In NZ sheep aren’t even smart enough to stop Keas (destructive parrots) from landing on their backs and pecking through their skin to eat their livers!
No rolling over, no running away, no going to another sheep for help, no running to humans for help, no brushing against a tree.
Wow. Imagine how helpless such an animal is!
And now consider that Jesus Christ described us as equally helpless to the things around us.
At first I was mustering by riding a motor bike and almost shoving them along from behind. But it was hard work.
The mums and lambs were at the back and because of the noise of the bike the babies couldn’t hear the baa of the mums, the mums maybe couldn’t hear the lambs? So they kept stopping to reconnect. Up front the sheep seemed to get spooked by the bushes either side and constantly stopped walking, bunching everyone up, so Id have to rev and get them going. And the mums kept stopping and smelling their lambs. Plus some would panic and run into the bushes on the side and we’d have to get them out.
Does it sound like hot frustrating work? Yes it was. Then my hands got tired of clenching the handlebars of the bike and I got off, gave it to someone else, who went back to the fields to search for sheep who had been left behind – and there is a parable in that too!
With me on foot, and two two less vehicle and three less people, I began to talk to the sheep. “Come on! Lets go! Keep moving!” and do on. Well. What a difference!
There is no way that they knew my voice, nor do they understand English. But they walked and walked and walked and never stopped walking! It was so easy! Amazing! I just kept telling them to go forward and they did, so smoothly!!
Ok, you might be thinking about motor bike noises and all the reasons and symbolism. I’m not focused on that at all.
They clearly respond to the sound of a voice, even if they can’t understand English. It made all the difference and things went smoothly. Sheep don’t perceive our leadership, it is us who anticipates how to muster them. We guide, they just keep walking and eating.
The lambs often mistook the tut-tut-tut of the motorbike to be the baa-baa-baa of their mum and they would leave her to follow behind the bike. But the mum would just stand their baa-ing until the lamb works out what is mum and what is not, and then return to her.
We are the same. All we like sheep have gone astray. We get confused, we follow after doctrines of men, we panic and run into bushes away from the flock and away from the Shepherd.
I need a Shepherd who guards the doorway with His own physical body, I need a Shepherd who guides me with His crook – I may not even know where we are going, I may not know why, I may not even perceive His change of direction, I just find myself walking that way. And He doesn’t leave
I need a Shepherd who uses His staff to beat off trouble makers – while at the same time I pray that He will later go to them and tend their wounds, heal them, love them, reveal Himself to them, restore their finances and marriages and businesses… but first, beat them off and away from me with His staff.
We are the same. All we like sheep have gone astray. We get confused, we follow after doctrines of men, we panic and run into bushes away from the flock and away from the Shepherd.
Its ok. We all do it. But I’ve seen something new now. I see that I cannot overcome my limitations, I’m a sheep! It is He who must use His crook to gently guide me. It is He who must never leave me or forsake me and lay down His life for me. It is He who must use His staff to get the baddies away from me and keep them away. I cannot do any of this myself, I can only partly achieve limited results through my best efforts.
I am a very smart, courageous, driving, determined person and that natural ability and personal charisma blinded me to the fact that in the context of this world and the vast things that go on it it – naturally and spiritually – that in spite of my personal ability, even at my maximum effort, I am still in need of a Shepherd.
And most frustratingly, when led by a Shepherd and protected and fed, it may all be unseen, because the Shepherd sees the danger from far away, sees the good pasture from far away, and leads me beside still waters and to good pasture… all without me necessarily knowing!
My main job is to do what is on front of me with gusto, with commitment and energy – and to use my choice to stay in His flock, wherever He may position me, to choose to have Him Shepherd me. Because the things I face are far too big for a sheep to perceive or know how to deal with.
I often like to say, when people ask me about my faith, I boil it down to this simple statement: “I’m with Him” and I pretend to point to Jesus Christ, in faith imagining that He is there, nearby, never leaving or forsaking me, His crook and staff comforting me.
I no longer feel I need to control, I’m with Him. I don’t need to figure out the way, I’m with Him. I trust Him to guide me, protect me, lead me to the right pastures, to the right people, away from wrong people, position me in the right group, in the right role within that group – and so much many more things which a simple sheep like me cannot even behin to perceive and cope with.
