40 Days of Praise - Day 19

Day Nineteen

My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.
John 10:27–28

During hurricane Katrina, a heartbreaking story appeared in news reports – really just a sentence in the midst of the longer accounts of that disaster. The waters surged around a parent and child. The parent found a handhold with one hand, but the other arm had been damaged in the flood. The child either didn’t get to grab on or the grasp slipped, and the parent, unable to save their child, watched in horror as the child was swept away and eventually disappeared from sight. The flood had no malice; it was just water. But it snatched that child away from their parent.

Yesterday we talked about becoming a sheep in Jesus flock. There are persons, Jesus calls them thieves, who come after the sheep with the intent to steal, kill and destroy. they are also referred to as wolves. These are people who attempt to invalidate our faith in the Lord Jesus, who seek to persuade us that we have been duped and led to believe a lie. They may approach it from the viewpoint of another religion, or an atheistic secular worldview, or they may just be cynical about all matters of religious faith. But their goal is to steal our allegiance, to kill our faith and destroy the lifestyle and legacy of those who know Christ.

But Jesus, our Shepherd, says "No" to the thief and the wolf. He says His sheep are in His hand and no one can pluck them out. Once we are His, we are secure. He will not let us go. The flood waters of overwhelming situations, of persuasive and manipulative people, of our own weaknesses and misguided decisions will not pluck us from our Shepherd's hand.

We talked yesterday about what it means to be known. Jesus knows our hearts, even when we become disoriented and confused. What He has done for us cannot be undone. If it could be, even by us, then Jesus would be a liar. But "no one" is all inclusive. We are safe in His arms.

Then our Lord takes it a step further: “My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.”

We are in the flock of Jesus because the Father gave us to Him, placed us in His hand. Jesus says that we are secure because His Father is greater than He and, because His Father has placed us in Jesus' hand, to take us from Jesus' hand would require that someone snatch us from the Father‘s hand. And that’s not possible because His Father is the greatest of all.

So we are doubly secured: we are in the hand of Jesus, in the hand of the Father. If we reach forward to Ephesians 1:13–14, we learn of another layer of security, because we are sealed with the Holy Spirit, triple secured in our Savior’s care.

Be at peace and rest in him. He has you.

Charles M. Butler