Wherever we find ourselves – the Good Shepherd is there.

Author and theologian Frederick Buechner described the way he saw God as a Shepherd this way…

Recalling a memory of a man taking care of sheep, he states, “Some of them he gave names to, and some of them he didn’t, but he knew them equally well either way. If one of them got lost, he didn’t have a moment’s peace till he found it again. If one of them got sick or hurt, he would move heaven and earth to get it well again.”

The metaphor helps us to understand why Christ gives Himself the title “Good Shepherd.”

He is the One who searches for the lost and calls each by name.  Those who hear his voice turn to Him, moving away from those places of worldly overwhelm, fear and lack.

For He tells us, “I am the Good Shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me.”

In the first moment of being – we are known.  And only in Him, receive what He alone knows of the Father.

However, many can only hear the voice of a seemingly wise and just world.

That voice moves the sheep toward a different path, tempting with treasures seen, felt and touched.  It can be very hard to discern the true voice of the true Shepherd among so many others. The Good Shephered warns that “the hired hand in the world is not the shepherd.”  So when the wolf comes, he abandons the sheep and runs away caring nothing for them. The wolf attacks, and the flock scatters (Jn 10:12).”

As Buechner tells us, “There is nothing that the world has to give us; there is nothing that we have to give to each other even, that ever quite fills us. But once in a while that inner emptiness is filled even so.”  Only the Good Shepherd can heal this emptiness, and fill the void.

Christ alone came to lay down his life for the sake of his sheep (Jn 10:17).

No one knew this truth more than King David.  He knew it so well that he wanted for nothing else.  Power, wealth and position would never satisfy his thirst.  Not when he knew what following the voice of the Good Shepherd promises.

In wisdom he prays,

“The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.  You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD forever (Ps 23).”

Wherever we find ourselves – the Good Shepherd is there.

With the old man waiting for the return of his wife after her treatment.

Present with the mother greeting her child for the first time.

Weeping with the sister who cries for the brother the world took away.

As Buechner contemplates, “Whatever else is withheld, the Shepherd never withholds himself.”

Upon hearing the Shepherd– we want for nothing else.

Our cup overflows.

We are filled.