Song of Songs Verse 8 - Follow The Footsteps Of The Sheep

This is the Truth Network. So we're just gonna cover the beginning part of the verse, which is not a long verse, but it's packed, it's packed because it's such a miracle. Because again, you might remember from last episode that the Shulamite woman had asked, you know, how to find him, and he is now gonna give her the answer of answers here, which is by all means a miracle in my view. The eighth verse in the first chapter of the first part reads, if thou know not, O thou fairest among women, go thy way forth by the footsteps of the flock. So as we talked about, you know, that we're in this sheep metaphor, and she asked, you know, how do I find you? And so here you have this amazing, amazing, amazing statement from the Lord, where he says most beautiful or the fairest of women. That's an amazing word in Hebrew, as it essentially, it's a yud and then a pe, and with those two, it's this idea of the light or the spark of God in the face.

And I don't know if you ever looked in the face of many children and seen this, but it was interesting. I went to, my granddaughter had a concert the other day, and there were all these girls singing, and this one girl just stood out like a bright, shining star, and she had that innocent look like that of a child, and you know, that idea that this is how Jesus sees us. He sees that light, his light, that's in our eyes, and that's what makes us the fairest of them all, so to speak, and which is kind of cool, because this is, you know, mirror, mirror on the wall. Here's Solomon's version of that before it was ever written, obviously, of who's the fairest of them all, and here, you know, Jesus himself is saying that about us, and then he's answering this unbelievable question of how do I find you, and he gives this answer that shows how much is in the 23rd Psalm, and this verse has so much to do with the 23rd Psalm, and it has so much to do with what Jesus talked about about being the good shepherd. It has so much to do with the book of Revelation. In other words, wherever you look, this idea of the shepherd all the way through Genesis, here we have where he says follow the footsteps of the flock. Well, you might remember in the 23rd Psalm that the last verses are surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Well, that idea, if you ever read the book, it's a wonderful book by, it's called The Shepherd's Guide to the 23rd Psalm, where he explains that sheep are the animals of the golden hooves, and this idea is that sheep, when they're well pastured, when they have the good shepherd, so to speak, they leave behind them green pastures because they eat the grass at just a perfect level so it'll continue to grow. They fertilize it as they go, and you can tell where the sheep have walked by these beautiful green pastures, and so the idea of goodness and mercy following us is good sheep that have been shepherded well leave tracks. These tracks of the sheep are in more green pastures, more places to eat, more things that are behind us as the point of what good sheep do. But when you get to the 23rd Psalm at the very beginning, he explains somewhat of how we're to follow the tracks of the sheep because what does sheep do? If you're a sheep, what are you looking for?

You're looking for food, you're looking for still waters, and you're looking to rest, okay? That's what you're looking for, and obviously be led in paths of righteousness, but all that comes together with the tracks of the sheep. So what does sheep eat?

Well, they eat grass, and then they chew the cut. In other words, that is the word of God. I don't know how many, like you, everybody listening, I don't guess you'd be listening to this if you don't love the word of God, and if you didn't eat regularly in this particular pasture, you know that this is just a spectacular thing, and that here Jesus tells you where to find it. It's all over when you eat of the word of God.

I mean, it's just absolutely amazing. And then you've got the living water, that this metaphor that goes throughout the whole Bible, and no doubt water is the scripture, as we're told time and again, and still waters are obviously scripture that we can ingest, that can refresh us, refresh our souls, and then the whole idea of getting us to rest. The other thing that I think is worth noting in this is he doesn't say follow the track of the sheep or a sheep. He says follow the tracks.

In other words, that word's plural. Footsteps, follow the footsteps of the flock, which is more than one. In other words, if you look at what I believe are the unbelievable saints over the centuries, their love for the word of God and how they fed on it, and certainly they left behind themselves green pastures for us to feed on more, and this whole idea of being fed and feeding is something that is very much part and parcel of how we find the good way, right? Because Jesus is telling him, or telling Solomon, or telling the beloved, how it is that you go about finding, and this simple, simple, simple stuff, however so profoundly deep and so profoundly wonderful. So one of the key things to think about and to go a little bit deeper with in my opinion is this idea of footsteps, which is obviously significant to this part of the first part of the verse, and that word in Hebrew begins with the letter aion, which you might remember, the miracle verse in the letter aion. I esteem all thy precepts concerning all things to be right, and I hate every false way. So you see this idea of the good footsteps there is they hate every false way, and the idea of an aion is that of a servant and of that who is following God's vision.

The second letter is the Hebrew letter kuff, which you might remember, the miracle verse in the letter kuff, is concerning thy testimonies, I know that thou has founded them forever, with that idea of the kuff being proximity, and our proximity to forever is eternity, and here you go. So pretty cool when you get this idea of serving eternity by going this right way. I mean, it's pretty spectacular, and the last letter in the word footsteps is the letter bet, which you may know means house in so many different ways, and so it's like these steps are leading us home, but again, getting to the idea of statutes, the miracle verse in the letter bet is, I will delight in thy statutes, and thy word I will never forget. Again, getting back to how it is that we eat, and it fits perfectly in this idea of the footsteps, and being in our way home, which we're gonna get a lot to in the next episode. So again, to apply this into our own lives, like wow, like even this morning, I'm sure you, I hope that you got in God's word, and you follow the tracks of the sheep, that there is the food, and oh my goodness, just what I saw this morning in that very word that I just described, I just sat there and delight, and delight, and delight in thy law. I hope you did that as well. Oh, tomorrow's episode is spectacular the way this verse finishes, and it is the miracle verse, like the miracle that Jesus is going to tell us the way, as we will continue to learn from this and next time. Thank you.