you. The Shepherd Searching for the
Sheep by Alexander Smiley from The Secret Place 1907. This is what the Sovereign Lord
says, I myself will search for my sheep and look after them. Ezekiel chapter 34 verse 11. The prophet saw into a distant
future and saw the day of Christ from afar. 1. Just so, I look back and see
my sovereign Lord in the manger cradle at Bethlehem. He has emptied
himself, he has laid all his glory down, he has come to my
earth, not in the splendours of his divinity, but with an
infant's palpable and pathetic claim for nursing and nurture. He has taken my nature in its
feeblest and most helpless condition, and made it his own nature. It is a long way for the shepherd
to travel in search of the sheep. No arithmetic can compute it. No history can describe the downward
journey. But the incarnation is not enough. Not at Bethlehem does the lover
of my soul find me who has departed from his fold. 2. Then I see my Sovereign Lord
on the hillsides and in the cornfields and on the lake waters of Galilee. Never a man speaks like this
man. His are the words of grace and
truth of fire and due. Never a man lives like this man. He does not weary in healing,
feeding, comforting, rebuking sin, and compassionating and
blessing the sinner. He is seeking me by the messages
of His lips, and by the blamelessness and beneficence of His life.
Patiently He is enticing me home. But the ministry of word and
miracle is not enough. Not in Capernaum does the flock-master
find me, Who am so persevering in my revolt. 3. Then I see my sovereign Lord
beneath the olive-trees in Gethsemane. He is praying with strong cryings
and tears. He has come very near to the
transgressors now, and more poignantly than ever he feels the awfulness
of their burden, his sweat falling down to the ground as it were
great drops of blood. The seeker is learning the sharpness
of the crag and the rush of the torrent. None has cared for me
so much. None has borne a sorrow so deep
on my behalf. But his intercession and his
sympathy are not enough. Not in the agonies of the garden
does he succeed in finding me. But last, I see my sovereign
lord nailed to the cross outside the gate on the hill of reproach. He dies for sin, but not his
own. He is purer than the new-born
lamb and the new-fallen snow. He lays my immeasurable guilt
on Himself. He redeems me by the one perfect
offering of His unblemished body and soul. The Good Shepherd is
giving His life for His sheep. And this, at length, is enough,
the atonement, the bloodshedding. It is enough for God, and it
is enough for me. On Calvary, I behold the depth
of my iniquity and the wonder of His redemption. On Calvary,
my God finds me and conquers me and saves me. Never was there a sheep so silly,
so fond of roaming, so bent on destroying itself. Never was
there a search so lonesome, so untiring, and so fraught with
suffering. Never was there a shepherd like
my adorable Redeemer. I am the Good Shepherd. The Good
Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. John chapter 10 verse
11.