“I WAS A WANDERING SHEEP”…Bill Thoughts For Today…

Understanding important truths from the Bible….

Psalm 119:176 NASB

I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek Your servant,
For I do not forget Your commandments.

Isaiah 53:6

All of us like sheep have gone astray,
Each of us has turned to his own way;
But the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all
To fall on Him.

Luke 15:5-6

When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. 

⁶ And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!’

For me the greatest single verse in the Scriptures before John 17:3; Romans 5:8, 8:28; II Cor. 5:21 or even Phil. 2:3, is Psalm 119:176

In Psalm 1 the likeness is a tree given every advantage.  In this Psalm 119:176 the likeness is a lost sheep.  This sheep faces danger from predators, thieves, and the elements.  His danger is extreme but as great as it is, it is exceeded by his guilt.  He has “gone astray.”

The shepherd’s affection, labor, and unceasing watchfulness were all bent to prevent a sheep from straying.  There is no excuse.  There is only guilt, “all we like sheep have gone astray”.

Isaiah resolves this extreme difficulty.  The shepherd assumes the guilt and bears it away. “He has laid on him the iniquity” or the guilt with the necessary punishment that is its results.

There remains only the safe return for the wandering sheep.  The Savior in Luke 15:6 fixes this.  “He lays it on his shoulder”, now safety is as guaranteed as rescue is present.  The rescue does not bring bitter recrimination.  The shepherd rejoices and invites his friends to rejoice with him, “rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep.”

The writer does not try to vindicate himself.  He does not repeat his love for the law.  It would be out of place.  He cannot claim he has kept the law, it is evident that he hasn’t.  The best he can do is the truth that endures in the soul of the believer, “I do not forget your commandment.”

Please give some time and thought to Luke 15:1-7.

There were ninety and nine that safely lay
In the shelter of the fold.
But one was out on the hills away,
Far off from the gates of gold.
Away on the mountains wild and bare.
Away from the tender Shepherd’s care.
Away from the tender Shepherd’s care.

“Lord, Thou hast here Thy ninety and nine;
Are they not enough for Thee?”
But the Shepherd made answer: “This of Mine
Has wandered away from Me;
And although the road be rough and steep,
I go to the desert to find My sheep,
I go to the desert to find My sheep.”

But none of the ransomed ever knew
How deep were the waters crossed;
Nor how dark was the night the Lord passed through
Ere He found His sheep that was lost.
Out in the desert He heard its cry,
Sick and helpless and ready to die;
Sick and helpless and ready to die.

“Lord, whence are those blood drops all the way
That mark out the mountain’s track?”
“They were shed for one who had gone astray
Ere the Shepherd could bring him back.”

“Lord, whence are Thy hands so rent and torn?”
“They are pierced tonight by many a thorn;
They are pierced tonight by many a thorn.”

And all through the mountains, thunder riven
And up from the rocky steep,
There arose a glad cry to the gate of Heaven,
“Rejoice! I have found My sheep!”
And the angels echoed around the throne,
“Rejoice, for the Lord brings back His own!
Rejoice, for the Lord brings back His own!”