her working life she looked after sheep, often spending whole nights in the field during lambing time, making sure that not one lamb, nor one mother sheep, was lost because of difficulty at birth.

The Good Shepherd does the same for us. He watches us through the “birthing process” as we are born again in the Spirit (John 3:5), and grow into taking our place fully in His kingdom. He sends other good shepherds to nurture us along the way to maturity. All of us are on that road. None of us ever reaches the goal Jesus sets before us, because there is always so much to learn, and the Lord is always doing new things.

Action

Praise God for the exciting new things He is doing today. Ask Him to reveal to you what your role is in those new things.

Thank Jesus that He lay down His life for His sheep, and that includes you!

Be prepared to tell someone else that good news today.

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