Jesus the Good Shepherd

I love the imagery of Jesus as the Good Shepherd. It continues to be one of the most consoling images of Jesus in my spiritual life. 

As I was praying with Psalm 23 recently, I began to realize a deep truth about who Jesus is as the “Good Shepherd”, and who He is not.

When I think about the relationship between a shepherd and the sheep, the image that often comes to mind is of this annoyed shepherd wrangling a bunch of dumb sheep. He pokes and prods at the sheep to point them in the direction he wants them to go, sometimes dragging them back with the hook of his shepherd's rod. Not a very pleasant relationship.

This is often how I am afraid Jesus will “Shepherd” me. That He will poke me and prod me with force to scare me into the direction I need to go. However, as I thought about this image, Jesus asked me “Emma, does that sound like me?”

And almost with a wave of relief, I realized, it was not. That sort of personality actually sounds like someone else, someone I don’t want to follow.

The enemy prods, the enemy pokes, the enemy instills fear into us; trying to scare us into a different direction then where we may be going and where Jesus may actually be leading us.

Our Good Shepherd is nothing like that. He leads us “by still waters”. He brings us to rest in green pastures. He calls out to us in peace, so that we, the sheep, know His voice and desire to respond.

I can trust the voice of the Good Shepherd. I can trust that He is a God of stillness, peace and restoration, not of anxiety, fear and force. 

Friends, go to the Good Shepherd today. Ask Him for rest, for peace, and for restoration. Ask Him to help you trust in His voice.