Episode 2 -
YOUR HOME IS LIKE A SHEPHERD’S FOLD

Announcer:  Welcome to the podcast, From Our Home to Yours, with Nancy Campbell, founder, and publisher of Above Rubies.

Nancy Campbell: Good morning to you ladies. Well, it may be good evening. I don't know when you're going to be listening to this, but wherever you are, may you be blessed of the Lord.

Don't forget to tell others about the podcast. We're just getting started, so let others know about it. We will send it out to you once a week, and we will try to keep to just a half an hour. I forgot to look at the clock in our first session, so I went a bit longer, but I promise you I'll remember to look at the clock in the future.

Now today, I'd like to talk a little bit more about that beautiful word, “naveh,” just one of the words for “home” in the Bible, a word that means” lovely, pleasant, satisfied.” Isn't that beautiful?

I'd like to bring you over to the New Testament today, because it's good to look at the Old, and to look at the New. I love both the Old and the New Testaments. I'm not one of those who likes to read the New Testament only, or just the Old. I love both because I love the saying that says: “The New is in the Old concealed; the Old is in the New revealed.” I find that there is so much that is so similar in both the Old and the New Testaments.

I want to take you to a passage in John 21 today, a beautiful story. This was after Jesus had risen from the dead, and He was wanting to talk to His disciples, to fellowship with them, and to give a special word to Peter, actually.

So, He went down to Galilee, because He knew that's where they'd be, out fishing, and yes, there they were. You could see them out on the lake fishing. And so, what did Jesus do? He began to build a little fire on the shores of Galilee. He gathered sticks and got this lovely little fire going. Then He began to cook breakfast. He began to cook fish and bread and get it ready for His disciples.

Now that was a lovely thing, but, ladies, have you thought about it? Who was cooking? It was Jesus, the One Who had just risen from the dead, conquered death, and conquered hell, live from the grave! What was He doing? He's cooking! Oh my!

And you thought cooking was a little bit too lowly for you!

Sometimes we think these mundane, no they're not mundane, but we think they are, these things that we have to do in our home, all our duties. Cooking! We can't get away from it, because our husband is hungry, and our children are hungry. And if we don't prepare food, they're not going to be nourished and looked after. And so, we have to do them each day.

But I want to encourage you, dear moms, please don't look upon cooking as a chore. It is a powerful, powerful thing that you do in your home. Cooking has power to change lives. Cooking and preparing food is very powerful because it paves the way for greater things. And we're going to see that in this story.

So, Jesus was preparing breakfast. Then He called out to His disciples to come and dine. “Come, come and have breakfast!”

He got them all in around this fire and this lovely food that He had prepared for them. The Bible says, in Luke, Chapter 21, that Jesus served them. Once again, this is Jesus, this One Who had just risen from the dead! Oh goodness me, if we had risen from the dead, I guess we'd think we were too important to be doing some very servile thing.

But no, Jesus served them. He waited on them.

They enjoyed food together. Can you imagine the wonderful fellowship they enjoyed as they talked together? Because, dear ladies, this is what food is all about!

Food is not just eating to fill your hungry tummy. Food is fellowship. Say it with me: FOOD IS FELLOWSHIP!

We're not ever meant to eat food in isolation. God intends us to eat food together. That's why it's so important to gather our family around the table to eat together. That's why God paints the beautiful picture of the family in Psalm 128. And what was the picture? A family sitting around the meal table. That's the picture God loves of a family! Check it out: Psalm 128:3: “Your wife is like a fruitful vine within the heart of your home, your children like olive branches, all around your table!”

Why do we sit around a table? So we can see one another. We can look at one another. We can talk to one another. As one writer says, “Eye to eye, face to face, table fellowship.” I love that. That's how it's meant to be. Eye to eye, face to face. And if it's not that, it's not the real thing.

In fact, we don't even get the same nutrients or enjoyment or all the blessings out of our food unless we are eating it with others.

Always gather your family to your table. Make it a special thing every day in your home. Make it a habit, and don't get out of the habit. If you've got out of it, establish that habit again.

So, the disciples and Jesus enjoyed that beautiful time together. And then, after they had dined and fellowshipped, Jesus called Peter to Himself. He had a special word for Peter. I'm sure you remember the story. In verse 15, Jesus said to Peter, “Peter, lovest thou Me more than these?”

Peter replied, “You know I love You, Lord.”

