November 22

Morning

Jacob fled to the land of Aram and Israel worked for a wife—for a wife he tended sheep. — Hos 12:12 BSB

Jacob, while confronting Laban, described his labor: “These twenty years I have been with you. I did not bring you animals torn by wild beasts; I bore the loss myself. And you demanded payment from me for whatever was stolen by day or night. This was my situation: The heat consumed me in the daytime and the cold at night, and sleep fled from my eyes.”

But even more exhausting than Jacob’s toil was the life of our Savior here on earth. Jesus watched over all His sheep until He could give His final account, saying, “Of all those whom You have given me, I have lost none.” His hair was soaked with the dew of the night, and His locks with the drops of the evening. Sleep often eluded Him, as He spent nights in prayer, wrestling for His people. One night He prayed for Peter; another night, someone else required His tearful intercession. No shepherd, sitting under cold skies, gazing at the stars, could ever describe his hardships in a way that would compare to the sufferings of Jesus, who labored tirelessly to win His bride.

There’s a sweet parallel between Jacob, who was held responsible for all of Laban’s sheep, and Jesus, who was given charge over His flock. If any sheep were lost, Jacob had to make it right. If any were injured, he stood as the guarantor. Was not Jesus’ work for His Church similar—a labor of love, shouldering the responsibility to bring every believer safely to the Father who entrusted them to Him? Look at toiling Jacob, and you will see a reflection of Him of whom it is written, “He shall feed His flock like a shepherd.”

Evening

I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to Him in His death, — Phil 3:10 BSB

The doctrine of a risen Savior is profoundly precious. The resurrection is the cornerstone of all Christianity, the keystone of the arch of our salvation. There are so many streams of living water that flow from this sacred source—the resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To know that He has risen, and to have fellowship with Him in that resurrection life, communing with the risen Christ and living a resurrected life yourself—this is even more precious. The doctrine is foundational, but as the flower is more beautiful than the root, so the experience of fellowship with the risen Christ is even more beautiful than the doctrine itself.

I urge you to believe in Christ’s resurrection with all your heart, to sing of it, and to draw every bit of comfort from this well-attested fact. But don’t stop there. Though you cannot, like the disciples, see Him with your eyes, I encourage you to see Christ Jesus with the eyes of faith. And though, like Mary Magdalene, you may not be able to touch Him physically, you can still be privileged to speak with Him, to know that He is risen, and to rise yourself to newness of life in Him.

To know a crucified Savior as the one who crucified all my sins is a glorious truth. But to know a risen Savior as the one who has justified me and given me new life, making me a new creation through His own resurrection life—this is the highest form of experience. We should not be satisfied with anything less than this. May you come to “know Him, and the power of His resurrection.”

Why should souls that have been made alive with Jesus still wear the grave-clothes of worldliness and unbelief? Rise, for the Lord is risen!