All

“All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way.”  Isaiah 53:6

All – I don’t know about you, but I often discover that I don’t really consider myself one of the sheep.  After all, I am an educator, a businessman, a leader.  I have position, power and prestige.  I’m not one of those helpless sheep, confused and incapable.  When I start thinking like this, I run to Isaiah.  I need God’s perspective, not my ego-enhanced self-delusions.  And God says, “All of us”.  It doesn’t matter what I think or feel.  God’s view is the truth.  My ego only masks reality.  I am truly one of the helpless sheep, just like you.

Patrick Morley points out that men are more susceptible to this ego delusion.  Men think they are strong, able, powerful and capable.  We brave the elements to rescue fair maidens.  We fight the wars, win the battles and conquer the enemies.  We are tough.  But it’s all a façade.  God sees us as we really are: sheep gone astray.  We are just as confused, just as helpless and just as vulnerable as any of His lost creatures.  The bottom line is this:  we need God. 

The Hebrew word kol is usually attached to another word to indicate the total of something.  Here is it “all we”.  Kol is used more than 5000 times in the Old Testament.  Obviously, God is quite interested in “all”.  God wants us to understand that not a single exception exists to this description of men and women as lost sheep.  All of us have taken the wrong path.  All of us need to be rescued.  All of us are helplessly lost.  All of us are incapable of returning to safety on our own.  We need the Shepherd.

There is one right way, but there are billions and billions of wrong ways.  God recognizes that each one of us has chosen a uniquely wrong path.  No two detours from the truth are exactly the same.  But the need for rescue is. 

Today I can thank God that He opened my eyes to my wandering.  He showed me my helplessness, my inability, my need.  Then He gathered up the scared and crying person left there in the dark and said, “Don’t be afraid.  I’ve found you.  It’s all alright now.”