Latest / Reformed Thinking / The Sheep and Their Shepherd (John 10:27) | Charles Spurgeon

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The Sheep and Their Shepherd (John 10:27) | Charles Spurgeon · Reformed Thinking

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Welcome to Reformed Thinking. I am so thrilled you were
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joining us for today's Deep Dive.
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It is great to be doing this one for sure.
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Yeah. So I want you to think about the
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last time you updated your resume or maybe sat in a job
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interview. Oh.
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Boy, those are always fun, right?
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And when they asked you to describe yourself, you probably
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used words designed to project absolute competence.
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You know you called yourself a self starter.
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A leader. Yeah, a leader, an independent
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thinker capable of handling any crisis.
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Maybe you even use like an animal.
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Metaphor like having the eye of an eagle for detail.
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Yes, or the heart of a lion in negotiations.
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We really love those flattering mirrors.
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But I can guarantee you one thing.
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What's that? You did not walk into that
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interview, look the hiring manager in the eye and say I am
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a sheep. No, absolutely not, you would be
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laughed right out of the room. Oh for sure.
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Modern culture praises self-reliance.
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It praises brute strength. We want to be categorized as
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capable, self-sufficient, and entirely in control of our own
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destiny. Right, But then you step into
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the world of biblical metaphors. Specifically, we are looking at
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the way Charles Spurgeon unpacks John chapter 10, verse 27 today.
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That is our main source for this deep dive.
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And suddenly, that flattering, carefully curated mirror is
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completely shattered. We're looking at a description
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of humanity that is, well, quite honestly, it's an absolute blow
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to the ego. It is the absolute definition of
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a humbling reality check. OK, let's unpack this.
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Being compared to sheep is not a compliment in any sense of the
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word. Not at all.
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We try to hide our frailty, but this metaphor drags it right out
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into the open. I mean, sheep lack basic
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survival instincts. We really do.
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They're described in the text as silly, frail, and entirely
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unable to provide for themselves.
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There's this thing if a sheep falls over on its back in a
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certain way, shepherds call it being cast.
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Yes, cast. Sheep.
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It literally cannot write itself.
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It will just lie there, feet in the air, until it dies.
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Or, you know, until a shepherd comes along to flip it back
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over. And that is our spiritual
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equivalent. Wow.
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Yeah, that lack of instinct is a crucial starting point.
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Modern culture tells you to pull yourself up by your bootstraps
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right constantly. It tells you to fix your own
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problems and to project confidence even when you are
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just, well, falling apart. Think until you make it.
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Absolutely. However, the biblical text
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insists we boast in our weakness.
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Acknowledging our lack of stamina and our lack of
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discretion is the very first step to receiving any kind of
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care. You have to admit you need help
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first. Yes, we have to admit we are
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prone to wandering, prone to being cast before we can even
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begin to understand why we need a shepherd.
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I want to push back on that for a second though.
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Oh sure, go ahead. If I am told that my spiritual
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standing is equivalent to a frail, silly creature that
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cannot even flip itself right side up, doesn't that risk
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creating a sense of fatalism? What?
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Do you mean? Like if I am that useless, why
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even try to do anything? I see that is a very common
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reaction, but it misses the beautiful mutual relationship
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established in the text. OK, lay that out for us.
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The weakness of the flock is not meant to produce despair.
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It is the canvas on which the strength of the shepherd is
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displayed. The text points out that there
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cannot be a flock without a shepherd, nor can there be a
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shepherd without a flock. They are the fullness of each
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other. That is a fascinating dynamic.
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They complete each other's roles.
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They do think about the attributes of the shepherd.
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His immense strength exists specifically to guard against
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the prowling wolf. And the warring lion.
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Yes, His infinite wisdom exists to guide the giddy and the dull.
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If the sheep were strong, they would not need a guard.
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That makes sense. And if they were inherently
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wise, they would not need a guide.
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Your very weakness becomes the undeniable reason the Shepherd
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steps in. The Church is the fullness of
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Him that fills All in all. We rejoice to receive grace for
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grace. So acknowledging the weakness is
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what unlocks the access to the strength.