Jesus said to him, “Feed my lambs.” But that wasn't enough. Jesus asked the question again. He said the same thing, although this time, He used “sheep.” “Feed my sheep.” That wasn't enough. He asked him again if he loved Him. Then He gave him the same word again: “Peter, feed my sheep.”

Jesus was seeking to pass on to Peter His heart, His shepherding heart. Because Jesus is the Great Shepherd. He is the Good Shepherd. Dear precious ladies, we learn to be mothers if we learn to shepherd like Jesus shepherds, because shepherding and mothering are so similar.

Now it's interesting, the first time Jesus said, “Feed my lambs,” that is just the word “feed.” To feed. Actually, that is the word that's used for a “shepherd.” He's a feeder. Then the second time the word is used, he uses a different word altogether.  It's the word in the Greek, poimainos, and this time it means more than just giving food. It means to totally cling to the sheep in every single way, in the full understanding of shepherding. 

Perhaps I could read to you that same picture of what it means for a shepherd to shepherd his sheep, and therefore what it means for us as we mother our little flock, or our big flock, whatever it may be.

Now I have looked into all the words of shepherding, and into the Hebrew words, and into the Scriptures. As I look at these, I find all these understandings of how to shepherd and to mother. Pretty amazing. Want to hear it? Okay.

It means to befriend with an intimate relationship, to be a companion. That is part of the word “shepherd,” to be a friend and companion, to bind and bandage up the hurt and broken, to bravely fight off all enemies, just like David did.

Do you remember when he was a shepherd boy out on the hillside, there in Judah? The lion came, and the bear came, but he was brave.  He so cared for and so loved his sheep that he was willing to lay down his life for his sheep. He went after those enemies. He told one story of how he went and got hold of that lion, how he got it by the beard, and wrested the little lamb out of its mouth! Wow, that took courage!

But that is part of being a shepherd-mother. Yes, we are to be tender and loving, but we also are to rise up against anything that will come against our children and would seek to take them off.

That's why I think that sometimes it would be good for some mothers to go in with that same spirit that David had, go into that public school system and take their precious children out of the jaws of the lion! Just like David, he took hold of that beard and pulled out that little lamb. “I'm not going to get my little lamb devoured! I'm rescuing this lamb! I'm going to save it because I love this little lamb!”

And it means to bring back the straying ones, to carry the lambs, your lambs, close to your heart. To comfort, to encourage, to eliminate fear, to feed, to gather in your arms, to gather to your table, to gently lead, to guard and watch over your flock, to guide them on the right track, to heal the sick, to keep them safe, to lead to restful and rich green pastures, to nourish, to persevere to find the lost one, to prepare a table, to protect, to provide, to rescue when they turn to wrong paths, to restore, to renew, revive and refresh, to rule with wisdom and discretion.

And yes, encompassed in the meaning of “shepherd” is also the meaning, to rule. To rule over our little flock means to guide them with wisdom and discretion, to sacrifice and lay down our lives, to save our flock, to strengthen the weak, and ultimately, to tend to our flock as we fold them in our fold.

That was the full meaning of when Jesus spoke the second time to Peter. Two times he said, “Feed my sheep.” That one time he said, “I want you to tend to them, in every aspect of their lives.”

So dear mothers, it's not really a part-time job after all, is it? Mothering is a full-time job as we fold our flock.

I have a beautiful picture. I posted it on Facebook the other week, and I think I'd love to have it on my wall. It's a picture of a sheepfold in the Middle East. The walls are made of stone, and the stones of course are a wall. It's a rectangular sheepfold, and the stones were high enough that no wolf or no predator could get in. There was just one door, one opening or gate, whichever word you would like to use.

There in this picture is the shepherd, sitting in the gate, filling the gate. Nothing could get past him to his sheep. He was the door. No one could come in or go out. The sheep couldn't get out. No predator could get in, except through him. He was guarding over his sheep. Such a beautiful picture.

The shepherd in the Middle East doesn't shepherd his sheep part-time. He is always there with them. Night and day, he's with them, guarding them and watching over them. This is our role that we have as the folders of our flock, the shepherdesses.

Let me take you to Isaiah 40, verse 11. I know you love this Scripture. “He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: He shall gather the lambs with his arms, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young.” This is a picture of mothering.

The first thing is feeding. Yes, so once again, as I said before, lovely ladies, don't despise feeding. Feeding begins the moment our little baby is born. The baby comes to the breast to nurse and to find sustenance. That baby just wants to drink night and day.

