Holding on When You Want to Let GoSample

Day Seven

Loved Back to Life

Scripture: John 10:3-4; Ephesians 1:18-23

I grew up in Scotland with sheep all around me, field after field of white wool and incessant bleating echoing throughout the green pastures. Of all the lessons I have learned from these defenseless, gentle animals, the most profound is also the most painful.

Every now and then, a ewe will give birth to a lamb and immediately reject it. These rejected lambs are called “bummer lambs.” Unless the shepherd intervenes and takes the lamb into his home, that lamb will die, not of hunger but of a broken spirit. So the shepherd will hand-feed it from a bottle and keep it warm by the fire. He will wrap it up with soft blankets and hold it to his chest so the lamb can hear a heartbeat. When the lamb is strong enough, the shepherd will place it back in the field with the rest of the flock.

In the morning, the shepherd will stand at the edge of the field and call out, “Sheep, sheep, sheep!” The first to run to him are the bummer lambs because they know his voice. It’s not that they are more loved; it’s just that they believe they are loved. 

He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. After he has gathered his own flock, he walks ahead of them, and they follow him because they know his voice.

—John 10:3–4 

I will be a bummer lamb for the rest of my life, but that’s not bad news; it’s the best news. It’s not that God loves His messy bummer lambs more than the rest of His flock; it’s just that we dare to believe He loves us even when we want to give up. We dare to go to Him when we are at the end of ourselves so that we can loved back to life. We’ve heard His voice, we’ve been held close to His heart, and we are sold out to Him for life, missing pieces and all. 

I don’t know why you might feel as if you are just clinging to hope by a thin thread. But I do know this: 

You are not alone.

You are not abandoned.

You are seen.

You are loved.

You are forgiven.

You are free. 

Our God is a rescuer, a deliverer, a tender Shepherd. We can hold on because we are being held. 

Father God, thank You that You hold all the pieces of my story and that You hold me. Amen.