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That is a great way to put it. That brings to mind the imagery
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of traveling through a barren wilderness, which is so vivid in
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the source material. That's the wasteland imagery,
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yeah. We are described as travelers
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walking through a desolate wasteland where the soil yields
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neither food nor water. Without bread dropping straight
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from heaven and water flowing from the living rock, the sheep
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simply perish. They have 0 means of generating
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their own sustenance. None at all.
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Which highlights how this whole metaphor strips away human
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pride. You cannot be arrogant when you
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are entirely dependent on bread falling from the sky just to
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survive the next 24 hours. No, you would be incredibly
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grateful. Right.
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Only those who delight in the Valley of Humiliation can truly
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appreciate the green pastures and still waters, the great and
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the mighty of this world, the ones who lift their heads high
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and claim honor for their own achievements.
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They will not find peace or rest here.
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Because they refuse to be sheep. Yes, this provision is reserved
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for the lowly ones who feel taken down in their own esteem.
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That raises a massive question for me.
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What's that? If we are genuinely this frail,
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this silly, and this prone to wandering into danger without a
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second thought, why would a divine omnipotent being want us?
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That is the $1,000,000 question. What is the ROI, the return on
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investment on a sheep? It feels entirely
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counterintuitive to how we value things in our economy.
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How did the Saints come to belong to this glorious Shepherd
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in the 1st? Place that takes us to the
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concept of ownership, and the source breaks this down into 4
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distinct aspects. Let's go through them.
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The first reason the shepherd owns the sheep is sovereign
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choice. Before the world's were made out
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of all the rest of mankind, certain persons were selected.
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OK, the divine mind knew the human race would fall and become
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completely unworthy, but He exercised the sovereign
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prerogative to have mercy on whom he would have mercy.
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Out of his own uninfluenced will.
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Yes, out of his own absolute will, he made a choice and said
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these are mine. And the incredible security that
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offers cannot be overstated. Think about human nature.
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We prize what we have long possessed.
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Oh. Absolutely, if you.
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Buy a cheap watch yesterday and lose it today.
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You might be annoyed, yeah, but you will not lose sleep over.
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It no, you just buy another one, right?
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But if you have a family heirloom, a long held patrimony
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that has been in your possession for decades, you will turn your
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house upside down to find it. You will not willingly part with
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it. The text states, Sheep of
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Christ, ye shall be his forever, because ye have been his from
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ever. The sheer length of this
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possession, stretching back before time itself began,
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guarantees its permanence. He did not just acquire the
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flock on a whim last week. It was an eternal decree, yes.
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Here's where it gets really interesting.
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The second reason for ownership is that the sheep were a gift.
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A gift from the Father. Right.
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They were a love token from the Father to the Son.
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Jesus frequently says things in the Gospel of John.
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Like as many as thou has given me, the Father separated this
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specific flock from among men and presented them to the Son as
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a gift. He committed them into his hand
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as a sacred trust. Let us analyze the psychology of
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a gift for a minute. OK, I love this part.
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When you receive something from someone you deeply care about,
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the intrinsic monetary value of the object becomes completely
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irrelevant. It doesn't matter if it cost a
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dollar or $1000. Right.
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The source uses a delicate poem about never casting away a faded
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flower if it came from someone who loved you.
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That imagery is so, so striking. The flower itself is dead.
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It is faded. It is worth absolutely nothing
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on the open market. But because of the hands that
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gave it, you press it into a book and keep it forever.
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I love that analogy, it's so hard.
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Even if the sheep are of small intrinsic worth, which we
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already established, they are being frail and silly.
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Their association makes them exceedingly precious to the sun.
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They are a proof of the confidence the father reposed in
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the son. And a pledge of the honor that
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shall be done to him. And we can push that thought
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further. If the Father entrusted you to
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the Son as a token of divine ardor, the absolute safety of
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that transaction is guaranteed. Because he wouldn't lose a gift
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from the Father. Absolutely not.