If you're a breastfeeding mother, give yourself and make yourself available to your little baby. Don't try to schedule your feeding. Babies want to feed on and off. Breastmilk is a very perfect milk for your baby. It digests quite quickly, far more quickly than formula or cow's milk, which takes quite a while to digest.

That's why, long ago, this four-hourly scheduled feeding came in, because when people turned to bottle feeding, they had to wait so long for that cow's milk to digest.

But today I think most mothers are nursing their babies. We must remember that breastmilk digests quickly. Babies are ready to have another feed so quickly.

Also, babies don't just feed for milk. That's something we must get out of our brain, that is that feeding is just for physical. No, feeding is far more than for just the physical. Even when we start off with our babies, feeding is far more than just the physical.

Yes, our baby is hungry, but there are times when your little baby just wants to nurse from you, and he's not hungry. “Why does he want to nurse? I just fed him 20 minutes ago! Goodness me!”

But dear mother, God created your baby with a sucking instinct. Your baby wants to suck. Have you noticed that? Well, some of you may have babies that are quite content, but the majority of babies, they want to suck, and they want to suck even when they're not hungry.

Why do they want to suck? Because God created them that way, not only for their blessing, because the more they suck from the breast, the better for their own development, but also for your benefit. The more the baby sucks the breast, the more milk you make, so you will always have adequate sustenance for your little baby.

Your baby will also be ministered to emotionally. When we go to Isaiah 66, and we look at the picture of breastfeeding here, once again, it's an allegory. In verses 10-13, God is talking about Jerusalem. He likens Jerusalem to a nursing mother. When we read this passage, we find out how God looks upon a breastfeeding mother.

As we read, we don't read anything about feeding. But we read the words satisfying, consoling, delighted, peace, flowing, comforting. So, nursing from the breast is far more than just giving milk. It's consoling your baby, satisfying your baby, comforting your baby. As your baby sucks, he is comforted. 

What is going on within his little heart and soul? You're bringing comfort, because food is far more than physical. Food ministers to the soul and the spirit as well.

And so, we begin with our baby, and as we continue, we must keep on cooking. The bigger your children get, the more you're going to have to cook! That's just part of it all.

All right, just let me read you one or two more Scriptures that have this word, naveh. Actually, this word is found 36 times in the Bible. I'll just read you one or two passages.

Proverbs 3:33: “God blesses the habitation, (naveh) of the just.”

Proverbs 21:20: “There is treasure to be desired and oil in the dwelling (naveh) of the wise.”

Proverbs 24:15: “Lay not wait, O wicked man, against the dwelling (naveh) of the righteous. Spoil not his resting place.” That's another beautiful word God uses for our homes, our “resting place.”

Here's another beautiful Scripture. Isaiah 32:18: “And my people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation (there's the word naveh again) and in sure dwellings, and in quiet resting places.”

Did you notice, lovely ladies, that in that one Scripture there, there are four different words for the home, just in that one Scripture? This is how much that God thinks about the home.

Let me tell them to you. “And my people shall DWELL.” That's the Hebrew word yashab, meaning “to dwell.” We talked about this last part. It means to really live in your home, to make it your life.

Our home will be what we make it. It can be the most exciting place on earth if we make it that way. Or it can be the most boring place on earth if we don't get up our feet and do something! We determine the atmosphere. We determine the lifestyle of the home that we live in.

“My people shall dwell.” They're going to live and make life there in a “peaceable habitation.” That's naveh, a place of peace. And “in sure dwellings.” There's another word, mishkan. Oh, that's a beautiful word too, that's a word that's often used of the Temple of God, where God dwells. But He also uses it of our homes. Isn't that wonderful? He wants our homes to be dwelling places filled with His presence.

The last one, “and in quiet resting places.” That word is the Hebrew word menuchah. It literally means “to take rest, sit down, enjoy your home.”

May you be blessed ladies. Let me pray for you.

“Dear Father, I thank You for these precious ladies listening again today. I ask that You will give them a new vision for their homes, Lord, that You want them to be beautiful places, peaceful dwellings, restful places, places, Lord, where Your presence dwells, just as You dwelt in the Holy of Holies, in the Tabernacle. You use the same words for our homes. You now want to come and dwell in our homes. Dear Father, I pray that You will come into each home. Manifest Your presence. Help each dear mother, Lord God, to seek You, and to do what You would have them to do to make Your presence more felt and more special in their homes. I ask this in the precious Name of Jesus. Amen.”

Transcribed by Darlene Norris