"All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him." Isaiah 53:6 NAS

We are just like sheep aren't we? We wander around trying to get our own way. We easily drift away from the right path and then end up in the thicket all bound up with thorns and the smell of where we have been away from the Shepherd. Do you ever wonder why we stray so easily?

Before we knew Jesus as our Savior all we knew was our own way. All we knew was how to sin. We were born with the very nature of sin and we grow up in a world that says, "Just do it!" Just do whatever you want and please yourself. We are conditioned to think 'me' and 'my way' or you and the highway. We have all gone astray and have turned to our own way.

For some of us it seems we so easily walk away from doing what is right. Left to our own devises for too long and we then slowly drift back into our old ways. Thankfully we have been changed and have become new creations in Christ (2 Cor. 5:17). We have put on the newness of Jesus Christ and been redeemed from our sins. The great shepherd saw that we were headed for the slaughter of hell and by His love we were ransomed from the fiery death that awaited us.

As sheep we had one destiny and that was slaughter. Psalm 49:14-15 says, "As sheep they are appointed for Sheol; Death shall be their shepherd; And the upright shall rule over them in the morning; And their form shall be for Sheol to consume, So that they have no habitation. But God will redeem my soul from the power of Sheol; For He will receive me."

King David knew a little about sheep, just a little you know since he grew up as a shepherd herding sheep and tending to his own flock. He knew how must sheep stray. When you are a shepherd you love the sheep. The sheep become personal, very personal to the shepherd. So personal that they really do know the shepherds voice.

We had strayed away from the great shepherd of our souls. We took the 'me' course and the 'my' way path. The great shepherd knew us and how we would go our own way, yet His everlasting love for us was so intense that He came after us. He saw that we were rejects and full of blemishes. He is the perfect picture of a loving shepherd with one purpose to seek that which is lost and bring it home to Himself.

We were given an example of this in Matthew 18:11-12 where it says, "["For the Son of Man has come to save that which was lost.] "What do you think? If any man has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go and search for the one that is straying?"

We were the joy set before Him at the cross. Now we are His sheep forever. In 1 Peter 2:25 it says, "For you were continually straying like sheep, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls." We have returned because He pursued us with unconditional love that drove us back into the fold.

We were once under the evil hireling who only wanted to see us slaughtered. Because of our iniquities we were completely deserving of the wrath of eternal destruction away from the good shepherd. Thanks be to His name for He has said, "I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep (John 10:11)." Also He says, "I am the good shepherd; and I know My own, and My own know Me (John 10:14)."

He has sealed us into His pasture and He will carry each one of us His sheep to His kingdom. Praise Him today for we know that we have eternal life and will spend forever with the lover of our souls.

In His Fold -Forever,
Adam