Please forgive me if I have posted this before, I tend to lose track of these things.


Shepherding



"The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want." (psa. 23:1)


The Shepherd

That verse says it all. Actually, there need be no further explanation than "The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want" We shall not want for anything, which implies that all our needs, and wants, are met in Christ, the true Shepherd of our souls. The verse speaks if the entirety of sustenance; I shall not want anything. Our Shepherd will see to it that we have no needs, and we have all we want.

Since He gave us this blessing and this promise, shouldn't we learn to depend on Him for everything? There is no one, nor anything more dependable than our Lord, and yet we fail to trust Him; we fail miserably to depend on Him and allow Him to be the supplier of all our needs. Who/what do you depend on for your every day needs? Is it the government, which is unreliable? Is it the jOB that can be lost at any moment? Is it chance, or self sustenance, which is futile and fickle to say the least? We need to get serious about trusting our God, and make Him our personal Shepherd as well as Savior.




"I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep." (John 10:11)


The Good Shepherd

Not only is the Lord our Shepherd, but He is the "good Shepherd". God is good in all aspects, and He will never be otherwise. The goodness of God leads (us) to repentance (Rom. 2:4); will we despise the goodness of God by rejecting it, and thinking it to be a bad thing? Everything that happens in the Christian life happens for a reason; we need to get hold of that statement, and run with it. Everything that happens to us, and in us, is thank-worthy unto God (See 1 Thess. 5:18), and it is God's will that we thank Him in all things. In passing, let me say that the word "this" in that verse can refer to the thanksgiving, or to the event that we are to thank Him for, which is "all things" no matter whether we think them to be good or otherwise. God surely is a good God, there is no denying that. Twice in John 10 does our Lord say that He is the "Good Shepherd" (see also v. 14)



"Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant," (Heb. 13: 20).


The Great Shepherd

Greatness is OBtained through works, or rather some great work. The great men of the past have accomplished some feat that brought them fame, whether an invention; a victory in battle; or an honorable act of sorts, they OBtained greatness by some sort of action. The Lord OBtained greatness the same way: He came to earth and lived as man a perfect man--and died on the cross for our sin; then he rose from the dead, and OBtained greatness in defeating death for all men. He is indeed the Great Shepherd, the Shepherd of our souls. He is our souls' delight; the epitome of love, and the victor over sin and death; the great conqueror, and yet the quiet, gentle King. He is both boldness and meekness; valorous and gentle; nOBle and humble, and yet He reigns supreme on all fronts. He is the greatest of the great, and the mightiest of the mighty; He is our Lord.



"And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away." (1 Peter 5:4)


The Chief Shepherd

Our Lord is the great shepherd, which makes Him also the chief shepherd. There is none greater; none more worthy; none more honorable than our Lord. There never was, and never will be any one or anything in heaven nor in earth that can come close to His glory, none can even so much as approach him in majesty and honor and justice. He is the King of king, and reigns supreme, which makes Him the "chiefest" of the chiefs. He has total rule over our souls, after all, he redeemed us to Himself; He paid our way so to speak, and now He owns us. Oh that we might learn to own Him also, and make Him the Supreme Potentate of our souls, and the delight of our hearts.




Seeing the Lord in all aspect of the Shepherd should excite us to do more for Him. Our first duty is to trust Him, in all aspects of life. Dependency is the key factor in a successful Christian life, that is, dependency on the Lord, totally and unconditionally.

Source: shepherding