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The infernal lions cannot rend even the meanest, weakest lamb
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from His grasp, while Christ stands defending His own.
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He will protect them from the lion and the bear.
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He will not suffer the least of them to perish.
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Because to lose 1 would be to lose a love token from the
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father. Yes.
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So we have sovereign choice and we have the gift from the
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Father. But there is a third reason for
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ownership, and this one involves a massive, costly transaction.
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The purchase. The sheep were bought with a
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price. Let's be honest, we sold
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ourselves for naughty for absolutely nothing.
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We gave ourselves over to sin for cheap thrills.
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I mean, yes, that is spot on, but we were redeemed with
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precious blood. The source brings in two
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striking biblical analogies to illustrate the immense value
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placed on something acquired through extreme risk and
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sacrifice. First, it mentions King David
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refusing to drink the water from the well at Bethlehem.
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I want to make sure the listener understands the context of that
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story because it is wild. It really is an intense story.
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David is hiding in a cave surrounded by his enemies, the
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Philistines, and they have garrisoned themselves in his
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hometown of Bethlehem. Right, they control the area
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completely. So he gets incredibly thirsty
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and just mutters out loud. Oh, and someone would give me a
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drink of the water from the will of Bethlehem.
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He wasn't even commanding them to do it.
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No, just wishing aloud, but three of his mighty men hear
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this. They draw their swords, break
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straight through the enemy lines, draw the water, fight
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their way back out, and hand it to Him.
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And David refuses to drink it. He pours it out on the ground
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before the Lord. To a modern mind, that seems
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terribly ungrateful. These men risk their lives.
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It seems like a waste. But David's reasoning was that
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he could not drink it because it was essentially the the blood of
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men who went in jeopardy of their lives.
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It was too precious a draft to consume.
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It had to be given to God. The second analogy is Jacob
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giving his son Joseph a special portion of land above his
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brothers. Another great example.
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Jacob valued that specific plot of land immensely because, as he
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told Joseph, he took it out of the hand of the Amorite with his
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sword and with his bow. He fought for it in bloody hand
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to hand conflict. It was not just inherited, it
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was 1. Both of those analogies map
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directly onto the shepherd. He views the sheep through the
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lens of his own agonizing sacrifice.
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The price of blood. Yes, when the Savior looks at
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the face of every St. He sees the memorial of His
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bloody sweat in the Garden of Gethsemane.
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He sees His extreme agonies at Golgotha.
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He took the sheep out of the hand of the enemy as a victor.
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But a victor who was brutally slain in the process?
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If he suffered in your stead, justice demands that he keeps
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you. There is a massive theological
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mechanism at work here. It is the bedrock of the whole
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concept. To suggest Christ would suffer
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for a sheep, buy it with his own blood, and then allow it to be
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cast into the pit borders on blasphemy, according to the
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source. Because where is the justice if
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the substitute bears the guilt and then the person bears it
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too? Where's the mercy if punishment
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is executed twice for the same offense?
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It is a staggering realization. If he bought you with a price,
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he will have you. He will not suffer any foe to
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take you out of his hand, because the receipt has been
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paid in blood. That naturally transitions into
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the 4th aspect of ownership, which is effectual grace.
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Right, the actual gathering of the flock.
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The text points out that even though the sheep were chosen in
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eternity past, given by the Father and bought by the blood
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of the Sun, they still went astray in their actual lives.
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We were blind slaves. Sporting with death?
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Yes, completely unaware of the crown ordained for us.
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Sporting with death. That is such a chilling,
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accurate phrase. We did not know the Father's
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love had settled on us. We were just living our lives
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playing near the edge of the Cliff.
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So the Shepherd had to come capture us.
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He did not just open a gate, put up a nice sign and wait for us
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to wander in on our own. No, sheep don't do that.
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The source visualizes the shepherd actively tracking
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devious footsteps through bogs, miry places, and mountains of
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vanity. He tracks us through our youth.
