“My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me.
I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish. No one can take them out of my hand.
My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one can take them out of the Father’s hand.”
John 10:27-29 (NAB)
Everyone knows Jesus calls those who hear His voice and follow Him, His sheep. We are sheep, but we are not caged sheep. We live in freedom, always moving in and out of new pastures. We are not restricted to a penned in area, but we willingly follow our Shepherd, by whom we are being led, fed and cared for.
Though some new pastures are harder to adjust to than others, the Lord leads us there for good reasons.
I grew up in the city of Chicago, with a concrete back yard, so I knew nothing about sheep growing up, but by studying, I have learned that sheep literally benefit by continually rotating into new pastures. They benefit nutritionally by changing varieties of grass, clover, and legumes to feed on. I never knew how essential it is for sheep to keep grazing in new pastures, and we were also not meant to stay in only one pasture.
It opened my mind to accepting that whatever pasture we find ourselves in, it was selected by our Shepherd, and is for our spiritual nourishment. Unfamiliar pastures may be very uncomfortable at first, but whatever pasture we are in, our Shepherd knows what we need and what we can handle. According to the words of Jesus, we are always being held in His Father’s hands. How could there be a more secure place to be than in the hands of God?
Jesus assured us that even when the thief tries to steal, kill or destroy, no one, meaning literally no one, can snatch us out of our Father’s hands. That sounds like rock solid security to me.
We spend most of our lifetime grazing from pasture to pasture, through the different phases of our lives. A new pasture may contain more of some fearful hills and lonely valleys than the previous one. The hills are high places or cliffs, where we have no where else to turn to, but the Lord always rescues us. The valleys are low places, those times when we feel abandoned and alone, but later, we find out that Jesus was there with us all along. In between the hills and valleys, are the open green pastures, which are times of refreshing when He nourishes our soul, and gives us periods of rest.
I can think of many stages in my own life where new pastures seemed impossible to adapt to, but I can also see how Jesus was with me, whether on that high cliff or in the lowest valley. He nourishes our souls in every pasture that He leads us through. We realize it when we look back at think about how the Lord brought us through a difficult time, and will do it again.
Whatever pasture we are currently in, our Shepherd is with us always. We are secure because He promised us that no one can snatch us out of His Father’s hand. We don’t have to look frantically for His Father’s hand, but merely remind ourselves that we are already in it.
With each new pasture He reveals new opportunities, new lessons, new gifts, and new levels of fulfillment, all which come from grazing in new pastures, and living the abundant life that Jesus spoke of. (John 10:10)
While we are safely held in the Father’s hands, led by the good Shepherd, we can move forward, not fearing the unfamiliar pastures, but anticipating more of His abundant nourishment, which He gives us to prepare our souls for eternity with Him.
Lord, help us to see the current challenges in our lives as a new pasture that you are leading us through, trusting that we are always your sheep, held in your Father’s hands. Amen
