Shepherd and Overseer of Your Soul

​1 Peter 2:25 ~ “For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.”
 
How far afield have you wandered? We see our society departing on every occasion from that which is of God. But we cannot always look at others and forsake the consideration of our own lives in this question. All have been like sheep. All have gone astray. Isaiah 53:6 declares, “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” If you are a Christian, you were not always so. There was a day when the Shepherd found you lost and wandering in the wilderness of the world. Perhaps you were glad to be there until you realized the desolation that the world provides. All the pastures of this world are mirages. They provide temporary happiness without true joy. They indulge in temporary pleasures without true peace. They claim to have security but it’s a mere phantom, passing and insubstantial. Many mistake worldly craving for love and dress up wishful thinking to look like faith. We all were there once—straying like lost sheep, wandering in the bleak fields of the world.
 
Are you still there, straying like sheep, living in the self-indulgent efforts of the world? If so, cry out as the psalmist did in Psalm 119:176, “I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek your servant, for I do not forget your commandments.” The Scripture is filled with the evidences of those who realized their condition and cried out to the Shepherd. Nebuchadnezzar looked up to heaven (see Daniel 4:34), the prodigal son remembered his father’s house (see Luke 15:17), the city of Nineveh repented (see Jonah 3:5-9). Many others can be recounted, but I trust you understand that there is a real need to call out to the Shepherd that He might find you in your distress of sin and worldliness and rescue you. There is no need, any longer, to be straying like sheep.
 
And, as we consider our text today, let us take a look at the two descriptions of the LORD Jesus Christ. He is both, “Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.” In these two titles of our LORD, we will see eternal comfort and everlasting security.
 
First, the LORD is the Shepherd of our soul. Jesus, Himself, said as much in John 10:11, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” No one else has ever done for you what Jesus has done. No one except Jesus has laid their lives down that they should take upon themselves your sin and punishment in order to rescue you. More than just a martyr’s sacrifice, Jesus is the Shepherd who laid His life down for His sheep. But a shepherd does more—He is the provider for the sheep. He cares for the flock, leads them to the fertile pastures, guide them away from hazards, defends them against the villainous foes. Take a moment and read of the Good Shepherd in Psalm 23. Why, oh wandering flock, would you stray away from the One who will so care for you?
 
Second, the LORD is the Overseer of our soul. To be the Overseer is to be the one who is of supreme authority. Jesus is the One who has the right to rule and we, if we are His, must submit to His rule over us. But to be the Overseer puts Jesus in the position of establishing the parameters for our instruction and obedience. He has given us His word as those very parameters. It is His delight to have His children walk with Him in truth, but it is His task as well to oversee that we do. The LORD will not depart from you, He will watch your every step and know your every move and will chastise or encourage as needed.
 
And, finally, I want to encourage you with a hopeful thought. There is a blessed “past tense” to this text. It says not that we need to return, though all straying sheep need to do so. It does not say that we are returning, as if Jesus is still separated from us and distant. It says that we “have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer” of our souls. And what a joyful union it is—to be forever bound to Jesus. Having returned, we are under the watchful care of Jesus as Shepherd and under the sovereign authority of Jesus as Overseer. And all of this is for those sheep who, having gone astray, have returned to Him.
 
So I ask, even as I did at first, have you wandered far afield in this world and know not how to return? Call out to the LORD. The Shepherd will hear you—as He always hears His sheep. He is as the prodigal’s father, waiting for the least turn of your heart toward Him and He will run to meet you. He will bring you back into His flock and rule over you as the Shepherd and Overseer of your soul.
 
In His Grace,
Pastor Michael

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