The Good Shepherd

When Moroni and his army chased Amalickiah and his followers into the wilderness, they were able to head them off. Mormon recorded, “And it came to pass that Amalickiah fled with a small number of his men” (Alma 46:33). That tells us quite a bit about Amalickiah—he was more concerned with his own life than that of the people who were following him, and he was willing to leave them all to flee for his own safety. It reminds me of what King Noah did when the Lamanites showed up among his people: “Now it came to pass that the king commanded them that all the men should leave their wives and their children, and flee before the Lamanites” (Mosiah 19:11). He left the most vulnerable of his people at the mercy of his enemy and fled into the wilderness to try to save his own life. Jesus described this kind of leader when he taught about the difference between a shepherd and a hireling. He said, “He that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth: and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep. The hireling fleeth, because he is an hireling, and careth not for the sheep” (John 10:12-13). Amalickiah and Noah were like the hireling who had “sheep” only for their own benefit and cared not for them. And when danger came, they fled to save themselves, leaving the sheep to be scattered.

                President Faust once told a memorable story about his experience caring for a little lamb. He recounted how his father had found the animal alone in the desert and had given it to him to care for at home. He related, “For several weeks I warmed cow’s milk in a baby’s bottle and fed the lamb. We became fast friends…. It began to grow. My lamb and I would play on the lawn. Sometimes we would lie together on the grass and I would lay my head on its soft, woolly side and look up at the blue sky and the white billowing clouds. I did not lock my lamb up during the day. It would not run away…. One night there came a terrible storm. I forgot to put my lamb in the barn that night as I should have done. I went to bed. My little friend was frightened in the storm, and I could hear it bleating. I knew that I should help my pet, but I wanted to stay safe, warm, and dry in my bed. I didn’t get up as I should have done. The next morning I went out to find my lamb dead. A dog had also heard its bleating cry and killed it. My heart was broken. I had not been a good shepherd or steward of that which my father had entrusted to me.” His father then asked this piercing question: “Son, couldn’t I trust you to take care of just one lamb?” He told how he vowed “that I would try never again to neglect my stewardship as a shepherd if I were ever placed in that position again.” The story is a vivid reminder to all of us of how we should seek more diligently to care for and love and watch over those whom the Lord has given us stewardship over. Whether it is with our family members, our friends, ward members, or others around us, we should not ignore the figurative bleating of the sheep who need our help. The call of the Good Shepherd for us is the same as He gave to Peter: “Feed my lambs” (John 21:15). And as we do that and seek ourselves to come unto Him, He will indeed be our shepherd. I love Alma’s invitation to come under His protection: “And now I say unto you that the good shepherd doth call after you; and if you will hearken unto his voice he will bring you into his fold, and ye are his sheep; and he commandeth you that ye suffer no ravenous wolf to enter among you, that ye may not be destroyed” (Alma 5:60). We can strive to be like Him—and not hirelings like Amalickiah—and find protection for ourselves as we also care for His sheep.