Tuesday, January 13, 2009

He Gathers His Lambs

Jesus the Shepherd by Myung Bo
Jesus the Shepherd


Isaiah 40:11
He shall gather the lambs with His arm.


Our good Shepherd has in His flock a variety of experiences, some are strong in the Lord, and others are weak in faith, but He is impartial in His care for all His sheep, and the weakest lamb is as dear to Him as the most advanced of the flock. Lambs are wont to lag behind, prone to wander, and apt to grow weary, but from all the danger of these infirmities the Shepherd protects them with His arm of power. He finds new-born souls, like young lambs, ready to perish-He nourishes them till life becomes vigorous; He finds weak minds ready to faint and die-He consoles them and renews their strength. All the little ones He gathers, for it is not the will of our heavenly Father that one of them should perish. What a quick eye He must have to see them all! What a tender heart to care for them all! What a far- reaching and potent arm, to gather them all! In His lifetime on earth He was a great gatherer of the weaker sort, and now that He dwells in heaven, His loving heart yearns towards the meek and contrite, the timid and feeble, the fearful and fainting here below. How gently did He gather me to Himself, to His truth, to His blood, to His love, to His church! With what effectual grace did He compel me to come to Himself! Since my first conversion, how frequently has He restored me from my wanderings, and once again folded me within the circle of His everlasting arm! The best of all is, that He does it all Himself personally, not delegating the task of love, but condescending Himself to rescue and preserve His most unworthy servant. How shall I love Him enough or serve Him worthily? I would fain make His name great unto the ends of the earth, but what can my feebleness do for Him? Great Shepherd, add to Thy mercies this one other, a heart to love Thee more truly as I ought.

Image courtesy of All Posters

5 comments:

Maxine said...

I love that last line, because that is so much my prayer of late. A very sweet devotional.

Cherdecor said...

I LOVE this post! I have always loved lambs. They said of me when I was very young, "If they couldn't find Cheryl, just look in the pastures with the lambs, she would be chasing them."

I also had two lambs that I fed with Pepsie bottles that had nipples attached. I loved feeding those lambs.

I like to think about us being lambs and God taking care of us and loving us. It is a lovely thought.

Unknown said...

What humbling thought that our Great God cares for us, the weak and tough with all the same gentle and complete love.
This is a great post my friend!!

SmilingSally said...

How fortunate we are that He loves us.

Thank you for commenting on Johnny's blog.

TJ said...

That was beautiful. To know that He protects us from harm that we don't even know about. He is so gentle and kind with us. And He doesn't tell our secrets...