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All we like sheep have gone astray…

Isaiah 53:6Isaiah 53:6
English: Contemporary English Version (1999) - CEV
6 . All of us were like sheep that had wandered off. We had each gone our own way, but the Lord gave him the punishment we deserved.

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If you’ve ever met a sheep up-close and personal, you’ll soon learn something about them. Sheep are stupid. Sheep are weak. They are a delicate animal. They need a good deal of care in order to be healthy. When I first learned this from my ‘country-girl’ friend, it took me a bit by surprise that God, in His Word, has referred to us time and again, as sheep. On one hand, I was a bit offended…to think that God would liken me to a ‘stupid’ animal. But as I thought about it a bit, one of the Father’s little “Life Lessons” hit my heart with a Truth that I hope to remember for all my days on earth.

We are stupid! Like a sheep who will follow another sheep off a cliff to his death, sometimes we do the same thing, spiritually speaking. Poor choices run rampant in the world and God knows that we’ve made some pretty sad decisions in our lives. While we still lived in continual sin, some of the things we did might have led to a physical death, but worse than that, our choosing of a wrong road would have resulted in spiritual separation from God for all eternity.

Like sheep, we are also weak. Temptation comes to each individual in a way that appeals to the weakness in us. Sin has a way of taking us to that very place where we have a tough time resisting. As sinners we fed on spiritual ‘junk food’….diets of things that could offer no nutrition in a spiritual sense. Feeding our weakness caused us to seek more of the same, because that’s how it is with ‘junk food’. It puts a craving into your mind, and you can’t get enough. It never satisfies, and yet, we continued to seek it, or at least, yield to it, because we are weak.

We might not have known it yet, but the Lord did! He had a plan. He knew we were in need of a guide and a guardian, so He prepared a Shepherd. This Shepherd would come, to care for the flock, to tend to the sheep, and to provide all that we would ever need. He would come to be our protection against the wolves that surround us, seeking to destroy. He would lead us on safe paths and guide us to still waters, soothing us in times of fear and anxiety. He would keep us from following others down a road to death. If we wandered off, the Shepherd would be there to coax us back…to pull us from the briars of life and to gather us into the green pastures where we could live in good health and safety.

Yes, God had a plan…a magnificent, wonderful, Holy plan. These days when I hear the Father liken us to sheep, I know that I am, on my own, stupid and weak, I am grateful that when I was so weary and I couldn’t take another step, I called out to Him, He heard me and I was rescued. He pulled me off the path of death and set me on a new road of life. I have great need of this Shepherd! I want to stay close to the Him, in His protective care. hearing His voice, following His lead. Would I ever want to stray? Would I ever want to be on my own again, making my own decisions with no guidance? NO! I choose to be surrounded by the boundaries that He has placed. I know that if I step outside of them, temptation and trouble awaits and perhaps, even death! I’ve been there before. I don’t want to ever leave the safety and loving care I have come to know. There is a Shepherd of Love, of safety and salvation, and I need Him.

I will leave you with this verse of a hymn I learned years ago.

“Savior, like a shepherd lead us.
Much we need Thy tender care.
In Thy pleasant pastures feed us.
For Thy use our folds prepare.
Blessed Jesus, Blessed Jesus,
Thou hast bought us, Thine we are.”
AMEN