"Feed My Lambs"

The bedside clock read 4:24 am last time I looked.  I had lain awake for quite some time.  When I awakened again, just after 7:00 it was with these words:  "Feed My Lambs."  The words somehow evoked images of a dream that visited me just before waking.  I dreamed of a lamb.  It was not a healthy, fluffy lamb like "Pepper," in the photo, left.  Rather it was still wet, evidently abandoned at birth.  There was no ewe in sight.  Hungry and too weak to stand, I could see the life ebbing from her. I madly searched for something to feed her.  In the absence of commercial milk-replacement, I blended some ingredients together, desperate to offer life-giving nourishment.  At last I held a bottle to her little muzzle and she drank, frail but eagerly.

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Then came the words, "Feed My Lambs,"  (John 21:15) as well as two other verses:

"My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge." (Hosea 4:6)
and
"Where there is no vision, the people perish."  (Proverbs 29:18)

I reflect and realize it is far too easy to be drawn into the rabid and ruthless mayhem of political jousting, while the real battle rages around us, unseen:

            "We do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against
               the authorities,   against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, 
                           against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places." 
                                                                 (Ephesians 6:12)

                                                                          *******

                                                      "Feed My Lambs!"
He has my attention now.  I turn to John, chapter 21...

We see the disciples at daybreak, by the Sea of Tiberias,  bewildered and discouraged.  They had stepped out in faith, responding to these simple words: 
                                   
                                    "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men."

These fishermen had left their nets, spending the next three years walking with Jesus, learning from Him, trusting Him.  Then an unimaginable nightmare overshadowed their hopes and dreams...this Innocent One they loved was falsely accused and put to death. 
 
                                          "I'm going fishing."  Peter said, disillusioned. 

The others followed, but now it is morning and their nets are empty.  Sad and sleepy, they are startled by a familiar Voice:
             

"Cast the net on the right side of the boat and you will find some!"

Hearing His voice, Peter took off his outer garments and threw himself into the sea.  The rest of the disciples followed in the boat, dragging the net full of fish.  When they had finished breakfast (fresh fish?), Jesus said to Simon Peter: 
                                     "Do you love me more than these?"

Peter responded:
                                           "Yes Lord, you know that I love you!"

Jesus said to him,
                                     "Feed my lambs."

Peter took the Shepherd's challenge seriously.  It would earn him the privilege of imprisonment, torture, and eventual death by crucifixion on an upside-down cross...Though grieved by various trials, he celebrated rebirth into a living hope and looked forward to an unfading, imperishable inheritance.  Peter did not shrink from speaking the Truth.  He knew the eternal fate of countless souls was at stake.  He spoke of Jesus being both a 'Cornerstone' and a 'Stumbling Block.'  Jesus is a 'stumbling block' for all who refuse to believe and/or disobey the word. (1 Peter 2:8)

This morning I was reminded to take seriously these words:  "Feed My Lambs."  People are
going to their destruction for lack of knowledge...perishing for the lack of vision.   In my studies of the first verses in John Chapter One this week, the Lord gave me two 'parables.' 

                                 "In Him was life, and that life was the light of men. 
         The Light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not comprehended it."
                                                                   (John 1:4)

I offer these two simple parables in hope that they might offer sustenance to a few hungry lambs.  Soli Deo Gloria.

The Parable of a Man Born Blind

There was once a man who had been blind from birth.  He lived his entire life, from daybreak to daybreak, in complete darkness.  Though many tried to describe the beauty of his surroundings (for he lived in part of the world known for its spectacular beauty), he simply could not comprehend or imagine what was described to him.  He had heard it said that the sky was blue...but he could not picture 'sky'...and had no frame of reference for 'blue' or any other color for that matter.  One day he visits his doctor for a routine examination.  The kind, old physician was bubbling with excitement!  It seems a surgical procedure has been developed which is proving 100% successful in curing the patient's form of blindness!  The blind man's heart soars at the thought!  He considers the possibilities...but fearing the unknown, refuses the treatment,
choosing to live out his days in utter darkness.

The Parable of Lechuguilla Cave

There was once was a young woman who was born destitute.  She was certainly loved, and usually had enough to eat, but as the family struggled, there were very few material blessings to enjoy.  She learned to read at a young age, and soon enjoyed travelling beyond her humble surroundings in her imagination, as she read of far away places.  As fate would have it, the death of a distant, and childless relative brought an unexpected inheritance!  The fortune would allow her to visit those places she had only seen in her mind's eye!  Quick to make travel plans, she soon arrived at her first destination, Lechuguilla Cave, in New Mexico. It is the seventh longest cave in the world, known for its rare and beautiful geological features.  She knew there to be twenty-foot 'gypsum chandeliers', fifteen foot 'soda straws,'
'cave pearls,' 'hydromagnesite balloons'...incredible, subterranean wonders unseen by most.  She arrived at the entrance of the cave.   While she was filled with anticipation, she was suddenly terrified at the prospect of entering.

 "Enter by the narrow gate.  For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many.  For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few."
(Matthew 7:14)