the Third Week after Easter
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Daily Devotionals
Grace for Today
Luke 15:5
‘When he hath found it’
Read Ezekiel 34:1-31
Picture that poor, lost sheep. He has fallen over the edge of a high cliff on a dark, stormy night. Overhead he sees the terrifying storm of God’s wrath. The lightning seems to strike out at him, saying, ‘The soul that sinneth, it shall die.’ Below he sees the gaping jaws of hell opened wide to engulf him. He is losing his footing, slipping into hell. His very soul is terrified. That sheep is you and me. ‘All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way.’ We were all lost and ruined by the fall of our father Adam (Romans 3:12). We went astray as soon as we were born, speaking lies (Psalms 58:3). If left to ourselves, we would all surely perish. Silly sheep are helpless. They have no sense of direction. They have a will to roam and wonder, straying further and further away. But they have no will to return to the Shepherd.
Just when the sheep is ready to perish for ever, Christ finds his lost sheep! What does he do? Does the Shepherd say, ‘Now I have done all I can for you, the rest is up to you. You take the first step, and I will do the rest. If you will let me I will save you?’ Nonsense! Our dear Shepherd reaches down with the long arm of his almighty, irresistible grace and lays hold of his perishing sheep and ‘He layeth it on his own shoulders, rejoicing!’
Now picture the sheep. The Good Shepherd has the sheep on his own shoulders, holding its four legs securely in the strong hands of his grace. This is a place of rest for the sheep. All the weight and burden of his soul is on the Shepherd’s shoulders. And the sheep is secure. He is in the Shepherd’s hands and upon the Shepherd’s shoulders. He has nothing to fear (Deuteronomy 1:30-31; John 10:27-29). Nothing can hurt the sheep until it first destroys the Shepherd. At last, the great, all-sufficient Shepherd brings his sheep home rejoicing. In that saved sheep, he sees of the travail of his soul and is satisfied. Imagine that the Son of God rejoices in the salvation of sinners! This was the joy set before him, for which he endured the cross, despising its shame. Thank God for such a Shepherd as Christ is!
