John 10:11-13 The Good Shepherd
“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd sacrifices his life for the sheep. A hired hand will run when he sees a wolf coming. He will abandon the sheep because they don’t belong to him and he isn’t their shepherd. And so the wolf attacks them and scatters the flock. The hired hand runs away because he’s working only for the money and doesn’t really care about the sheep“ (NLT).
“Shepherd” is defined as a person who herds, tends, and guards sheep. When we apply the word to a shepherd of people, we mean a person who protects, guides, or watches over a person or group of people. Jesus calls Himself the “good shepherd,” which I take to mean a shepherd who goes above and beyond what is necessary to protect his flock, and we are His flock, the sheep of His pasture. Jesus doesn’t just protect us, His flock, He provides an eternal home for us even as he protects, guides and watches over us while we are on the earth.
Jesus guards His flock when the “wolf” attacks--keeps them safe, and keeps them close to Him. Sheep are known to wander, and so do we. When Jesus sees us beginning to wander, He calls us back, but sometimes we are stubborn and keep going in the wrong direction. It is my belief that Jesus never stops calling us back even though we may be persistent about leaving the flock. He not only calls us back, but He also pursues us to draw us back to Him. In Matthew 18:12 we are told, “If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them wanders away, what will he do? Won’t he leave the ninety-nine others on the hills and go out to search for the one that is lost” (NLT)? Jesus, as the good shepherd, will go look for the one that is lost, but He will not leave the ninety-nine because He, being God, is omnipresent. He maintains protection over the ninety-nine while He searches for the lost one. My guess is that, at some point in time, each of us has wandered, and we have experienced the joy of His calling us back and the thrill of walking back by His side.
There is a point where we can reject Jesus, deny Jesus, and not be drawn to Him. If we reject Him and deny Him until death, then we are eternally lost. Please don’t let that happen to you. When you hear the call of the Lord, reach out to Him. He will be overjoyed and rejoice in the day of your returning.
John 10:7-10 Jesus Is the Gate
“So again Jesus said to them, ‘Very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and bandits, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved and will come in and go out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly’” (NRSVUE).
The sheep fold was a safe place for us, the sheep, and the safety was guaranteed by the gate. If the gate was in any way ineffective, the sheep would be in danger. By calling Himself the gate, Jesus is saying that He guarantees safety for the sheep. He even provides protection and assurance of good food when the sheep leave the protection of the fold—while we live our lives here on earth. We can live in this world of sin and still be guaranteed eternal safety by being certain that we always return to the fold with the perfect gate, Jesus.
We are told to watch out for others claiming to be the gate, for they are there only to steal the sheep, to take us away from the safety of the sheepfold. There is one thief in particular, understood to be satan, who comes to the sheepfold only to steal the sheep, to kill the sheep, or destroy them in any way possible. What a joy and feeling of safety and security we have because we have Jesus who came not only to keep us safe, but also to give us abundant life. In life, we have to be sure to go out and in only through the perfect gate, the gate of safety and abundance, Jesus Christ.
Hosea 12:6 Wait Upon the Lord(Conclusion)
“What are you waiting for? Return to your God! Commit yourself in love, in justice! Wait for your God, and don’t give up on him—ever!” (MSG)
Waiting upon the Lord is a privilege. If I am waiting, then I am expecting Him to do something or tell me something. I am waiting for God Almighty, the creator of the universe, the omnipotent, omniscient, and omni-present one to answer me. Yes, He will speak to me, but when I am waiting upon the Lord, it’s because He will take the time and make the effort to understand what I want or need, and He will answer according to what I ask. He listens to me, and He listens for me. He is eager to hear from me. Even when His answer is not what I expect or what I want, I know that it is the best answer, for He is omniscient and loving.
When we wait upon the Lord, we should do so in hope, the hope of God, not in hope as defined by men. To most men hope means, “I’d like to have that, and I wish I would get it, but I probably won’t.” Hope in God is much, much more than that. In his book, “One Word from God Can Change Your Life,” .page 272) Kenneth Copeland has this to say about hope: “The first thing we can learn about hope from that scripture (Hebrews 11:1) is that faith won’t do us any good without it. Hope serves as the blueprint for faith. Without it, faith has nothing to do. Hope is the plan that faith carries out. It’s the inner image-–the picture that the Holy Spirit paints on the inside of you, a picture that’s based on the Word of God.” When we wait with hope, we gain the confidence that God hears us, and faith that He will answer us.
We’ve learned that being quiet before the Lord, eliminating, as much as possible, the noise of the world and our own thoughts, opens our spirits to the voice of God. Waiting on God assumes that we have prayed and continue to pray. If we plan on hearing from God, we must make prayer a conversation and not a one-sided one. We must quiet our hearts, our minds, and our mouths, and we must purposely open them to Him to hear His still quiet voice. In other words, we must focus on God.
We’ve also learned that we must be patient, realizing that God does not work on our timetable, and adjust our timetable to His. This is one of the most difficult things for me. As an American in today’s society, I want and expect almost instant responses to my questions. Fast food is good when we are in a hurry, but it really doesn’t have the appeal to the pallet of the food that we patiently wait for at home or in better restaurants. Patiently waiting for God’s response makes it more sweet when we receive it.
