Happy New Year to you! As a church, we have been reading through the Gospel of John as part of the 21 days of praying and fasting. The Gospel of John seeks to reveal Christ as the Son of God. Herein, Jesus makes several ‘I am’ discourses like, ‘I am the Bread of Life, ‘I am the Resurrection and the Life, ‘I am the Light of the World’, ‘I am the Way, the Truth and the Life’ etc. Jesus says, “I am the Good Shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me (John 10:14, NIV).” This statement got me thinking about the personal relationship that the shepherd has with his sheep.

The role of a shepherd remains one of the most downtrodden in many communities. Yet our Lord chooses to use the analogy of a shepherd to demonstrate His relationship with us. The shepherd has the role of taking care of the flock of sheep wholly by ensuring that they have pasture and clean water to drink. He must also give personalized care to his sheep to create a relationship with them.

First, the shepherd is involved in the birthing of the lambs which makes him the first face that the lambs see after they are born. Secondly, he partners with the ewe, mother sheep, to feed and nurture the young lambs. Thirdly, sheep, do not lick their bleeding wounds. A wounded sheep is at the mercy of his shepherd to treat and dress the wound to bring it back to health.

As I reminisced about this, I remembered the miracle of the five loaves and two fishes in John 6:1-14. Upon seeing the hungry crowd of over 5000 people who had followed him into the mountains, Jesus, seeking to test His disciples, asks Phillip where they could buy enough bread. The initial suggestion of the disciples was to ignore the problem entirely by sending the crowd away (Mark 6:36)!

Philip seemingly focused on a financial solution to the problem, says that even 200 denarii would not be sufficient to feed them. In that era, a worker would earn about one denarius daily. Two hundred denarii was a regular pay for 200 days (about six months) just to give each man a taste of the bread. This would be incredibly expensive! Andrew indicated that there were five loaves of bread and two small fishes available. These would be of no use to such a humongous crowd. Jesus, seizing the opportunity to teach them a lesson on faith, miraculously uses them to feed the five thousand men and had twelve basketfuls of leftovers!

What amazed me, was that of all the five thousand that ate and were filled, none complained of gluten intolerance or fish allergy or something like that! As I shared this story recently, my husband indicated that probably as they ate, they also received their healing from various stomach ailments. The bottom line is that they all ate and were satisfied! The Lord not only fed the crowd but also ministered to each person such that they were all filled. We have a personal Christ who is keen on meeting our needs.

In Matthew 18:10-14, Jesus tells the parable of the lost sheep. The shepherd lives his ninety-nine sheep due to a special relationship with sheep ‘Joe’. This lost sheep had a name and an identity and a special place in the shepherd’s heart. ‘Lil Joe’ had to be found at whatever cost. The shepherd celebrated upon finding him.

When Jesus says that He is the Good Shepherd. He sees Himself as having a very personal relationship with us. He could be blessing everyone in the world, but there is a special blessing for you and it has your name on it! He could heal a crowd, but you are His special person and your healing is unique. He could be elevating many this year, but your elevation is for His glory. He could be delivering many cars to people but yours is a special kind. You are God’s responsibility. You are His personal friend.

You could be waiting for a miracle from God and it looks like it is taking so long. Does it look humanly impossible? Is it shrouded with fear and darkness? You could be reading this from a hospital bed and healing is farfetched. You could be giving up on your marriage or a wayward child. You could be looking at crumbling dreams. You could be high in debt and the auctioneers are at your door. You could be looking at your loved one giving up on life. You could have just lost a loved one throwing your world into the darkness of sorrow.

I want you to know that God is a personal God who knows your name and hears your cry of fear, pain and sorrow. He is not too busy taking care of others and not hearing you. He is personally taking note of your predicament and listening to you.

Jeremiah 33:3 (MSG)

”Call to me and I will answer you. I’ll tell you marvelous and wondrous things that you could never figure out on your own.”

David knowing this says in Psalms 23:1, “The Lord is My Shepherd. I shall not want.” When Christ is our shepherd, we shall not lack any good thing. He knows us by our names. He is coming to put His personal touch on our situations. Would you like Christ to become a personal Christ for you today? It’s as easy as asking Him to come into your heart and become your personal God.

John 10:14, NIV “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me.”

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