John 10 Devotional

Held by the Good Shepherd

“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.”John 10:11 (BSB)

Jesus describes a shepherd who knows each of his sheep by name and leads them, and sheep who follow him because they know his voice (10:3-4). He is the good shepherd, he says. Unlike the hired hand who runs when the wolf comes, he gives his own life for the sheep (10:11-13). No one takes his life from him. He gives it of his own accord, with authority to take it up again (10:18).

Through Ezekiel, God had promised that he himself would search for his scattered flock and care for it (Ezekiel 34:11). Here that shepherd walks in the temple courts. Jesus says his sheep listen to his voice and follow him, he gives them eternal life, and no one can pull them out of his hand or his Father's hand (10:23-29). The safety of the sheep does not rest on how tightly they hold on. It rests on the hands that hold them, and on a shepherd who gave his life for them. You can listen for his voice today without fear of being lost.

To think about: Whose voice has been louder than the Good Shepherd's in your life lately?