Every once in a while, a ewe will give birth to a lamb and then reject it. There are many reasons she may do this. If the lamb is returned to the ewe, the mother may even kick the poor animal away.
Once a ewe rejects one of her lambs, she will never change her mind. These little lambs will hang their heads so low that it looks like something is wrong with its neck. Their spirit is crushed and broken.
These lambs are called “bummer lambs.” And, unless the shepherd intervenes, that lamb will die, rejected and alone.
So, do you know what the shepherd does? He takes that rejected little lamb into his home, hand-feeds it and keeps it warm by the fire. He will wrap it up with blankets and hold it to his chest so that the bummer lamb can hear the heartbeat of the shepherd.
Once the lamb is strong enough, the shepherd will place it back in the field with the rest of the flock. But that sheep never forgets how the shepherd cared for him when his mother rejected him.
When the shepherd calls for the flock, guess who runs to him first? That's right, the bummer sheep. He knows the shepherd’s voice intimately.
It is not that the bummer lamb is loved more, it just knows intimately the one who loves it. The lamb believes it because it has experienced that love one on one.
So many of us are bummer lambs, rejected and broken and crushed in spirit. Our hearts and our souls have been bruised by the rejection of those we once thought loved and cared for us.
But Jesus is the Good Shepherd (John 10). He cares for our every need and holds us close to His heart so we can hear His heartbeat. We may be broken, but we are never rejected by The Shepherd.
Jesus himself invited us into relationship with him in these words: “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light” (Matthew 11:28-30).
If there is one overarching theme in the Bible, it is that you matter. It doesn’t matter who you are or
what you have done or what kind of checkered past you may have, you are
loved by the Good Shepherd, whose name is Jesus.
