My dad’s folks were from Colorado and I can remember visiting there almost every summer. One of my uncles had a farm with horses, cattle and quite a few sheep. As a 12-year-old, I remember walking up to try and pet the sheep. I was small and didn’t think I was very threatening, but the sheep didn’t know me. The were jumping over each other in an effort to try and get away from me. I saw as I tried to get closer, they would have hurt each other or themselves to avoid me if possible. I was an unknown.
In the years since I have learned quite a bit about sheep that help me understand this experience. Sheep are mostly blind. They have excellent hearing, recognizing footfalls and the intricacies of voices. Sheep are very skittish, to the point of being fearful of all who are unfamiliar. Sheep are fully dependent – dependent for food and water, dependent for safety, dependent for shearing, dependent when they have their lambs. They need a lot of help.
King David was a shepherd as a young boy. He understood what it was to care for the sheep. I find it so interesting that he reflected on his time with the sheep and said, “The Lord is my shepherd.” He was onto something. We aren’t that far off from that. Many times we are blind when it comes to the choices we make about the direction of our lives. We are fearful of the future and the unfamiliar. We are fully dependent on the Shepherd for our provision. And when we think we don’t need help, we end up wandering off and needing the Shepherd to come find us.
Jesus declared himself to be the “good shepherd.” We are going to look at that deeper on Sunday. I hope you will join us! See you there!
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