Luke 2:1-20
Today we get a good look at the shepherds and the part they played in the Christmas story. The more I read, the more I realized that I would do well to pattern my responses to the Lord after those of the shepherds. To sum it up, they were thorough and committed.The shepherds are fearful when the angel first appears (logical) but they listen to what the angel has to tell them, they discuss and consider what they've been told and then they act on it right away. After they find Mary, Joseph, and Jesus, they tell others about their experience and then return "glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen" (vs. 20).
So what did you learn from the shepherds? What can we do to get to that place of being thorough and committed in our response(s) to the Lord? Tami W.
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*Join me on Back to the Bible for Voices of Christmas all this week. Listen online
God keeps HIS promises. He alone is worthy. He can be trusted with our life! Now, Help me Lord to be all You made me for. Don't let me stay like a little lost sheep. Help me be like a shepherd that will lead my family to YOU/witness and give praise and open my mouth and speak about Your glory.Oh God I pray to honor You with my life. Jesus help me.
I am always drawn to the shepherds in the Christmas story for most of the very same reasons that you mention. Their willingness to obey the voice of the Lord, despite not fully understanding what was going on is a model for all of us. Then, having seen Jesus, they worship Him and tell others about Him. These shepherds are ordinary people like us who were used in an extraordinary way.
I like the response of the shepherds and trust that always my response is similar. First they heard the good news, this is a daily occurrence in our present lives and for a lot of the world's people and it is for me through BtB among many sources. Their next response is to inquire, to ask themselves if this is true, can anything be so good. Daily we hear testimonies of the goodness of the Lord in peoples lives, and we always pray for God's protection and guidance in the lives of ourselves and our families and friends our nations our situations, for we believe that the "good news" is that good. The shepherds then sought to prove God's word, and so we must also test God's word. Can it be so true and good? This is a test of our faith and this happens always when we must let go and let God. The result for the shepherds is proof positive. God is as good as the good news from the Bible. So it is in my life, daily I see signs of God's goodness and I go out daily praising God, "Glory to God in the highest."
I continue to be amazed at these shepherds! Sure they were on the lowest rung of the social ladder, but they were not simpletons. Because of their standing they doubtless had to fight all the harder not to be taken advantage of when they sold their sheep - probably the most so when religious leaders were looking for bargains to do their sacrificing. Therefore behold their great faith that they could go to a barn, look into a chewed up manger full of hay, see the baby of a poor couple, so poor that Mary could only clothe her child (the Son of God!) in diapers - and then confess that they had seen the Son of God! I doubt I would have been capable of that - so I need these shepherds every Christmas time to teach me a childlike faith, even though in our world you badly need scepticism, especially against sensational spiritual claims!
I too am amased at the shepards response , they must of known of God and followed him. I don't think i would of had the same resonse. Honestly, i think i would have ran away. Heavenly Father, i pray that one day i can have that kind of faith and courage , PRAISE GOD.
Have any of you had a chance to check out Voices of Christmas yet? I'd love to hear your thoughts. Tami W.
Did you ever wonder why the shepards never asked where to find the baby? They already knew by the description that the angels gave them about the baby. If you look in Micah 4:8 and Micah 5:2 (Migdal-eder) you will find that the lambs for sacrafice weere born at the tower of the flock and that those lambs were taken special care of from birth to sacrafice. By applying these verses it makes the Christmas story make much more sense.