book excerpt

In a certain primitive tribe, a boy's rite of passage to manhood consists of spending one dark night alone in the middle of the forest.  Imagine yourself as such a boy.  You had never been separated from your people before.  You are now exposed to the danger of nocturnal predators.  You jump at every rustle and every growl that intrudes into the pitch-dark night.  If there is a sense of helpless desolation, this is it.  Needless to say, you can't sleep.  Rather, you keep gazing at the sky, longing for dawn to come.

 

As the dark gives way to the gentle haze of sunrise, you are surprised.  There, some distance away, is your father, with weapons in his hand.  All the previous night, he was really there with you.  You did not know nor feel his presence, but he has been protecting you in case some nocturnal predator did come along.

 

What a powerful illustration of our Good Shepherd!  "Even though I walk in the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me."  Yes, there is the darkness.  We taste the desolation of the soul.  Hopelessness stares at us in the face.  But during the night, Jesus is there: watching, protecting, providing, loving.

 

After all, did He not pay a terrible price for you?  It is inconceivable that He would suffer the Cross, only to abandon you in the darkness.  Then in His own time, He commands the sunrise to come.  Taking you hand, He finally takes you out of the darkness, the same way He restored sight to the blind or brought Lazarus out of the tomb.

 

The long night is but a memory.  But Son-rise has come.

 

From "Treasures In The Darkness" chapter of Nelson Dy's Finding Comfort (Makati, Philippines: Church Strengthening Ministry Inc., 2004), 177-178.

 

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Amazed.  Awestruck.  Grateful.

What a powerful illustration of our Good Shepherd indeed!

I've been hearing about the phrase "because they were like sheep without a shepherd" for several weeks already in our ministry training. (ref. Mark 6:34)

Everyday they pass me by...I can see it in their eyes...Empty people filled with care...Headed who knows where?

People need the Lord.

 

O Lord, please give me compassion to share to those people that You are the Good Shepherd.