THE story is told of a soldier who lay wounded on the battlefield. Around him were dead comrades who had fallen in the struggle, and he was weak with the loss of blood and feared his end was near.
“I am dying—dying, and I am not ready,” he cried.
The conviction had forced itself upon him that he was not fit to meet God. What could he do? Where could he flee?
Then there came before his mind the clays of his childhood, and of the gospel preachings to which he used to go with his mother. And he seemed to hear once again the story of the grace of God pictured in the parable of the good shepherd seeking the one lost sheep among the mountains wild and barren. And then the scene changed and he was in his childhood home, and he was praying as a little child,
“Jesus, tender Shepherd, hear me!
Bless Thy little lamb tonight;
In the darkness be Thou near me,
Keep me safe till morning light.”
Lonely on that stricken field he began to repeat the words again. And then he thought of the intervening years of forgetfulness of God, and of wandering in paths of folly and sin. The cry escaped him, “I am not His little lamb.... I am a great big black sheep—a vile black sheep.”
Here was his confession of sin. He was repentant and helpless. Who could meet his deep need? Turning to the Saviour he prayed, “O Shepherd, come—find, save the great big black sheep.”
Such cries are ever heeded, and with a sense of peace filling his soul, the wound man sank into unconsciousness.
He was picked up—carried to a hospital and in a few weeks was in the arms of his aged mother telling the story of how the lost one was found by the Saviour she had loved so long.
Have you seen yourself as a vile black sheep needing to be saved? Have you cried, “I have gone astray like a lost sheep,” and found yourself in the care of the Good Shepherd?
If not, turn now to Him. He is at hand to deliver and bless.
ML-12/29/1935