Basic HTML Version
The Sheep of His Pasture, July 20
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in
green pastures; he leadeth me beside the still waters.
Psalm 23:1, 2
.
As Jesus, the great Teacher, presents His lessons to be learned from the open
book of nature, He opens the eye of their understanding to reveal the attention that
is given to objects in proportion to the rank they occupy in the scale of creation.
If the grass of the field, which today is so beautiful, delighting the senses, [and]
is tomorrow cut down and burned, receives so great attention from God, how
much more will He not bestow upon man formed in His image. We cannot form
exaggerated ideas of the value of the human soul, and the attention given by Heaven
to man. He then gives the comforting assurance, “Fear not, little flock; for it is your
Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”
Jesus is the good Shepherd. His followers are the sheep of His pasture. A
shepherd is always with his flock to defend them, to keep them from the wolves, to
hunt up the lost sheep and carry them back to the fold, to lead them beside green
pastures and beside living waters.
I cannot neglect the great salvation that has been brought to me at such an infinite
cost to my heavenly Father, who “so loved the world that he gave his only begotten
Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
I will not dishonor my Redeemer to lightly esteem His sufferings, His trials, His
condescension, His sacrifice, His death, because He so loves us, He would Himself
become our sin-bearer. Oh, what love, what inexpressible love! He became a man of
sorrows, acquainted with grief. He died on the cross [as if He were] a transgressor,
that man might be justified through His merits....
The soul is through the Lifegiver capable of living through eternal ages, and man
is to take special care of the soul which Christ has purchased with His own blood.
With Christ is Omnipotence. He also is able to keep that which I have committed to
His trust against that day. If the preciousness of the soul has not been appreciated, if
its temple courts have been defiled with buyers and sellers, and with committing it to
the rule and indwelling of Satan in thought or in feeling, I would in deep earnestness
beseech you to make no delay, but come before God in sincere prayer without one
moment’s speculation or hesitation, and say, “O Lord, I have opened the door of my
heart to Thy worst enemy, and the worst enemy of my soul. I have acted as though I
could save my own soul, as if I could sin and then reform when I choose to do so;
but I find a power holding me in his keeping. Thou alone can save me that my soul
shall not be eternally ruined.... No longer will I withhold it from Thee. I dare not
trust it with any power but Thine.... I lay it at Thy feet. Thou Lamb of God, wash
my soul in the blood of the Lamb; clothe it with Thine own garments of purity and
righteousness (
Manuscript73, 1893
).
[216]
215