From Pasture to Pasture

“Jesus said… ‘Truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep…If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and come in and go out and find pasture.’” John 10:9

When I was a little girl living in Burlington, my sister and I would roam the neighborhood stopping in at one friend’s house, or playing outside at another friend’s house. Some days in the summertime we might be gone most of the afternoon. But we always knew to keep our ears open for Mother’s call for dinner. Sometimes we heard that same call from another mother, and sometimes we knew it was a call for us to come eat. How did we know? Because out of all the voices echoing throughout the neighborhood, we recognized our Mother’s voice. We had been intimately known to her and she was known to us since birth. Through our community as family, we had grown to know her distinct voice through our fellowship together.

Jesus makes the same point when drawing a beautiful analogy about the sheep knowing the voice of their shepherd. As He explained this comparison, He goes deeper calling Himself the Gate. Back then sheep were kept in a roughly constructed circular rock wall with thorns on the top of the wall to keep wild animals out. There was no door or gate, so the shepherd laid down across the opening to sleep. Nothing could endanger his sheep without passing over the shepherd. What a beautiful picture of how Jesus laid down His life so that we might be saved and protected from the evil of this world. Darkness might aggravate us, but it can never harm us if we stay in the enclosed protection of the Shepherd. He determines our comings and our goings, knowing the perfect time to allow us to move. If we are kept in the same set of circumstances, it must be because He sees danger outside of the wall, or circumstances on the landscape that will affect us in ways contrary to His will. He guides us with tenderness, thoughtfulness and complete knowledge of what lays up ahead for each of us.

There is great comfort in staying enclosed in the beautiful rock-wall of His protection. There is confidence in recognizing His voice when He is ready to move us into another place of protection. Just like the shepherds with their sheep, He is tender towards us, protective over us, and loving in dealing with us. He is knowledgeable of when and where to move us. He is for us in everything we do, and everywhere we go. He moves us in and out of seasons, but leads us through them. I love that life is made up of seasons, and eventually we will move out into other pastures. Sheep are prone to wander and harm themselves, and so are we without the protection and counsel of the Lord.

I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my loving eye on you. Psalm 32:8