Jewish Customs

As Christians we all have our “religious” symbols as does any other religion (though ought not to be a religion, but rather a relationship). There's the cross, halos, of Christ in various settings - one being amongst a flock of sheep with a lamb on His shoulders. In the Hebrew culture, they have many interesting customs. As my sister just spent five weeks in Israel, I was able to learn some of them. One such custom has to do with the Shepherd and His sheep.

As we all know, springtime is the time when life comes. This is obviously true with a flock of sheep. Lambs are born in the springtime. Sometimes there is a little lamb who will run away from the flock. Because the Shepherd cares for all of his flock, he will retrieve the little lamb and bring it back to its family. But because this little lamb is a wanderer, it will continue to wander off from the flock into the dangers of the wilderness. It may get away with this several times. Each time, thanks to the watchful eye of the Shepherd, the lamb is returned to the safety of the flock. However, if this continues to happen, the Shepherd will take disciplinary action solely for the sake of the lamb's well-being.

To make it remember that wandering away is the wrong thing to do, the Shepherd will break one of its legs. He will then bandage it up to let it heal properly. However, because it cannot walk from the broken leg, the Shepherd will keep it on His shoulders over the period of time it takes for the leg to heal. As this process is happening, He will hand feed it and care for it very tenderly. As is often the case when one individual tenderly nurtures another for any length of time, a special kind of bonding will occur. When the lamb's leg is finally healed its lesson is learned, and as a result, it will never stray away from the flock again. And ultimately, because of its bond to its Master, it will always trail very closely behind Him, following Him wherever He goes.

There is an object lesson to be learned here. My sister did a very good job of it when talking in our church this last Sunday about her trip. The same is with us and our Savior. His love is such a strong one; indeed the strongest kind of love, that He will go to great lengths just to earn our love. There are those who profess to have the faith of Christianity, but their words and actions say otherwise. Our heavenly Father wants our love, and our all.

It seems as if, should we profess our faith in Him, that we would give Him our all, putting Him first in every area of our lives; alas, this is not so with the majority of believers. Since He is One of a jealous nature, He will do what is necessary to keep those who wander, from wandering. If we let Him, He will break us down until we have nothing left to rely on but Him. Such is His jealousy, His love, His earnest desire to grow closer to us, and we to Him.

I pray for you all to not be broken before you are drawn to Him, because such a path is not an easy one. Rather, go to Him with all your earnest desires, fears, hopes, supplications, sins, and put Him first in your life; for when you do so, everything else in your life will fall into place (Romans 8:28).

My love to you all.

- Aimee