Hungry for God: In Need of a Shepherd

“When He went ashore He saw a great crowd, and He had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And He began to teach them many things.”—Mark 6:34

Jesus sees us in our lonely, lost condition. Led astray by our own fleshly appetites and sinful cravings, we have wandered away from the fold of God. Seeing that we are guilty, shamed, and lost, He comes to us. Leaving the safety of the open country, He searches for us until He finds us, wraps His loving arms around us and directs us back to safe pasture by the loving discipline of His shepherd’s crook.

Today’s passage recalls the time when those who were desperate for the words of God flocked to hear Him teach. Already a celebrity in the community, Jesus didn’t despise the crowds—He had compassion on them, because they had no guidance in their life, no direction, caught in captivity to sin and self, and used and abused by many of the religious teachers of the day. He then taught them—taught them who God was and is, what it meant to know Him, to serve Him, and to love Him. He was the shepherd guiding them back to the safety of the pasture by His Words. As He Himself said,

“My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of My hand”—John 10:27-28.

There are those who come and try to speak to the sheep, but the sheep do not listen. As Jesus said,

“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers”—John 10:1-5.

But the people didn’t understand His Words, so He clarified and said,

“I am the good shepherd. I know My own and My own know Me, just as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to My voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd”—John 10:14-16.

He is our great Shepherd who has compassion on us as He sees us lost in the hills of sin and self! He speaks peace into our lives, gives us eternal life and continually directs us to walk with Him. How rebellious we are at our heart, and how often have we despised His shepherd’s crook! He does not mean to hurt or hinder, but to bring us to health and free from harm, whereby we can continuously delight in the pleasure of who He is!

Take heart, beloved! Let Jesus be your all in all and know that He loves you with an everlasting love! He is the Shepherd who gave His life for you, so that you might live. Let us then follow our faithful, loving Shepherd so that we may experience the joy of knowing and walking with Him both now and forevermore. Amen.