He Calls Us by Name

To me, most sheep look pretty much alike. If you’ve seen one wooly even-toed ungulate, you’ve seen them all. Gazing at a flock of ewes, rams, and lambs, most of us wouldn’t be able to tell one from another. An experienced sheep-herder, however, can tell them apart.

Growing up on a dairy farm, my brothers and I helped Dad care for our black and white Holstein cows, but we didn’t know the herd the way Dad did. Since he had milked them twice a day for many years, he knew the cows on a first-name basis. They recognized his voice. He gave them names like Dolly, Bess, and Spot. When Dad called their names, they would walk compliantly into the milking parlor (most of the time anyway).

Jesus is not only a good shepherd; he’s the Best Shepherd imaginable. Describing how the caring shepherd interacts with the flock, Jesus said, “He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out” (John 10:3).

Known by God

Do you find names easy to retain? Zsa Zsa Gabor said, “I call everyone ‘Darling’ because I can’t remember their names.” Personally I’m getting to a stage in life where I can recall the name of my neighbor’s dog, but not the name of my neighbor! Memory loss happens with time, but unless hindered by age or disease, most people tend to retain the information we consider most important. The philosopher Cicero wryly observed, “I never heard of an old man forgetting where he had buried his money.”

The Lord has a very large flock, but he values each member of the flock so much that he identifies all of his sheep by name.

He knows your name better than you do. You don’t know how many hairs are on your head, but the heavenly Father does. Before your tiny fingers ever wrote your name with a Number Two pencil, God knew and loved you. Before your parents gave you the name that appears on your birth certificate, he knew what you would be called and what you would achieve. The Lord told the prophet Jeremiah, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you” (Jeremiah 1:5). Amazed by God’s omniscience, the psalmist David wrote, “You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways” (Psalm 139:2, 3).

He knows your name when others don’t. Do you ever feel insignificant living in a world populated by billions? Do students or teachers ignore you at school? Do you feel like a nobody—even in the church? At work, did you miss out on a promotion you should have received? Do you feel overlooked and unimportant as you age? The Good Shepherd hasn’t forgotten you. You are immensely important to him. “See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!” (1 John 3:1).

He knows your name forever. In Christ we can be assured that our “names are written in heaven” (Luke 10:20; Hebrews 12:23; Revelation 21:27). We may not always understand all of the Good Shepherd’s ways, but we can be certain: He will never fail us, and he will never forget us.

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