I Know My Sheep

I Know My Sheep

I am the good shepherd; I know my own sheep, and they know me, just as my Father knows me and I know the Father. And I lay down my life for the sheep. My sheep recognize my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them away from me. –John 10:14-15, 27-28

“I know my own sheep.” God knows me. He knows it all. He knows my public persona and my private pettiness. He knows what lights the fire of my soul and what dampens the flame within me. He knows how I struggle, even now, between self-pity and self-sacrifice. Even if I want to hide my inner thoughts and motives from him, I can’t. He knows. I might be able to write revisionist history for you, but he knows my past as well as my future, and he sees me more clearly than I see myself.

Oh, how painful and at the same time pleasurable it is to be fully known! Such a relief that I do not have to put on pretenses, yet such a rub to have all my weaknesses exposed. And then I remember that he is the Good Shepherd. His full knowing of me doesn’t cause him to recoil; it reminds him of why he came—to lay down his life for me. Knowing I’ve done nothing to deserve it, and knowing that at times I will stray from his flock, he has chosen to lay down his life for me and he invites me to know him in an intimate way. Even though he knows the real me, he wants me to follow him now and for eternity. He wants to be with me! He jealously guards me so that nothing and no one can snatch me away from him.

He knows me to the core, and what he has seen is not pretty. I am infected by sin, but because he is the Good Shepherd, he has done what is required to remedy this fatal malady. He laid down his life for me. If he loves me so much that he is willing to die for me, why do I try to hide and why do I run? There is rest in remembering that he is the Good Shepherd who knows me thoroughly and loves me unendingly.

Shepherd of my soul, I hear your voice and I recognize it because I am yours. Speak to me, and remind me that being fully known by you and following you is the safest place I can be.

DIGGING DEEPER