The Lord Is Their Shepherd
“Your son has type 1 diabetes, and we’re going to admit him.” The words of the doctor on the phone call burst the dam I’d been constructing all morning. Tears flowed as my breath caught in my chest. We knew it was coming. It was our suspicion and the reason my husband drove through a snowstorm to take our five-year-old to the children’s emergency room that morning. Still the words brought a sense of finality—that our lives were truly about to change. And I wasn’t even there to help him.
While the snow beat against our home, I cared for our two older children and constantly checked my phone for my husband’s updates. The next day, once the roads cleared, I finally joined my husband at the hospital to begin to learn how to care for our son.
Since that day, we’ve become our son’s pancreas. We count every carb that passes across his plate and stick him with a needle at least five times a day. Each time we leave the house, we pack our medicine and plenty of snacks and skittles for emergencies. My mama-bear instincts have emerged in full force as I’ve read, planned, and studied all I can to help my child thrive.
Yet part of me fears his future without us. As I pay another hefty bill for insulin, I wonder how he’ll manage to afford the medicine he needs to survive when he joins the workforce in an entry-level job. While I kept him hydrated during a stomach bug, I questioned who would be there to help keep him out of the emergency room once he’s living on his own? This disease is a part of our life for now, but it will forever be a part of his. And I won’t always be there with him.
These fears tug at the heart of all parents no matter if their children have an illness or not. We wonder what obstacles our children will face in their future, what suffering will come their way, what doubts will sink in, and what temptations will overtake them that we can’t foresee. We know the Lord is our shepherd who will navigate us through whatever trials our children may experience, but we often have a harder time remembering the Lord is also their shepherd.
Parents as Protectors
The instinct to shepherd our children comes naturally. Since we first brought our children home, we’ve felt an obligation to protect them. For years we’ve been providing our kids with nourishment, care, and love. We’ve prayed for help, strength, wisdom, and comfort from the Lord as we guided them through sleepless nights, scraped knees, and broken hearts. The words of Scripture and the comfort of the Holy Spirit have enabled us to discipline our children, pray for them, and guide them in the path of righteousness.
We should shepherd our children in these ways. The Bible gives many admonitions to parents to guide and lead their children in the instruction of the Lord. Many proverbs remind us of the important job a parent has in imparting discipline to their children (Prov. 13:24; 22:6; 29:15, 17). Deuteronomy urges parents to become teachers who impress the commandments of the Lord on their children at all times of the day (Deut. 6:6–9). Paul challenges fathers to bring up children “in the training and instruction of the Lord” (Eph. 6:4). We find stories of parents throughout Scripture who trained and taught their children faithfully, like Timothy’s mother and grandmother (2 Tim. 1:5).
These examples display the immense impact a parent has to help guide their child in the fear of the Lord. Yet if we’re not careful, we may forget that all our work as parents is only a part of their true shepherd’s guidance.
Participants with the Great Shepherd
The Scriptures consistently refer to the Lord as a shepherd. Through Psalm 23, the parable of the lost sheep, or Christ himself declaring plainly, “I am the good shepherd” (John 10:11), we see the Lord leads his people like a loving shepherd. It’s easier to think about this in relation to our own life. We depend upon these truths in times of difficulty and heartache. We pray that the Lord will lead us beside still waters and protect us in the valleys of death. But the Lord is a shepherd to every single sheep, even those he gave parents to nurture and raise.
God never delegates his role. The Lord’s sheep don’t follow a business model that passes on the burden. No, the Lord shepherds each one of his sheep, including our children. Paul Tripp explained this saying parenting is “not about exercising power for change in your children. Parenting is about [our] humble faithfulness in being willing to participate in God’s work of change for the sake of your children” (Parenting, 61). Even while we’re enacting our God-given role of caring for our children, we are still only taking part in the Lord’s active shepherding. It might feel like it depends on us at the time, but it never does.
We are mere participants in the Lord’s loving care. In part, this word is difficult to receive. Our nature craves control. We’re their parents after all, the ones who are supposed to provide for all they need, right? Who better to lead and guide our kids than the parents who know them the most? It’s scary to release our hold and face our limited role. Yet, at the same time this reality is our greatest hope as parents: We’re not their shepherd.
Our children don’t depend on us. Through every time out, 2:00 a.m. feeding, and family Bible time, their true shepherd is guiding and forming them. He’s molding their hearts in hidden ways we never know. Through the Holy Spirit, God orders each of their days, brings people into their lives, and convicts them through his Word. While we teach and guide, our child’s true shepherd is working all things according to their good (Rom. 8:28).
When we realize that all our toiling over our children is only participation in the Lord’s work, our fears of the future find comfort. What will happen when we aren’t there for our kids? The same thing that has happened their entire life: their shepherd will guide them. He’s been leading them since he formed them in the womb, and he will continue to care for them every day after.
I don’t know what kind of trials my youngest son will struggle through with his diabetes diagnosis, nor do I know the trials my eldest will have at age thirty-two. But I do know they have someone far better than me with them at all times.
We might not be there for our children in the future, but their shepherd will—guiding them toward green pastures. He’ll lead them beside still waters and restore their broken-hearted souls when they need it. Their shepherd will fix their eyes on the righteous Christ and continue to mold their hearts after his likeness. When terror befalls whether through sickness, poverty, heartache, or even violence, their shepherd will stand faithfully beside them, comforting and protecting his sheep, through the valleys of death and even diabetes (Ps. 23).
Though life may not be easy, we can be sure that goodness and mercy will follow our children all the days of their life, because they know and are known by their Good Shepherd. He will never stop caring for his flock, for he has been doing it since the beginning. May we rest our anxious hearts, and leave our children in his capable hands.
Brianna Lambert is a wife and a mom to three, making their home in the cornfields of Indiana. She loves using writing to work out the truths God is teaching her each day. She is a staff writer with GCD and has contributed to various online publications, such as Christianity Today and The Gospel Coalition. You can find more of her writing paired with her husband’s photography at lookingtotheharvest.com.