"He shall feed His flock like a shepherd: He shall gather the lambs with His arms, and carry them in His bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young." Isaiah 40:11
"Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do His will, working in you that which is well-pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ..." Hebrews 13:20, 21
There is perhaps nothing worse than feeling lost, to feel the crushing mediocrity of aimless floating about. We try to ground our spirits with anything: hobbies, vices, work, charities, academics, even ministries. If it can serve as a lodestar for us for even a minute, we want it.
Behind the great nagging questions of life ("Why are we here?" "Where are we going?" etc.) is a fundamental need to be guided, guided by something or someone over and above our existence that can take in the "whole show" and lead us to our proper spot on the stage and give us some directions. Whether or not the concept of a personal guide (or director) is something we adhere to is irrelevant at the moment. Personal or otherwise, we all want to be led. Even the most natural-born leaders want something to lead to, a goal or objective that arrest their very leadership with purpose, for what good is their leadership if there is nowhere to go? Even leaders need to be led.
It is not for mere metaphorical effect that God (and Christ) is called a "shepherd." That God is what we are being lead to gets sometimes preached under a vague notion of "heaven" (as though God is not found in the here and now). That God is simultaneously leading us as well gets completely lost; either that or it gets used a s a disguise for service recruitment ("Is God leading you to serve in such-and-such?"). I fear that when we are not ignoring God as shepherd, we are painting a horribly wrong picture of Him. The idea of surrendering to "God's will for your life" seems to contain the veiled threat of God needing nameless, faceless bodies to fill random positions so some sort of work can get done. Thus, instead of His will being a delight (and the true desire of our hearts), it comes off as (at best) a chore, or (at worst) just more meaninglessness (God had no purpose for your life other than needing another random body to throw into His machine).
God is the shepherd of us all, i.e., each of us individually. It is true that we have noting to bring to Him except ourselves (broken and flawed, fallen and empty), but the self that we give is the self that He created, with all its passions, dreams, temperament, personality, and quirks. Who you are is not lost; it is remade, remade into the image of His Son. Jesus is not a cookie cutter; "conformed to His image" does not mean vague generality but true God-likeness, the making of who you are into all that God is. He wants you (grasp the wonder of that!) so that He can work His good will through you (and all that he created you to be). God wants you so He can take all that you are, mold you into what you ought to be, i.e., Himself (which, coincidentally, you discover through the process is exactly what you wanted to be, though you may not have known it at first), and then use you in a very specific are that you were designed to fulfill. Let us not only grasp that God is the lodestar that leads us, but also that He is not leading us unto perdition. God's will is not a monolithic machine that you get chucked into and disappear; it is a perpetual tapestry that you are swept into and made a part of forever.
"Into the burning Will
Away from the burning nothing.
Let me trade my dreams for Yours,
And find myself in Who You Are..."
-Jon Vowell
"Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do His will, working in you that which is well-pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ..." Hebrews 13:20, 21
There is perhaps nothing worse than feeling lost, to feel the crushing mediocrity of aimless floating about. We try to ground our spirits with anything: hobbies, vices, work, charities, academics, even ministries. If it can serve as a lodestar for us for even a minute, we want it.
Behind the great nagging questions of life ("Why are we here?" "Where are we going?" etc.) is a fundamental need to be guided, guided by something or someone over and above our existence that can take in the "whole show" and lead us to our proper spot on the stage and give us some directions. Whether or not the concept of a personal guide (or director) is something we adhere to is irrelevant at the moment. Personal or otherwise, we all want to be led. Even the most natural-born leaders want something to lead to, a goal or objective that arrest their very leadership with purpose, for what good is their leadership if there is nowhere to go? Even leaders need to be led.
It is not for mere metaphorical effect that God (and Christ) is called a "shepherd." That God is what we are being lead to gets sometimes preached under a vague notion of "heaven" (as though God is not found in the here and now). That God is simultaneously leading us as well gets completely lost; either that or it gets used a s a disguise for service recruitment ("Is God leading you to serve in such-and-such?"). I fear that when we are not ignoring God as shepherd, we are painting a horribly wrong picture of Him. The idea of surrendering to "God's will for your life" seems to contain the veiled threat of God needing nameless, faceless bodies to fill random positions so some sort of work can get done. Thus, instead of His will being a delight (and the true desire of our hearts), it comes off as (at best) a chore, or (at worst) just more meaninglessness (God had no purpose for your life other than needing another random body to throw into His machine).
God is the shepherd of us all, i.e., each of us individually. It is true that we have noting to bring to Him except ourselves (broken and flawed, fallen and empty), but the self that we give is the self that He created, with all its passions, dreams, temperament, personality, and quirks. Who you are is not lost; it is remade, remade into the image of His Son. Jesus is not a cookie cutter; "conformed to His image" does not mean vague generality but true God-likeness, the making of who you are into all that God is. He wants you (grasp the wonder of that!) so that He can work His good will through you (and all that he created you to be). God wants you so He can take all that you are, mold you into what you ought to be, i.e., Himself (which, coincidentally, you discover through the process is exactly what you wanted to be, though you may not have known it at first), and then use you in a very specific are that you were designed to fulfill. Let us not only grasp that God is the lodestar that leads us, but also that He is not leading us unto perdition. God's will is not a monolithic machine that you get chucked into and disappear; it is a perpetual tapestry that you are swept into and made a part of forever.
"Into the burning Will
Away from the burning nothing.
Let me trade my dreams for Yours,
And find myself in Who You Are..."
-Jon Vowell
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