Part 2 (2/2)
Why, therefore, should we do ourselves this wrong-- Or others--that we are not always strong; That we are ever overborne with care; That we should ever weak or heartless be, Anxious or troubled, then with us in prayer, And joy and strength and courage are with Thee!
--_Richard Chenevix Trench_
CHAPTER THREE
[Ill.u.s.tration]
=”He restoreth my soul; he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.”=
David, the shepherd Psalmist, is doubtless thinking of the refreshment that comes to the soul from browsing or meditating in the green pastures and by the still waters of the Word of G.o.d, and of the exhilaration and inspiration that comes from being alone with G.o.d with an open Bible and on bended knee. Every true child of G.o.d knows the strength and blessing that comes from such fellows.h.i.+p and communion. ”Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall; but they that wait upon the +LORD+ shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint” (Isaiah 40:30, 31).
But the Psalmist is referring more particularly, perhaps, to the restoration of the soul from a spiritual lapse or backsliding, resulting from failure to ”lie down.” We well know from what we have read regarding the Oriental shepherd life, that the shepherd must needs be a physician as well as a guide. A sheep is a most defenceless creature. A cat, horse, cow or a dog will defend itself--a sheep cannot.
Sheep have a genius for going wrong. A sheep is said to have less brains than any other animal of its size. If lost, it cannot find its way back unaided. A dog, a cat, a horse can, but not a sheep. ”All we, like sheep, have gone astray.” If the Good Shepherd had not gone after us we would not have been in the fold today.
Have you ever looked into a sheep's eyes? They look for all the world like gla.s.s eyes. A sheep can see practically nothing beyond ten or fifteen yards. It recognizes persons by sound and not by sight. Jesus said, ”My sheep hear my voice; a stranger will they not follow, for they know not the voice of strangers.”
=_Traps for Falling_=
Palestinian fields were covered with narrow criss-cross paths over which the shepherd would have to lead his flock in seeking new pasture. Some of these paths led to a precipice or deep ravine over which a stupid sheep might easily fall to its death. From such dangers the shepherd had to guard his flock. Some sheep, however, being wayward by nature would take one of these criss-cross paths leading to danger and fall headlong into thickets or down ravines, where they would lie wounded, bleeding and dying. What does a stupid sheep know of ravines, precipices or haunts of wild beasts? That hill or valley seems to offer fair prospects and good pasture--but death lurks there. The sheep knows not. The shepherd would have to seek the lost, wounded sheep, and, finding it, bind up its wounds, reset broken limbs and restore its health.
It is said that if a sheep wandered into a stranger's pasture the finder could cut its throat and keep the carca.s.s, providing the shepherd did not come in time to save the sheep. Many times the shepherd arrived just after the sheep had been mutilated, and by care saved its life and restored it to health again. The sheep was again his own--it was ”restored.”
=_The Wandering Sheep_=
David is spiritually soliloquizing. He thinks of the tendency of human nature to err and stray like a sheep. ”All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way.” Man, too, has a genius for going wrong. ”There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.” No man is clever enough to guide himself through the devious ways of life. He needs G.o.d as a guide.
David recalls how tenderly G.o.d had dealt with him after his backslidings and how graciously and completely He had restored him to fellows.h.i.+p.
How gently Christ deals with the backslider! When John the Baptist temporarily wavered in his conception of the mission of the Christ, and sent his disciples to Jesus to ask, ”Art thou he that should come, or look we for another?” how tenderly Christ dealt with His forerunner! The circ.u.mstances in the case might have led us to expect harsh treatment.
John had seen the open heavens and heard the voice of G.o.d saying, ”This is my beloved Son.” In a special and miraculous way it had been revealed to John that Jesus was the Messiah, ”the Lamb of G.o.d, which taketh away the sin of the world!” The people had looked upon John as a prophet. All that he had said concerning the Christ they had believed, and now from the forerunner of Christ comes this message of doubt repeated to Jesus within the hearing of the mult.i.tudes. But that child of the desert had been incarcerated for some time in a narrow prison cell. No wonder the eyes of the caged eagle began to film, and the faith of the stern prophet began to waver. Other great men have wavered in their faith before John. David himself said, even though G.o.d had definitely promised that he should succeed Saul as king, ”I shall one day perish by the hand of Saul.” Elijah, after his great triumph over the four hundred prophets of Baal, sat down under a juniper tree, and full of fear because of Jezebel's threat asked disconsolately that he might die. No wonder then that, momentarily, the faith of John the Baptist was in the shadow. You and I have failed in faith amid circ.u.mstances less trying than those which surrounded John the Baptist in his dungeon.
=_The Gentleness of the Shepherd_=
How does Jesus answer John? Does He curse the doubter? No. That would not be like Him. He has never been known to do that. Not once, so far as we know, did he ever send a message of censure to a soul in the dungeon of darkness, doubt, and despair. We have seen Him blast, with the lightning of His eloquence, the false pride of scribe and Pharisee who stood before Him in haughtiness and scorn, but we never knew Him to say a harsh word to a creature that was sore stricken in soul. No, ”He will not break the bruised reed, nor quench the smoking flax.” No, He will not send a curse; He will send a blessing. That will be more like Him.
He will say, ”Go tell John again those things that ye do see and hear; the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the dead are raised, the poor are evangelized, and _blessed_ is he that shall not be offended in me.” Not a curse, but a blessing will He send.
How much like his treatment of us! Do we not remember when we first came to Him as our Saviour, how He forgave, freely and gladly, all our sins, and sent us on our way rejoicing? Do we not recall how shortly after, when we had sinned and spotted the clean white sheet of paper He had given us, that when we brought it back to Him all spotted with sin He freely pardoned, gave us another clean sheet, and, without upbraiding, sent us away, saying, ”Thy sins are forgiven; sin no more”? Yes, we recall it. We believe in the deity of Christ, not because of the metaphysical arguments that have been produced to prove it, no matter how elaborately stated or eloquently discussed; not because our library shelves are groaning beneath the weight of evidences of His deity; nor because theologians are said to have forced Him to that high eminence.
We believe Jesus Christ to be G.o.d because when we sinned and came asking pardon He freely forgave, and gave us a clean sheet of acquittal, saying ”Thy sins are forgiven; go and sin no more,” and then when we did sin again and brought back the sheet of paper all blotted over with sin and said we were sorry and again asked pardon, He freely forgave, and without chiding sent us on our way rejoicing. That is what makes us believe in Him as the Son of G.o.d and love Him with a love surpa.s.sing expression.
Poor wandering soul, have you fallen by the wayside? Have you become a wayward sheep? Have you wandered from the fold? Are you tossed about, wounded, sick and sore? Do you desire to come back again to the Shepherd's care? Come now, right now, while the throb of pa.s.sion is still beating high, while the deed of shame is recent; while the blot of sin is still wet; come now, say,
With all the shame, with all the keen distress, Quick, ”waiting not,” I flee to Thee again; Close to the wound, beloved Lord, I press, That Thine own precious blood may overflow the stain.
O precious blood, Lord, let it rest on me!
I ask not only pardon from my King, But cleansing from my Priest, I come to Thee, Just as I came at first--a sinful, helpless thing.
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