The stranger said, “How do you know one from the other? They all look perfectly alike.” “Well,” said he, “you see that sheep toes in a little; that other one has a squint; one has a little piece of wool off; another has a black spot; and another has a piece out of its ear.” The man knew all his sheep by their failings, for he had not a perfect one in the whole flock. I suppose our Shepherd knows us in the same way.
An Eastern shepherd was once telling a gentleman that his sheep knew his voice, and that no stranger could deceive them.
The gentleman thought he would like to put the statement to the test. So he put on the shepherd’s frock and turban, and took his staff and went to the flock. He disguised his voice, and tried to speak as much like the shepherd as he could; but he could not get a single sheep in the flock to follow him.
He asked the shepherd if his sheep never followed a stranger. He was obliged to admit that if a sheep got sickly it would follow anyone.
So it is with a good many professed Christians; when they get sickly and weak in the faith, they will follow any teacher that comes along; but when the soul is in health, a man will not be carried away by errors and heresies. He will know whether the “voice” speaks the truth or not. He can soon tell that, if he is really in communion with God. When God sends a true messenger his words will find a ready response in the Christian heart.
Christ is a tender Shepherd. You may some time think He has not been a very tender Shepherd to you; you are passing under the rod. It is written, “Whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth.” (Hebrews 12:6). That you are passing under the rod is no proof that Christ does not love you.