The Great Shepherd by Editor

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Sep 16, 1897

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 23, No. 36.

The Great Shepherd

By Editor

Editorial

The Great Shepherd.—There is no vocation in life which develops more true tenderness and sympathy, more hardihood and courage, than that of an oriental shepherd. His flock becomes as his family.

David, the ancestor and a type of our Lord according to the flesh, and who wrote the twenty-third psalm, was a shepherd. He searched out the best feeding ground for his flock. He found for them the richest and most verdant valleys. In leading them to these places the pathway often led over rough hills and rugged mountains and stony paths. Here he manifested tender care for his flock. He led them slowly on account of the feeble ones. He bore the lambs in his bosom. He carried the bruised and wounded sheep upon his shoulder. And when he reached the shady side of some green-bordered lake or stream, he let them rest till fitted to resume their journey.

They were as his own kin. For them he risked his life. “Thy servant kept his father's sheep; and when there came a lion, or a bear, and took a lamb out of the flock, I went out after him, and smote him, and delivered it out of his mouth; and when he arose against me, I caught him by the beard, and smote him, and slew him.” I Sam. 17:34, 35, R. V. The record is not that the shepherd did this once, but whenever there came a beast of prey he risked his life to save his flock. Tenderness, patience, and kindness toward his flock, courage and fortitude in protecting and defending them, were ever manifest. As expressed by Jacob,—“In the day the drought consumed me, and the frost by night; and my sleep departed from mine eyes”—thus was the life of the shepherd, and identified with his sheep. How intimate, how dear, the relation!

“The Lord.”—He, says the psalmist, speaking by the Spirit of Christ and for every one who trusts, is my Shepherd. Not the lord Baal, but the great Jehovah, the Creator of heaven and earth. He has identified himself with the children of men, and every one may say, “We are the sheep of his pasture.” O, what a shepherd! How tender and kind and patient is he! “The bruised reed will he not break, the smoking flax will he not quench.” He will not cast aside the wounded, weary, stumbling sheep, worthless tho it seems. Nay, he will lift it upon his shoulder and carry it over the steep, rough places. He loves “with an everlasting love.” He “so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son;” he gave himself in that Son, for “God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself.” And “he that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?” Rom. 8:32. Yea; this is the Shepherd, the “good Shepherd,” that “giveth his life for the sheep,” when “the hireling fleeth.” The Lord—Jehovah—is his name. To Moses, another shepherd, the Lord thus revealed its meaning: “Jehovah, Jehovah, a God full of compassion and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy and truth; keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin.” This is the Lord; he is the Shepherd.

“My Shepherd.”—He is not simply a shepherd, or the Shepherd, or the great or good Shepherd merely; he is all these, but he is a personal Shepherd. Jehovah is my Shepherd, and I am one of his flock. He cares for me. He placed in jeopardy his life for me. He counted me as the lost sheep whom he left the glories of heaven to save. He is the Shepherd of others also, and for that we are glad, because he is ours. Reader, can you say, “Jehovah is

my Shepherd”? If so, you can also say,—

“I Shall Not Want.”—Why?—Because he can and will supply me. All power is his; he is “the Lord God omnipotent.” He made the earth, and stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in. “Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things, that bringeth out their host by number; he calleth them all by names by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power; not one faileth.” This is the power of our Shepherd. He is omniscient; he knows everything. “Great is our Lord, and mighty in power; his understanding is infinite.” “There is no searching of his understanding.” He is full of knowledge and wisdom. More than this, he loves with “an everlasting love.” “His mercy endureth forever.” He so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son. Now, given a great and good Shepherd who has all knowledge, and all wisdom to use that all knowledge, who loves his children in infinite love, and who possesses all power to do what he will, is it not true that the sheep of his fold “shall not want”? All that we need, the Shepherd will provide. “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.”

In All Places.—“He maketh me to lie down in green pastures; he leadeth me beside the still waters.” In the green pastures are we fed, and lie down satisfied in his goodness. By the still waters we rest. But not always in the green pastures and by the still waters does he lead us. The way leads over the rocky steeps of hard labor, through the thorny paths of trials and perplexities, over the burning sands of persecutions, under the thick storm cloud of the desolating tempest, in the wilderness where abound the demons of prey. But in all these places the Shepherd has preceded us, nay, he goes with us. His footprints may be found in every step of the way. The paths of persecution are marked with the blood drops from his thorn-crowned head and spear-riven heart. Yea, even down to the Dark Valley of the Shadow of Death the way often leads; but even there he does not leave us alone; for tho “I walk through the Valley of the Shadow of Death, I will fear no evil; for thou [the great Shepherd] art with me; thy rod and thy staff [the instruments of guidance, defense, protection, and chastisement] they comfort me.” God's blessed healing and strength are given in all places.

“At All Times.”—“He restoreth my soul.” Not once only does he restore the soul. Not alone in the green pastures and by the still waters, but “at all times,” daily. Our Shepherd is a “hiding-place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.” “When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue faileth for thirst, I Jehovah will hear them, I the God of Israel will not forsake them. I will open rivers in high places, and fountains in the midst of the valleys; I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water.” He will carry the lambs in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young. At all times, in all places, the great Shepherd is with the sheep.

“Paths of Righteousness.”—“He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness,” not because we desire it, not because we pay him for it; but “for his name's sake.” It is because he loves us, and the paths of righteousness will be all the way, at all times. O wonderful Shepherd, who would not rejoice to say, “For he is our God; and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand”? “Know ye not that Jehovah he is God; it is he that hath made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.”