SHEEP WITHOUT A SHEPHERD

I went on a mission trip recently to a city for which I had no real love; which is not the right frame of mind to do ministry. I was going to that city simply because I was asked to go and I knew that the Lord would eventually give me a love for the city and the people who live in it.

I didn’t hate the city. There were parts of it that reminded me of my hometown and a neighboring city. I didn’t dislike the people; I like people everywhere. So I prayed about and confided with a friend of my lack of love for the city that I was in.

One day, I looked around the homeless shelter in which I was helping out at and saw something. There were people sitting around waiting for something to happen; perhaps knowing that not much was really going to change regarding their circumstance. And yet it did. All around me were people who looked to me like sheep; specifically sheep without a shepherd.

In the Bible, the prophet Jeremiah wrote; “My people have been lost sheep. Their shepherds have led them astray; they have turned them away on the mountains. They have gone from mountain to hill; they have forgotten their resting place.” (Jeremiah 50:6)

They were all sheep without a shepherd; searching for rest and hope. And even if I wasn’t the one to be a shepherd to these people, I knew the One who was. His name is Jesus who referred to Himself as the “Good Shepherd”.

“I am the good shepherd. I am the one who really cares for the sheep. The good shepherd is willing to die to save his sheep.” (John 10:11).

Jesus understood what I saw; he too saw people as sheep without a shepherd:

“But when He (Jesus) saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd.” (Matthew 9:36)

This same Jesus wants to be a Shepherd to those people as well as to you. He is a God who is passionately in love with us. He wants us to know that He DOES care what you are going through and where you are currently at.

And more than just changing your external situation (and He wants to and will), He wants to change the internal part of you that is really looking for contentment and peace as you struggle to make sense of your current situation.

He is waiting for you to respond to His mercy and grace that has already been extended to you through Jesus Christ. And you can; today. And it can make all the difference in the world as you look for hope in your present world. Let Him be your Shepherd.

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"Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved."