Sheep Without A Shepherd

 I once preached a youth event for a church without a pastor. Sitting in the back one evening watching all the strangers pile into the room without knowing anyone a scripture came to mind.

Matthew 9:36 (NASB) 
³⁶  Seeing the people, He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd.

Jesus sees the distressed and dispirited people. They wander through life lost and confused. They have no direction and trusted leaders, such as politicians, have betrayed them and let them down. Such troubled and cast down people fake it through life. They learn to survive. They comfort themselves with the temporary pleasures of sin. They wander further from the fold. 

Jesus sees. He also has pity on such people. He is a good shepherd. He loves. He protects. He nourishes. He mends wounds. He guides. He keeps vigilant watch. 

I sat in the back of that room watching adults walk in. I saw happy couples. I saw friendly faces. I saw people busy with responsibilities for the weekend. They had every appearance of happiness and success. They greeted one another, laughed, and hugged. Yet beneath all of that God showed me they were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd. 

As only God could orchestrate, one day I became those people's pastor. Over my tenure I got to know them. I saw beneath the outward appearances. Some were distressed by life. Some were dispirited by heavy burdens. For some God brought deep healing. Others never dropped their masks. They continue in their pain. 

O that every wandering sheep would run to the refuge of the flock of Jesus. O that people would sleep soundly and securely under His watch care. How I long that these people would truly experience what it means to be loved, known by name, and cared for by the Good Shepherd Jesus Himself. There is no better place to be than in His fold. They need not be sheep without a shepherd ever again.