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Through our stubborn adulthood. Until with sacred might, he
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grasps the sheep, lays it on his shoulder, and carries it home.
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He defeats the enemy, takes the prey from the mighty, and
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delivers the lawful captive. He breaks the gates of brass and
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cuts the bars of iron asunder to set his people free.
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And what is beautiful about this capture by grace is the
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psychological response it produces in the sheep.
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It does not result in a begrudging, forced March.
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No, it results in a cheerful, willing surrender.
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Yes, the text shares this brilliant anecdote about Francis
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de Sales to illustrate this. Oh, the piece of wood in the
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pail. Yes.
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So he was walking down the street and saw a young girl
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carrying a heavy pail of water on her head, and right in the
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middle of the water she had placed a piece of wood.
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It seems strange at first glance.
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When he stopped and asked her why she did this, she told him
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it was to stop the violent motion of the water to keep it
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from spilling over and wasting it.
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She walked over the rough cobblestones.
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What's fascinating here is the application of that physical
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principle to the human soul. We are constantly agitated.
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Our emotions, our anxieties, our fears, they slosh around inside
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us, spilling over and creating chaos.
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Oh true, we are called to place the cross of Christ in the
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center of our hearts to check the movement of our restless
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affections and grievous troubles.
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Just as that piece of wood stabilized the water by adding a
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solid center of gravity, the cross stabilized analyzes the
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believer's heart amidst the chaotic walk of life.
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That is such a better analogy than just telling someone to
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calm down. It gives you an actual mechanism
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for. Peace.
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It is like the gyroscope in a modern smartphone camera.
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Your hands might be shaking wildly, but the gyroscope
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physically adjusts the lens to keep the picture perfectly
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steady. That is a great modern parallel.
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The cross is the gyroscope in our chest.
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Because of that stabilization, we willingly give him our
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bodies, our souls, our talents, our faculties.
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We belong to Him. And frankly, we would not wish
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to belong to ourselves even if we could.
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Being our own master was what caused the water to spill
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everywhere in the first place. OK, so we have established A
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proprietor. We've investigated how He owns
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the flock through sovereign choice, the Father's gift, the
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transaction of blood, and the capture of effectual grace.
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Now we look at identification. Right.
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If there are millions of people in the world and countless
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flocks of different ideologies and beliefs, how does the
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shepherd physically mark his flock?
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What are the anatomical marks? The first mark, according to the
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text, is on the ear. My sheep hear my voice.
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That mark on the ear is not a physical plastic tag like you
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see on a farm. It is the capacity for spiritual
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perception. But I want to distinguish
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between hearing and listening because those are two very
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different biological and psychological processes.
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Absolutely. In Christ's day, a great many
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people heard his physical voice. The literal sound waves hit
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their eardrums. But they did not hear it in the
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way intended. They heard the hollow sound but
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completely missed the hidden sense.
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They would not hearken or give heed.
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They might search the scriptures.
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They might get as far as intellectual curiosity or
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literary criticism would allure them, but they would not come to
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him to have life. The text makes it clear that the
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Holy Spirit has to open that the inward heart to receive the Word
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as a divine summons. When the gospel comes as
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Christ's gospel, it comes as a Fiat, a royal decree that
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commands an internal awakening. I think of it like biometric
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voice recognition on a modern banking app.
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Oh, interesting. Anyone can speak into the phone
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and the microphone will pick up the sound, but the vault only
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unlocks when it recognizes the specific mathematical frequency
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of the true owner's voice. My voice is my password, yes.
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The sheep know the voice so well they can tell it from strangers.
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That recognition instinct is vital, especially when it comes
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to distinguishing the voice of the shepherd from other
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religious noise. The text points out that the
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true child of God knows the gospel from the Law.
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That's a huge distinction. And this is not figured out by
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memorizing catechisms or passing an exam on theological books.
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There is an instinct of the regenerate nature that is far
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more trustworthy than mere intellectual study.
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Let's clarify the difference between the law and the gospel,
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because it is easy to get those tangled up.
