TUESDAY 7th
Psalm 100
NIV (v3) ‘Know that the LORD is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.’
ESV (v3) ‘Know that the LORD, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.’
We return to the same psalm as yesterday, I love this verse, it is a verse that encourages us as to who God is and who we are in our relationship with him. He is the LORD God, he is the Creator, ‘it is he who made us’, it is he who owns us, ‘and we are his; we are his people and the sheep of his pasture.’
Stop for a moment and give thanks from your heart that God has made you, this means that you are unique and special in the eyes of God, you don’t have to try to be someone else or try to be like someone else, be yourself for that is who God made you to be.
Stop and give thanks that God not only made you, but that he has called you by his grace, he has saved you and caused you to be a part of his family.
Stop and give thanks that you can say that because you know the Lord as your Shepherd, that you are a sheep in his pasture, a sheep that is under his care! That means that we are in the safest pasture and under the careful and watchful eye of the greatest of all Shepherds!
Stop and give thanks that God knows all about you, so much that he is aware of every situation and circumstance that you go through—even now as you are reading this you may be going through a difficult patch, remind yourself that the Shepherd knows, he daily scans or surveys the flock and comes to tend and to care.
What a great Shepherd, and what a great privilege to be in his flock, sheep together, in one-fold, under one Shepherd.
Sadly, there are those we know of who have wandered, perhaps to use a phrase they thought the grass was greener on the other side, like the prodigal son in Luke 15, they have left the Fathers house to go and to do their own thing, I don’t know how many watch the TV programme ‘Our Yorkshire Farm’ but in a recent episode it showed them going off into the hills and the moors to look for some sheep that were missing, they had done the shearing, and some had failed to be collected and so they needed to find them to bring them home to tidy them up. They went and searched until the sheep were found, it reminds us again of Luke 15 and the parable that Jesus gave of the sheep that was lost and of the shepherd that searched till he found it. It may be as you are reading this devotion, that you are one of those lost sheep, you have wandered from the fold of the great Shepherd, you have become lost in the mountains or on the moors of this sin sick world, the Shepherd is seeking you out, he is longing for you to return to the safety of the sheepfold, come home, come back to the Shepherd, and if you are reading this and have those on your mind that you know have wandered, maybe family members, friends, don’t give up hope, keep praying and trusting, the Good Shepherd is out and about looking for the sheep that have strayed, still looking for those that are lost, ready when they are found or willing to be found to pick them up and to carry them back to the fold.