IT is always a pleasant sight to see the flock brought home, whether along the English lane or across the Scotch moor. Nearly three summers ago, when in Scotland, I watched an old shepherd gathering his flock together. He had no difficulty with the sheep—it was the lambs that gave him the trouble. They were coming down the mountainside, and had to cross a small loch at ebb tide. The shepherd walked before, and all the sheep followed him, but, when it came to the lambs, he had to go over and over again, and fetch them in his arms, one by one, as they were afraid to cross the lake alone, and stood bleating until the kind shepherd had carried them all over.
Then he put them for the night into the fold, and gathered the lambs together in a warm spot, and covered the very young ones with his own plaid, for the nights in Scotland are often damp and cold.
Well, when I had seen all this, what do you think came into my mind?
Dear children, I thought of you, and of the Good Shepherd, who giveth “His life for the sheep,” and the old Scotch shepherd reminded me of Him, of whom it was said, “He shall gather the lambs with His arm, and carry them in His bosom.”
In your portion for May 14th, Jesus calls a little child to Him—it does not say a wise man, or a great man, but “a little child”; and in the 14th verse you read that it is not His will that one of these little ones should perish. What does it all mean? just this: Christ loves the little ones, and He wants them to love Him while they are young, before they go astray or away from Him, as the lost sheep in the parable.
Give special attention to this, dear children, because, if Jesus be the Good Shepherd, He must bestow care on the lambs as well as on the sheep. Some of you may be afraid, as the lambs were afraid to cross the loch, but Jesus is waiting to carry you safely through the waters—He will take you safely to the other side—and you have only to trust yourself in His arms, and He will carry you to the fold, where the pastures are forever green, and the still waters cool. As David says, in Psa. 23, though you walk through the valley of the shadow of death, you need fear no evil, for He is with you.
Well, do you See that Jesus calls you? The text says, “And Jesus called a little child” —even so He calls you. God does not will you should be lost, for “the Son of Man is come to save that which was lost.”
Will you, dear children, answer the Shepherd’s call at once? Or will you wait until He has to seek for you as a stray sheep, weary with wandering out of the true fold, foot-sore and sad of heart?
M. B. G.