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The Law says do or die. It demands perfection and offers
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punishment for failure. The gospel says believe and
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live. It offers a substitute who
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achieved perfection on your behalf.
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And the regenerate nature instinctively knows which is
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which. It recognizes the joy bells of
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the Gospel over the death knell of the Law.
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I love that phrasing so much. Joy Bells versus death knell.
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It perfectly captures the emotional resonance of the two
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covenants. The text gives a highly
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practical example of this discrimination at work in a
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church setting. Right, the minister example.
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Yes, you could have a fluent, charismatic minister with
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beautiful rhetoric preaching up the dignity of human nature and
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the sufficiency of man's reason. Sounds like a.
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Popular guy. A feeble, uneducated Christian
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will listen to that polished speech and say it is very
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clever, but there is no food for me in it.
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My soul is starving. Because it's just hollow sound.
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Right then you could have a minister with a faulty gift of
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utterance, perhaps even incorrect grammar or a stutter.
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But if the message is full of Jesus Christ, the instructed
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Christian will say, never mind the platter the meat was brought
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on. It was marrow and fatness to my
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soul because I could hear Christ's voice in it.
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That brings to mind the observation of hundreds of lambs
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and mothers mixed together in a massive field.
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Oh, Spurgeon's story about the two flocks?
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Yeah. He writes about seeing 2 massive
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flocks mixed. Up.
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To a human observer, trying to allot the proper lamb to each
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mother would be a mathematical nightmare.
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It would take all day to sort them out, but.
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Instantly, without any confusion, the mothers and Lambs
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find each other. They recognize the specific
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bleat, the specific frequency of the voice amidst the noise of
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hundreds of others. We see this play out in daily
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life. You go out into the mixed
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company of the world every single morning.
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The factory floor. The corporate office.
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The Stock Exchange, the grocery store, you are mixed in with all
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sorts of people holding all sorts of worldviews and it seems
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like total chaotic confusion. That that confusion is only
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temporary. When the master calls, the true
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flock naturally separates. They know their master's voice
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and a stranger they will not follow.
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They head to their own home. Which leads to a really sharp
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warning regarding how we consume teaching and preaching.
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The preacher is described as a mere speaking trumpet.
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There is nothing inherently magical in the minister.
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It is only Christ speaking through them that does any good.
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The text warns against focusing on the minister's style, their
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grammar or their physical gestures instead of focusing on
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the master's message. The advice given is to use a
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mental sieve. As a listener, you must discard
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all the chaff of human rhetoric, the fancy vocabulary, the
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dramatic pauses, and keep only the pure wheat of Christ's
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voice. You ignore the Speaker's livery.
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Yes, the outward appearance and style should be ignored in favor
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of the Master's message. The ultimate goal of a believer
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listening to a sermon is to hear Christ's voice drowning out the
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voice of the human instrument completely.
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So we have the mark on the ear. The sheep hear the voice, but
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hearing is passive. You can hear a fire alarm and
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stay in your bed. Right, you have to move.
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The text introduces the second anatomical mark of the flock,
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the foot. They follow me.
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This mark on the foot indicates action, trajectory and
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direction, and a crucial distinction is made right away.
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Sheep are gently LED. They are not harshly driven.
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You drive cattle with whips and shouts.
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But you lead sheep by walking ahead of them.
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They follow him as the captain of their salvation, trusting the
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strength of his arm to clear the thorny path for them.
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And they follow him as their sole teacher.
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This means outright rejecting the decrees of human councils or
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conclaves if they contradict Him.
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If Christ has said it, it is enough.
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If not, it is no more than the whistling of the wind.
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So what does this all mean for a Tuesday afternoon?
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How does the mark of the foot actually change behavior?
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Well, the text uses this incredibly vivid, visceral
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imagery of placing one's foot strictly where the pierced foot
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of the Savior previously trod. You look down at the dirt, you
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find the footprint, the print of the foot that was literally
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pierced with the iron nail, and you put your own foot down right
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inside that mark. Then you look for the next one
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and you follow that specific blood stained track all the way
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to the throne. That imagery demands absolute,
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meticulous obedience. The text offers a very sharp
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critique of Christians who try to categorize commands.
