The Good Shepherd

I have very little experience with sheep; well actually none! My own personal contact with the wooly animals was a brief episode in the life of a friend who was a dairy farmer in northern Missouri. Having been successful with his herd of milking cows for a number of years, Leon decided he would try a flock of sheep to see how things went. The experience lasted about a year with the result being expressed in the short but meaningful phrase, “I’ll never do that again!” It seems that while dairy cattle require a lot of attention and personal work investment, sheep require more. Not only did they seem listless, lacking any apparent motivation – as if an animal can be said to have motivation (Leon seemed to think so) – but they wouldn’t even find shelter in a driving, soaking rain storm on their own without Leon’s personal intervention. The final summation of the season, as well as the reason for selling the flock, was summed up curtly with the statement, “Sheep are dumb.”

Jesus (Who calls Himself The Good Shepherd) uses that assessment of sheep to describe us, and gives me reason to pause and consider if I am truly like a sheep or not. “Dumb” may sound a little harsh, but the truth of Jesus’ comparison cannot be easily set aside. Like sheep, we tend to “stray” a lot when being driven by our fleshly appetites, rather than approaching life with reasoning and wisdom. The result is that we “go our own way” instead of listening to God. Like sheep who don’t know enough to “come in out of the rain”, much of the time we stay in situations that are obviously bad for our spiritual health, and move or change only when the Holy Spirit intervenes directly – sometimes forcefully – to urge us to do what we ought. But also like sheep, we do learn to recognize our Shepherd’s voice and truly find peace and provision when we follow Him.

Jesus knows what is best for us, and He is always willing to build and strengthen our relationship so he can more effectively lead and guide us by His love. Sheep need a Shepherd and Jesus is the BEST! He is truly the Good Shepherd.

How exciting to be His people,

Pastor David Vanderpool