Insightful Musings on the Scriptures
by
Raymond P. Sparre
Northwest University class of '67
Hello, dear dears.
I just came in from my jog amidst typical Oregon rain…a little more like drizzle this time.
Becki has called me to the breakfast table. But I’ve been laboring here with some other inspiration…which I think I had better reserve for another time. Lots on the list.
Have a blessed day.
Love, Dad/Ray.
There are times, more than others, when I see clearly the parallel God’s Word makes between humans and sheep. Both are kind of dumb. Both are weak. Both tend to wander off and follow their own simple minds. “We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way” (Isaiah 53:6). Jesus saw the picture clearly. “When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd” (Matthew 9:36). I have a hunch that you and I could easily have been in those crowds. Peter says this: “For you were like sheep going astray, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls” (1 Peter 2:25).
Question: How does this Shepherd of our souls do this shepherding work? For one thing, He imparts His Spirit that enlightens and guides the hearts and minds of those who are sensitive and seeking. And a large part of it is a matter of our listening (“My sheep listen to my voice…”) and keeping them (“…and they follow me.” John 10:27).
I don’t know about you, but I am amazed at how much education I have received over the years, how many great and edifying sermons I have heard, how many seminars and conferences I have attended, how much experience I have gleaned—and yet this heart of mine, if given too much freedom, still tends to stray and wander off course. There is only one solution, as I see it. And there is hardly a substitute for this solution, as I see it. The solution takes in the matter we addressed yesterday—PERSONAL DAILY DEVOTIONS. It is not enough to hear instructions. Until they become firm habits, they must be constantly re-heard, reviewed, re-thought, and re-applied in order to maintain personal REVIVAL. It is simply our natural disposition as being people who are LIKE sheep. And that’s what PERSONAL DAILY DEVOTIONS accomplishes if done with A HEART AFTER GOD with a diligence to “keep these instructions without partiality.” It requires staying close to the Shepherd.