Thought for the week: The Good Shepherd brings all His flock safely to His eternal fold

​One of my favourite stories began its life in the Victorian magazine 'Punch'. The scene is a boy's bedroom with the little boy kneeling in an attitude of prayer and his attentive parents are standing behind him offering advice as he prays.
​Rev Arthur Clarke, Presbyterian Church​Rev Arthur Clarke, Presbyterian Church
​Rev Arthur Clarke, Presbyterian Church
By Rev Arthur Clarke
Published 4th May 2024, 00:00 BST
Updated 5th May 2024, 08:54 BST

​His mother continues to suggest the names of people the child should remember in his innocent intercessions and, after the extended family, are his teachers, playmates, neighbours and even the cantankerous little boy next door.

The little boy is aware that his list is long and his demands will require a great deal of attention and so he concludes his prayer with this supplication: "And Lord look after Yourself, for if anything should happen You, we are all sunk". The little boy spoke profoundly!

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The ground of our being and all that is resourced by God Almighty who is revealed to us in His Son Jesus Christ. All estimations of life and motivations for behaviour need a sure starting point and if one denies the reality of God where does one find an abiding starting place?

Truly God is Great: Infinity is beyond our conception, but the Bible affirms that God is a sea without a shore and a sun without an orbit. God holds all the universe together and in His hand is the breath of every living thing. God is like Christ and in Him there is no un-Christ-likeness at all.

God Is good: All our conceptions of decency, magnanimity and justice are grounded in the belief that what is excellent is permanent for God lives. His absolute rule vindicates such values in individuals and nations. The mills of God may grind slowly, but they grind exceeding small.

God Is Gracious: When great sorrows occur we often ask where is God? God iis where He has always been, beside us in our pain and grief and weeping with all who weep. At Calvary, God bound Himself to humanity for better for worse which death cannot part. He is the great doer of redeeming things and His grace reaches to and saves all who come in repentance and trust. God in grace justifies the trusting and the Good Shepherd brings all His flock safely to His eternal fold.

Related topics:Victorian