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CHAPLAIN’S CORNER - INSPIRATIONAL THOUGHT

In the bosom of the shepherd

            He shall feed his flock like a shepherd:  he shall gather the lambs with his arms, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gentle lead those that are with young.  Isa. 40:11.

            A true shepherd knows and pities and helps the sheep that most need his help-those that are bruised and lame and feeble.  “He shall feed his flock like a shepherd.”

            Far more intimately than the patriarch Jacob knew the weak, the suffering, and the lame among his sheep, does the Chief Shepherd know His flock.  He knows what no one else knows.  He has Himself weighed every burden.  No one knows the weight like Himself, for He has borne all our griefs, and carried all our sorrows.  It was this that made Him a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. . . .

            If there is not another soul in the universe that regards you, the Lord God of Israel is looking upon you with thoughts of compassion, tenderness, and sympathy.  He sees you with your strong impulses when fainthearted and discouraged. . . . You have the deepest, the richest, the most refreshing sympathy in the bosom of the great Shepherd.  We have not an high priest who cannot sympathize with us, but One who was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. . . .

            Not only has every provision been made that when tried and tempted you should find help and strength and grace, but also that you influence upon other minds should be fragrant.  Not only does Christ know every soul, and the temptations and trials of that soul, but He knows all the circumstances that irritate and chafe the spirit.  Your great danger is in being self-sufficient.  This will not do for a Christian.  Christ will give you His patience if you as for it. . . .

            God’s abounding love and presence will give you the power of self-control.  He will mold and fashion your mind and character.  He will direct your aims and purposes and capabilities in a channel that will give you moral and spiritual power which you will not have to leave here in this world but can carry with you and retain through eternal ages.²⁰