Part 3 (1/2)

JANUARY The Nineteenth

_THE LOST SHEEP_

EZEKIEL x.x.xiv. 11-19.

And now, again, I am bidden to contemplate the gracious ministries of the Good Shepherd.

The Good Shepherd searches the ”far country” for His lost sheep. ”_I will bring them ... out of all places where they have been scattered._” He goes into the hard wilderness of cold indifference, and wasteful pride, and desolating sin, searching ”high and low” for His foolish sheep. And no place is unvisited by the Great Seeker! Every perilous ravine, where a sheep can be lost, knows the footprints of the Shepherd. And He knows my far-country, and He is seeking me!

And the Good Shepherd brings His wandering sheep back home. ”_I will bring them ... to their own land._” We return from the land of pride to the home of lowliness, from hard indifference to gracious sympathy, from the barrenness of sin to the beauty of holiness. We come back to G.o.d's beautiful ”lily-land” of eternal light and peace.

And what nutriment the Good Shepherd provides for the home-coming sheep!

”_I will feed them in a good pasture._” Our wasted powers shall be renewed and strengthened by the fattening diet of grace. Love shall be both host and meat! ”He will satisfy thy mouth with good things.”

JANUARY The Twentieth

_THE Pa.s.sING OF THE BEAST_

EZEKIEL x.x.xiv. 23-31.

When the Good Shepherd has charge of His flock ”_the wild beasts will cease out of the land_.” All beastly pa.s.sions shall be destroyed. The fair gardens of our souls shall no longer be ravaged by sleek pride, or fierce appet.i.te, or ravenous l.u.s.t. ”Thou shalt tread upon the lion and the adder, the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet.”

And the forces of nature shall be in friendly co-operation. ”_I will cause the shower to come down in his season._” We are to have mystic allies in sky and field. Nature sides with the man who sides with G.o.d. Our very garden becomes our helpmeet when we are cultivating the fruits of the Spirit. The heavens a.s.sume a friendly aspect when we are ”marching to beautiful Zion.” But when we are against the Lord all these forces appear to be hostile. ”The stars in their courses fought against Sisera.”

And we are to have a joyful a.s.surance of the companions.h.i.+p of our G.o.d.

”_This shall they know, that I, the Lord their G.o.d, am with them._” And in that precious a.s.surance every other treasure is found! Only be sure of that, and we shall walk about as kings and queens!

JANUARY the Twenty-first

_THE VALUE OF ONE SOUL_

MATTHEW xviii. 7-14.

What an infinite value the Lord attaches to one soul! ”And _one of them_ be gone astray!” I thought He might never have missed the one! And yet the Eastern shepherd says that out of his great flock he can miss the individual face. A face is missing, as though a child were absent from the family circle. When a soul is wandering in the far country there is an awful gap in the Father's house! Is thy place empty? Is mine?

And mark the pangs of the Shepherd's quest. He ”_goeth into the mountain and seeketh!_” The Eastern shepherd goes out in tempest, and in rocky ravine, or in th.o.r.n.y scrub that tears the hands and feet, he seeks and finds his sheep. And my Lord sought me, in stony and th.o.r.n.y places, in the darkness of Gethsemane, and in the awful desolations of The Hill.