Daily Manna · Day 47 · February 16
Unpluckable
“My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand.”
There is something from this last year you would not want read aloud, and it has been quietly arguing ever since that you are not one of His. It never says so in a crowd. It waits.
But how do you know you are His?
Jesus tells you the marks two verses up. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. Notice that none of the three is a feeling.
That is exactly the problem. I did something a follower would not do.
So did Peter, three times, on the record, in a courtyard, out loud, with a fire going.
And I am supposed to find that comforting.
You are supposed to find it accurate. Look at where Jesus puts the security. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. The grip under discussion is not yours. Yours was never mentioned.
Then nothing I do matters.
That is not what was said. The sheep in the sentence are hearing and following, present tense, ongoing. The security is enormous, and it is precise rather than vague, spoken over animals that are still listening for a voice.
Which is the warning, and it should be said plainly rather than softened. The danger was never that your grip would slip; the Father's hand settles that. The danger is a person who stops listening for the voice altogether and then quotes this verse for comfort. The hand is unbreakable. It is worth checking, honestly, whether you are still turning your head when it speaks.
Daily Manna runs on a two-year cycle. The year two reading for day 47 is Under My Roof (Matthew 8:8).