Scripture
27My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. 28I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one can snatch them away from me, 29for my Father has given them to me, and he is more powerful than anyone else. No one can snatch them from the Father’s hand. 30The Father and I are one.” John 10:27-30
Observation
Jesus is the Good Shepherd. He points out the the primary difference between those who are His sheep and those who are not is that his sheep know His voice and follow Him. Look at the disciples who, after many were offended and left in John 6, responded to Jesus saying they weren’t going anywhere because He alone has the Words of Life. These were His sheep. They chose to follow Him. Contrast this with the religious leaders who were offended by Jesus and chose to kill Him. They were not His sheep because they did not follow Him. Even when all the disciples (except for John) scattered at His crucifixion, the promise of Jesus remained true. The disciples could choose to walk away, as Judas did, but no one could snatch them away. In a world where the full brunt of the tyranny of Roman rule and religious power came down on Jesus who took our place, it didn’t come close to the power of being held in The Father’s Hand. Jesus took our sin, was separated from The Father, so you and I would never have to be!
Application
It’s not often I can recommend a movie, but I think you need to see the new "13 Lives" on Amazon Prime. It’s a theater quality movie directed by the great Ron Howard with A class actors such as Viggo Mortensen, Colin Farrell, and Joel Edgerton. You probably remember being at the edge of your seat when this true story played out back in 2018 as twelve boys and the coach of a Thai soccer team were stuck in the Tham Luang cave when an unexpected rainstorm trapped them in a chamber inside the mountain. They were entombed behind a maze of flooded cave tunnels and not even the Navy Seals could get to them. Then, a team of world-class divers volunteered and navigated through miles of dangerous cave networks to find the boys were miraculously still alive after almost two weeks. Now that they had found them they had to figure out how to get them out through an underwater maze that took six hours to navigate. There was one harrowing moment where the monsoon season kicked into high gear resulting in a flood of water and rock in the cave tunnels and one of the divers lost his grip on the life line. This life line was the only guide through the labyrinthine maze that took them from where the boys were stranded to the medical team on the other side. The water was rushing and murky and the camera work showed the diver frantically searching to grip his only means of getting him and his boy to safety. I won’t spoil what happens, but needless to say that moment stuck with me and came back to me as I read this morning’s promise from Jesus. Every day I get up it feels like the tide of evil is rising and the currents toward self and sin and away from my Savior are increasing. Skipping Daily Devos is no more an option than that life line was for the divers. I hear God’s Voice through God’s Word and He is guiding me through the labyrinthine challenges ahead. I need to keep my grip on Him so I can bring others to Him. Yet, here’s the ultimate comfort, that even when I lose my group, even when I fail, my Father will never let go of me. You’ll see this in the movie, but when the rescuer needs rescuing his source of help was, literally, a breath of fresh air.
Prayer
Thank You Jesus. You are my good shepherd. Every day I’m training my ears to hear You voice above the noise around me. I choose to follow You, to cling to You, to hang on every word You say today. I take a firm grip this morning and you help me navigate my way through a topsy turvy world where what was considered evil is now celebrated and what was considered good is now condemned. Just like the divers who laid down their lives to save these stranded boys you have called me to do the same. Let me not get discouraged and so overwhelmed with insurmountable task ahead that I forget You have already navigated these waters and You are my life line! “14 “I am the good shepherd; I know my own sheep, and they know me, 15just as my Father knows me and I know the Father. So I sacrifice my life for the sheep. 16I have other sheep, too, that are not in this sheepfold. I must bring them also. They will listen to my voice, and there will be one flock with one shepherd.” (John 10:14-15)
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