February 18, 2001
"He tends his flock like a shepherd:
He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart;
He gently leads those that have young."
Isaiah 40:11
The last few months have been very challenging for me emotionally and spiritually, I've wrestled to understand God's love and comfort like never before. This morning I saw this scripture differently.. I've read it many times but always focused on the last part of the verse... today what I saw more clearly is that God treats us as a shepherd does his flock. In particular that he carries us close to his heart. It seems a silly sight to me, a non-shepherd, to imagine a shepherd picking up his sheep and carrying it. I imagine shepherds doing more prodding with their rod and staff, so many sheep to keep your eye on and keep them moving in one direction. But... there must have been times when a sheep would get caught in something or injure themselves and couldn't walk as they normally would, in those times the shepherd would need to carry them so they wouldn't be left behind or left vulnerable. This morning I caught a glimpse that in these challenging times in my life that God has held me close to his heart. Not pushing and prodding me don 'he right path' but that he's carried me when I am hurting or when I felt too weak to go on.