Our Good Shepherd, Indeed!

I've been reading a little, but powerful, book by W. Phillip Keller entitled A Shepherd Looks At Psalm 23.

If you've not read this book, may I greatly encourage you to do so for a number of reasons.
It comes from one who knows the jobs, dangers and wonders of actually being a shepherd. It
brings into clarity the work done by our precious Lord Christ Jesus as He cares for us. It
shows, in a frightening way, just how much our behaviors mirror those of the sheep being
cared for; thus, we are in the loving hands of the greatest Good Shepherd, Jesus. I also
learned to love this beautiful Psalm, one that we are all familiar with, more with a greater
understanding of what David was trying to do, here.

I would like to just copy down two wonderful and interesting excerpts that I really found
valuable. They are really not ones that follow the shepherd metaphore; yet, they seem
truly insightful and wonderful.

From the book A Shephed Looks At Psalm 23....

It is rather fashionable in  some contemporary Christian circles to discredit Satan. There
is a tendency to try and write him off or laugh him off as though he were just a joke. Some
deny that such a being as Satan even exists. Yet we see evidence of his merciless attacks
and carnage in a society where men and women fall prey to his cunning tactics every day.
We see lives torn, marred and seared by his assaults though we may never see him
personally.

It is not always apparent to us what a tremendous personal cost it has been for Christ
to prepare the table for His own. Just as the lonely, personal privation of the sheepman
who prepares the summer range for his stock entails a sacrifice, so the lonely agony of
Gethsemane, of Pilate's hall. of Calvary , have cost my Master much....
Here we commemorate the greatest and deepest demonstration of true love the world
has ever known. For God looked down upon sorrowing, struggling, sinful humanity and
was moved with compassion for the contrary, sheep-like creatures He had made. In spite
of the tremendous personal cost it would entail to deliver them from their dilemma,
He chose deliberately to descend and live amongst them that He might deliver them.

What a glorious God we worship! Praise Him!