By Jacqui – One of God’s Intercessors
I love setting out the nativity scene each year at Christmas. In the house where our kids grew up, we had a piano, and our nativity scene remained on top of the old upright piano for three years, once, without being put away. It wasn’t that I forgot about putting it away. It was that I needed to remember…to remember the shepherd.
Today, I picked up a prayer card packet, and on the first page, someone had written, “Today I asked the Lord to remind you that He is your shepherd. You’re safe with Him. Very Safe.” As an intercessor, God has taught me to listen well. I heard the scripture as it came quickly to mind.
The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul. Psalm 23:1-3 My LORD, my shepherd, was reminding me that he is always caring for me and leading me.
A shepherd is someone who watches over and protects the sheep. The shepherd would lay down his life for his sheep. Remember David? He began as a shepherd boy. Before he ever faced Goliath, he had already learned to protect his sheep. 1 Sam 17
When I am in Israel, I love to go to the desert. Each time, I am no less amazed than the first, for the desert in Israel is brown and dry in all directions. Sand and rock stretch out for as far as the eye can see. Winds whip across it and the Bedouins, who are still shepherds today, take refuge in the caves. If not for the shepherd, the sheep would wander aimlessly, lost in the vastness. Have you found yourself wandering aimlessly through life without clear direction? Are you in need of a shepherd?
On the night Jesus was born the shepherds saw the glory in the night sky as the angels celebrated! They had no idea the greatest shepherd of them all had just entered the world. We are the Lord’s sheep!
Acknowledge that the LORD is God! He made us, and we are his. We are his people, the sheep of his pasture. Psalm 100:3
Remember the shepherd near the Manger who witnessed the glorious night sky…remember, the young shepherd boy, David, who would become a man after God’s own heart…Remember, the Christ Child, the long-awaited Savior of the World. Dear friend, our shepherd is calling us to remember. “The LORD is my shepherd.”
Father God, let us see the shepherd in the nativity with new eyes this year. Let us remember how he cares for the sheep. Let us remember how the new born babe, Jesus, would one day lay down his life for our eternal salvation. Let us remember and pray. Amen.