Feeling “Sheep-ish”

Today finds me home sick, and I can’t go out, and I can’t ignore it, so I am just, home. Makes for a lot of time to think, and read and some good prayer time. One of my favorite Psalms to go to in praise time is the familiar 23rd Psalm, which with me goes back to my mom reading me a Little Golden Book. Psalm 23 goes like this:

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He makes me to lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul;
He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil; for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
You anoint my head with oil; my cup runs over.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life;
And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

The Lord is our shepherd, and we are the sheep. Were I to choose an animal, and it needed to be a herd animal for our Master, I have a particular love for Texas Longhorn Cows, and so I would choose them. In my time sitting at home and daydreaming, I even looked up how much one Texas Longhorn costs. Of course, I would not have the skill or land to care for it. But would I ever choose a sheep? They are odd lookin’; they do not have a lot of sense; and, most generally, they are pretty helpless. But there is one fact we cannot deny. Shepherds love their sheep, and the Lord Jesus said, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep” (John 10:11).

A pastor shepherds the flock of God and I understand the love and the sacrifice; but, as a shepherd, I am in the odd place of knowing each day that I really am a sheep. As a sheep right now, I am in the place where the Lord, as my shepherd, made me to lie down in green pastures. I am home sick and, for the most part, lying or sitting down.

For a sheep, a healthy, green pasture would be the ultimate delight. Herds of sheep eat grass down to the roots, which is why herdsmen move them all the time. But man, a green pasture! A sheep would want to race all around it!

But the shepherd knows the sheep have had enough, and it is time to lie down. Even though it is a green pasture, and they would rather bound around and eat than rest. The Lord makes me lie down because He knows what is best, He knows what I need right now. What do I know? I am just a sheep. But I trust the Shepherd.

I spent a summer in Belgium doing ministry. Our team stayed in an old chateau out in a forest; it looked like it came right out of some old fairy tales. The chateau had trails and benches and I went out one morning to read my Bible on a bench. It was damp out (it is always damp in Belgium), but it was not cold. I caught some movement out of the corner of my eye and looked over at the fence to find three sheep standing there looking at me. They were a droopy-eared, European breed of sheep. I just sat there, feeling “sheep-ish”, thinking about how much God loves me. I thought of the comparison to a sheep, how much I need my Shepherd.

And here I am today, lying down in green pastures, as my Shepherd calls me to rest.