The Good Shepherd - The One Year Praying the Promises of God

[Jesus said,] “I am the good shepherd; I know my own sheep, and they know me, just as my Father knows me and I know the Father.”

John 10:14-15

Jesus gives an extended discourse on his role as a good shepherd. He protects, provides, leads, loves. He lays down his life for his sheep.

He promises that he knows his own, and that his own know him. He expounds on that promise, comparing it to the way he and his Father know each other. In the same way that he knows and fully trusts the Father, so we can know and fully trust him. And in the same way the Father shows himself through the life of the Son, Jesus shows himself through our lives.

Jesus lived his earthly life in utter obedience to the Father because he knew he could count on the Father. If we know Jesus—really know him—then we will be as obedient and as trusting of him as he is of the Father.

We’ve mentioned earlier that a promise is only as good as the person who makes it. We can’t trust the word of a stranger whose character and nature we do not know. The promise might be trustworthy, but we can’t know that. Jesus has made it possible for us to trust his promises because we can know him as intimately as he knows the Father.

We can trust his work in our lives because we know him. And because we know him, we don’t have to understand what is happening while it is happening. If we have faith, we know that God sees what we cannot. All we really need to know is him, and with that we can live at peace. The only work required of us is to believe in Jesus. “This is the only work God wants from you: Believe in the one he has sent” (John 6:29). Everything else flows from that.

Jesus, I believe your promises because I believe in you. I believe in your love for me and in your wisdom that works only for good in my life.

If God would concede me His omnipotence for 24 hours, you would see how many changes I would make in the world. But if He gave me His wisdom too, I would leave things as they are.

Jacques-marie-louis Monsabré(1827–1907), French preacher