Jesus the Diligent Shepherd

Genesis 31:38–40 “These twenty years I have been with you. ... A torn animal I did not bring to you; I bore the loss. From my hand you required it, whether stolen by day or stolen by night. This was my situation: in the day the drought consumed me, and the frost by night; and my sleep fled from my eyes.

It is interesting to note parallels between Jacob taking care of all of Laban’s sheep and the life and purpose of our Saviour here on earth. Yet, the life of Jesus was so much more laborious than that. Like Jacob, he took care of his sheep and finally gave this account: “I have not lost even one of those you gave me” (John 18:9).

Sleep fled from Jesus’ eyes as he spent an entire night in prayer in the garden of Gethsemane praying for his people. Oh how dear is the Father’s will for Jesus to bring every believer safely into the hands of him who stands as our Shepherd King and keep us in the strength of the Lord (Micah 5:4).

When we see Jacob labouring so diligently, we see a type of him who was to come, of whom Isaiah said: “He tends his flock like a shepherd” (Isaiah 40:11). Reader, be assured that you have a loving Shepherd who watches over us laboriously and diligently, he who neither slumbers nor sleeps (Psalm 121:4).