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Treating certain commands as massive and unbreakable while
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treating others as non essential.
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It challenges the twisted logic that says, well, the Lord
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commands this specific action, but it is not essential for my
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salvation. I'm already going to heaven, so
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I will let it lie in abeyance. I'll just ignore it.
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Let's push back on that non essential mindset because it is
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everywhere today. People say don't sweat the small
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stuff. God looks at the heart, right?
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But the argument presented here is that if love rather than fear
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of punishment dictates your actions, you will study the
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shepherd's wishes and keep his smallest precepts.
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If you only obey to avoid hell, you will only do the bare
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minimum. But if you obey out of love, the
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minimum is no longer the goal. The text uses the analogy of a
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healthy marriage to illustrate this.
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It might not be strictly legally essential for a wife to study
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her husband's specific tastes or consult his minor wishes just to
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prove she is legally married to him.
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Her average certificate proves that.
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But love constrains her to strive to please him in the
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small details of daily life, and vice versa.
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Right. If my wife loves a specific type
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of coffee and I intentionally buy the brand she hates just
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because buying the right coffee isn't essential to keeping our
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marriage license, that reveals a massive problem with my heart.
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I am technically married, but I am acting like a hostile
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roommate. That is a perfect modern
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parallel. After the choice of Christ has
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been fixed on you, a sacred, consuming passion should put you
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on the alert to wake at the faintest sound of His voice.
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You do not just follow the big major commands like do not
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murder. You follow Him in the little
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things, taking care of the smallest precepts unto the end,
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breaking the least of the commandments, and teaching men
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so makes one least in the Kingdom of heaven.
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The footprint is highly specific.
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The mark on the foot is just as vital as the mark on the ear.
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They hear the voice and they actively place their feet in the
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prints. That transitions us to the final
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major theme of our discussion today.
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We have looked at the brutal honesty of the sheep metaphor,
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the mechanisms of ownership and the physical marks of
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identification on the ear and the foot.
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Now we look at the ultimate privilege of the sheep, and the
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privilege is found in a very short three word phrase.
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I know them. If we connect this to the bigger
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picture, we have to look at the terrifying contrast provided to
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understand the towering height of the privilege.
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I know them. We have to measure it against
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the absolute bottomless depth of misery found in the opposite
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phrase. The text points to the most
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dreadful words reserved for Judgement Day.
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Some will stand there and say, Lord, we prophesied in your
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name, we cast out demons, we did many mighty works, and the
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response will be, I never knew you depart from me.
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I never hear you, the text points out the massive volume of
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scorn and the stigma of infamy in that rejection.
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It uses the example of a man who discovers an old acquaintance
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from college has become an abandoned, highly publicized,
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guilty criminal. The man would likely distance
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himself immediately. If pressed, he might admit a
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passing acquaintance years ago, but he would minimize it.
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He would say I barely knew him. We just took a class together.
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Yet the shepherd does the exact opposite with his flock, even
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though he knows what poor, unworthy, frail creatures we
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are. When we are brought before the
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great white throne of judgement amidst the blazing glory of
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heaven, He will publicly confess He knew us.
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The blazing kindness in that recognition, claiming
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association with the guilty who have been washed clean, is the
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ultimate privilege. And this knowledge is not just a
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passing familiarity, it is intimate and flawless.
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He knows your person thoroughly. The text lists incredibly
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specific, mundane things the Shepherd knows about you, right
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You now, your sick body, your aching head, your midnight
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anxiety, your constitutional depression.
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It points out that an earthly physician might come to see you
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run a battery of tests and completely fail to detect the
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root of the disease that is prostrating you.
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But Christ knows you through and through.
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He understands the chemical makeup of your brain and the
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spiritual state of your soul, and therefore He can perfectly
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prescribe for you. He also knows your sins.
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But there's a beautiful caveat attached to this omniscience.