David’s Psalms often begin in sorrow and end in joy, thankfulness, and trust in God. During the Psalm He goes back to his remembrance of past experiences when God had answered with love that worked through David’s life. Many are the scriptures that show us how to wait upon the Lord, and there are also many scriptures that show us the promises of our Lord that He uses to answer us.
I can think of three personal reasons to wait upon the Lord. First, we wait upon the Lord to learn what He wants us to do next. Second, we wait upon the Lord to give us the skills we need to accomplish the work we are assigned. Third, we wait upon the Lord for resolution of some personal need. I don’t claim that these are the only reasons to wait, but they are the primary personal ones. We also wait upon the Lord when we pray for our families, our churches, and our nation.
Wait Upon the Lord—it’s a great privilege!
In the waiting is the learning and the blessing!
Genesis 1:1--Revelation 22:21 Wait Upon the Lord(3)
“In the beginning Ged created the heavens and the earth…The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen”(KJV).
Obviously, it’s all there between Genesis 1:1 and Revelation 22:21. God’s Word says it all—why we should wait upon the Lord and how we should wait upon the Lord, but we don’t always have the time to read this entire beautiful book when we are waiting upon the Lord. This picture is of my grandmother’s Bible. It was the source and foundation of the life of Grace Fisher, my grandmother. Many of my memories of her picture her with her Bible in her hand. As can be seen from the picture, it was a well-used Bible with hand-written notes on many many of the pages. She was always believing and waiting on God for answers to life’s situations. For the remainder of this message I am going to simply choose some of the many verses in the Bible that pertain to waiting upon the Lord. I pray that you will discover one or several Words that will speak to you. In deference to my grandmother, all Scriptures are from the King James Version of the Holy Bible.
Proverbs 3:5,6 “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto your own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.”
Lamentations 3:25,26 “The Lord is good unto them that wait for him, to the souls that seeketh him. It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord.”
Psalms 27:14 “Wait on the Lord; be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord.”
Isaiah 40:31 “But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not grow weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.”
Psalm 37:7 “Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him: fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way, because of the man that bringeth wicked devices to pass.”
Psalm 62:1,2 “Truly my soul waiteth upon God; from him cometh my salvation. He only is my rock and my salvation; he is my defence; I shall not be greatly moved.”
Philippians 4:6,7 Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your request be know unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”
Psalm 130:5,6 “I wait for the Lord, my soul doth wait, and in his word do I hope. My soul waiteth for the Lord more than they that watch for the morning: I say, more than they that watch for the morning.”
James 5:11 “Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.”
Romans 8:25 “But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.”
A few words that stand out for me in the above Scriptures are these: trust, hope, quiet, rest, patience, and pray. A few more words that stand out for me are these words from the Lord and about the Lord: safety, shelter, inherit, deliver, mercy, and compassion. When I wait upon the Lord in the manner He expects, the rewards are tremendous.
Psalm 27:14 Wait Upon the Lord(2)
“Wait patiently for the Lord. Be brave and courageous. Yes, wait patiently for the Lord” (NLT).
Waiting sounds like a passive thing, but waiting for the Lord is anything but passive. The Psalmist tells us to “Be patient.” We can be patient and fret. We can be patient and worry. We can be patient and walk the floor. No, we can’t. Fretting, worrying, and walking the floor have nothing to do with the patience of those who follow Jesus. The Psalmist also tells us what we should be doing while we are being patient. We are to gather our strength and be brave and courageous. Being brave and courageous involves straightening our backs and preparing for whatever God provides. So how do we gather our strength?
The first and obvious way is to pray. No, I don’t mean the “Now I lay me down to sleep” prayers. I mean the ongoing conversations we have with our Lord throughout the day—those prayers we pray while we are driving the car or listening to music—those prayers we pray when a problem suddenly appears, and those prayers we pray when we see the hand of God at work. God appreciates and desires all our prayers, even the really short ones, “Help me, Jesus!” or Thank you, Lord.” He just wants to hear from us as often as possible. Remember, He created this entire universe for us, and He walked in the garden with Adam and Eve daily. His desire to hear from us has not lessened over the centuries.
Praying while we are waiting on God is vitally important, but if we are waiting for His help, our prayers must be two-sided. We have to take the time to listen. He placed the Holy Spirit inside of us as a counselor, so it is obvious that He wants to speak with us and help us. As mentioned in an earlier blog, we need to shut out the clamor of the world while we wait on God, but we also must shut out the clamor inside us that wants to tell God what to do and how to do it. I’m pretty sure that omniscient means that He is smarter than I am, so I need to let Him speak. Proverbs 3:5,6 speaks to this, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths” (ESV). When we take the time to listen, we must believe that He will answer. No maybes about it; He will answer, but we must also remember that we have different perspectives on time. It’s been said, “God is never late. His timing is perfect.” Sometimes it is hard to be patient while waiting on the Lord, but He expects us to exercise patience and not let doubt sneak in while we are waiting.
Prayer is certainly a good start, but God has provided other resources for our use while waiting on Him.
More to come next time.
