My own know Me.” (Jn. 10:14)

Most of us have ideas and images in our minds of the work of a shepherd and his responsibilities. And while some of these ideas and images may be accurate, we want to talk in this lesson about a Shepherd who is unlike any other... the Good Shepherd.

I like the way person described God as a Shepherd:

“There is no other blessing I can give you, no gift so precious no treasure so refreshing, nothing that can provision you for the journey we are all making, than to tell you that Someone is searching diligently for you. He is not a stationary God. He is crazy about you. The expense to which He has gone isn’t reasonable is it? The cross was not a very dignified ransom. To say the least, it was a splurge of love and glory lavishly spent on you and me: ‘While we were yet sinners, Christ died for the ungodly.’ ‘A shepherd having a hundred sheep, if he looses one, leaves the ninety-nine to go after the one and searches diligently until he finds it.’ God is like that shepherd. That is enough to make me laugh and cry.”¹

Read the scriptures below and consider the questions which follow. Let’s learn more about this Good Shepherd.

Scriptures: Ps. 23; Jer. 23:1-4; Eze. 34:1-16; Lk. 15:1-7; Jn. 10:11-16; 1 Pet. 5:1-4

1. Describe the responsibilities of a shepherd.

(cf. Jn. 10:11)

2. Describe the shepherds mentioned in Jer. 23:1-4 and Eze. 34:1-10. What does God say in Eze. 34:11-16?

3. How do the sheep know the shepherd?

4. What were the sheep to expect from the shepherd?

5. What were some of things for which David was thankful as expressed in Psalm 23? Do these relate to the Good Shepherd?

6. In what ways is Jesus the Good Shepherd?

How does this meet our needs?

¹ David A. Redding, Jesus Makes Me Laugh with Him