"As a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth" (Isaiah 53:7). -- O friends, what infinite patience is here, - patience which endured woes unknown to us, for our Lord’s griefs and agonies were deeper than we shall ever be able to fathom! Yet to the end he bore all without a struggle. I went to see a friend, the other day, who has had a great number of sore afflictions, yet I found her singularly cheerful and content; and when I was speaking with her about the matter, she said, "I have for years enjoyed perfect submission to the divine will, and it was through what I heard you say." So I asked her, "What did I say?" She replied, "You said that you had seen a sheep in the hands of its shearer, and that, although all the wool was clipped off its back, the shears never cut into its flesh; and you said that the reason was because the sheep was lying perfectly still. You said, 'Lie still, and the shears will not cut you; but if you kick and struggle, you will not only be shorn, for God has resolved to do that, but you will be wounded in the bargain.'" O beloved, it is a blessed thing to lie still under the shears, so still as not even to bleat! "As a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth." May the perfect example of the Lamb of God teach us a holy submissiveness to the will of God!

Charles Spurgeon