Feed My Sheep

Jacob said, “Behold, the sun is still high. It is not time for the flocks to be gathered. Water the sheep and take them back to pasture.” “We can’t,” they replied, “until all the flocks are gathered and the stone has been rolled away from the mouth of the well. Then we will water the sheep.” When Jacob saw Rachel. . . he went over and rolled the stone away from the mouth of the well and watered his uncle’s sheep.

Genesis 29:7-10)

The well in the midst of a sheep pasture is a pivotal setting in the Bible, for it is the location where the wives of three of the patriarchs were found: Isaac’s Rebekah, Jacob’s Rachel, and Moses’ Zipporah. Abraham placed particular emphasis on the woman who should marry his son Isaac, and it’s clear that God inspired the choice of Rebekah. (Genesis 24)

These were the beginnings of God’s choosing a people, and small as they are, these beginnings sustained the Hebrew people through four hundred years of slavery in Egypt , enough to retain their identity during all that time.

What kind of “food” did the sheep need? It was the food of marriage, a marriage between a human being and a sovereign God. It was a love match described best in the simple assertion about Jacob’s love for Rachel: Jacob served seven years for Rachel, but they seemed like only a few days to him because of his love for her. (Genesis 29:20)

In His promise to Moses and the early Israelites, God described His plan and intention for His people once they reached the promised land: “. . .love the Lord your God and serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul__then I will send rain on your land in season, both autumn and spring rains, so that you may gather in your grain, new wine, and olive oil. . . and you will eat and be satisfied,” God intended to feed His sheep, and He asked in return only the food of His people’s love.

After his resurrection, Jesus spoke this charge to Peter: “Do you Love me, Peter? Feed my sheep,” passing the care of Jesus’ own ministry to Peter and his church. Feeding His sheep was always God’s intention toward His people. (John 21:17)

Today He offers us that same call, the call that He Himself fulfills and asks us to share:

Feed My Sheep.

Love in Him,

Prue