The Bible uses many metaphors to describe people who are not believers in Jesus: Harvest fields (Matthew 9:37-38), fish caught in the net (Matthew 13:47), guests invited to a banquet (Matthew 22:10), and sheep—most often as lost sheep without a shepherd (Psalm 119:176; Isaiah 53:6; Matthew 18:12; Luke 9:36; 1 Peter 2:25).
Phillip Keller, a shepherd, is the author of A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23; he wrote that sheep must have a shepherd. They require more attention and meticulous care than any other livestock. Defenseless, endowed with neither natural defense nor attacking capabilities, they are helplessly vulnerable against predators. They’re slow, which makes them easy prey. They’re gullible, nearsighted animals (unaware of the threats around them) that must be told what to do and where to go or they’ll wander off into danger. They have no homing instincts. A dog or bird can find its way home, but a lost sheep is lost indeed. So the image of a lost sheep is one of grave concern and danger. In the end, a lost lamb is a picture of imminent and certain death.
What’s the big deal about lost sheep? Let’s say one lamb out of 100 wanders off. Any modern sheep rancher would simply write it off as a business expense. But for Middle-eastern shepherds, every sheep was valuable. Valuable enough for the shepherd “to leave the ninety-nine others in the wilderness and go to search for the one that is lost until he finds it” (Luke 15:4). The next snapshot is even more priceless: “And when he has found it, he will joyfully carry it home on his shoulders” (Luke 15:5).
Have you strayed from God? Are you lost? Your Shepherd has gone out on a search and rescue mission for you. When He brings you home, He will rejoice, for He has found you (Luke 15:6).
NLT 365-day reading plan passage for today: Exodus 5:1-23
More:
Why is Jesus our Good Shepherd? (Ezekiel 34:16; John 10:1-16).
Next:
The Bible says that we all are like sheep (Isaiah 53:6). In what ways are we like lost lambs? How are we different from sheep?
tom felten on February 4, 2012 at 9:15 pm
Love these thoughts, KT. We have a Shepherd who is calling to us . . . can we hear His voice? ““I am the good shepherd; I know my own sheep, and they know me, just as my Father knows me and I know the Father. So I sacrifice my life for the sheep. I have other sheep, too, that are not in this sheepfold. I must bring them also. They will listen to my voice, and there will be one flock with one shepherd” (John 10:14-16).
conmeo on February 4, 2012 at 10:26 pm
KT thanks so much, encouraging words on another dark for me. And Tom too. Praise God for men like you. As it is said” foBrethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.
He which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins. Comfort the feebleminded, support the weak, be patient toward all men.
Let us not … judge one another any more: but judge this rather, that no man put a stumblingblock or an occasion to fall in his brother’s way. We … that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak and not to please ourselves.
Charity … rejoiceth not in iniquity.
Pray for me….a sinner (and lost sheep)!
conmeo on February 4, 2012 at 10:33 pm
Thank you