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He only knows them to blot them out and cover them with His
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righteousness. He knows your corruptions, those
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dark habits you hide from everyone else.
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And He deals with you in Providence and grace, so they
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will be rooted up. Furthermore, He knows your
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unique temptations. The text notes that you might be
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living far from family, facing an extraordinary, bizarre
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temptation, wishing you could just go home and tell your
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mother. Or wishing the minister knew
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what you were passing through so he could advise you.
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But the Shempard knows the exact pressure of that temptation
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better than your mother or your minister ever could.
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This brings up the fascinating analogy of Daniel and
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Nebuchadnezzar from the Book of Daniel.
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Oh, that is a great story. King Nebuchadnezzar had a
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terrifying dream, but when he woke up, his mind was blank.
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He forgot the dream entirely. He demanded that his wise men
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not only interpret the dream, but tell him what the dream
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actually was before they interpreted it.
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Naturally, they said that was impossible.
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But Daniel, through God's revelation, did exactly that.
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He told the king the forgotten dream and its meaning.
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The application of that historical event is phenomenal.
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God does this for you. Sometimes you are crushed by an
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anxiety or a sorrow you cannot even articulate.
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You do not even know what the dream is, let alone the
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interpretation. Just feel the weight.
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God sends comfort suited to your unspoken, unarticulated trials.
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You do not even have to find the right words to pray.
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Whether it is fear over a sick child, a looming bad matter of
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business, or a secret slander whispered behind your back that
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has wounded your heart, God knows it.
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The source says there is not a single pang you feel, but God
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sees it as clearly as the Weaver sees the shuttle, which he
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throws with his own hand. He reads the secret desire of
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your heart. You do not need to write it down
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or speak it aloud. He knows you're hidden sincerity
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as well. The text mentions those who
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might be rejected by a local church because they could not
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give a satisfactory eloquent testimony.
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If they are truly sincere, the Shepherd knows it, regardless of
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what the committee decided. He knows the secret gift, the
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financial offering dropped quietly into the box where no
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one else could see it. He knows the unexpressed love in
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the soul of the person who simply cannot find the words to
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speak. This flawless, intimate,
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omniscient knowledge is the ultimate safety net for the
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believer. You are never misunderstood by
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heaven. Which brings us to the core
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dynamic tying all of this together.
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Mutual knowledge. I know them but they also know
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me. It is a two way St.
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Christ's thoughts go toward the sheep, and the sheep's thoughts
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go toward him. He leads the way, and because He
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leads, they can follow. What grace puts into the sheep,
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the shepherd recognizes and makes a return to them.
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This raises an important question about how this mutual
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relationship functions in reality on a day-to-day basis.
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The text introduces the concept of the echo in physics, and echo
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is a reflection of sound that arrives at the listener with a
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delay after the direct sound. Christ and his Church become a
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echo of each other. Christ is the original booming
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voice. The church is the faint but true
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echo bouncing back off the Canyon walls.
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If he speaks love, the church echoes love back.
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If he commands truth, the Church echoes truth in its actions.
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You can know who belongs to Christ simply by listening to
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see if they echo what Christ says.
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That is a staggering thought to end on.
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Think about the physics of it. An echo cannot exist without the
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original sound, and it always, without fail, reflects the exact
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nature of that original sound. It might be quieter, it might be
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fainter, but an echo of a shout never comes back sounding like a
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whisper. An echo of a trumpet never comes
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back sounding like a flute, so I want to leave you with a final
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thought to Mull over as you step back into your routine.
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If the shepherd's voice is constantly calling out, whether
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in the rustling leaves of nature, the rippling waves, or
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the sweet and bitter Providence's of your daily life,
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what does the echo of your habit sound like to the people living
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in your house or working in your office?
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If your life is a Canyon wall, what sound is bouncing off of
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you? Does the reverberation of your
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daily reactions unmistakably identify you as part of his
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flock, stepping carefully into those pierced footprints?
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Or does it sound like the chaotic noise of a complete
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stranger? Something to consider as you go
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about your WIC.