Are you a sheep or a shepherd? The truth is, we are all sheep. Isaiah 53:6a bears witness to this fact:
All of us like sheep have gone astray,Mark Yarbrough (Dallas Theological Seminary) says that sheep need a shepherd to guide them and send them in a particular direction.
Each of us has turned to his own way; (NASB)
In his last ever interview, C.S. Lewis likens writing to driving sheep,
"I sometimes think that writing is like driving sheep down a road. If there is any gate open to the left or the right the readers will most certainly go into it.”Sheep get distracted. They forget where they are going and go off on wild goose chases. Isaiah is right - we go astray and follow our own way.
Left to their own devices, sheep bring harm to themselves. Yep, we do that too!
Both my wife and I grew up in the dairy industry. Our families had dairy cows which graze the grass and move on. Dairy farmers don't like sheep because sheep keep eating where they are standing until the grass is gone. Then they eat the roots. This is very harmful to their own future, as the grass won't regrow. The sheep have to be moved on before they damage the future of their own pasture. It's the shepherd who moves them along to green pastures:
He makes me lie down in green pastures (Ps. 23:2)Sheep forget to drink. They need to be led to water. Quiet waters are safe and good to drink.
He leads me beside quiet waters (Ps. 23:2)Yarbrough tells a story about his flock of sheep being surrounded by wolves at night, but because he (the shepherd) was with them, they peacefully grazed, all the while looking into the eyes of the wolves, knowing that they had protection.
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies (Ps. 23:5)Some of us are called to be shepherds too. We must love the sheep. Yarbrough has a three-fold (no pun intended) message about this which is worth streaming (reference below):
- Sheep need a shepherd
- Sheep are dependent upon provision
- Sheep are vulnerable and need protection
In a biblical context, shepherds are sheep too. Even mature believers are like sheep. C.S. Lewis says in Fern-seeds and Elephants,
If you're a shepherd, are you listening to the sheep, or are you like the hired hand who runs away when trouble comes? John 10 is a beautiful word picture about Jesus, the Good Shepherd."I am a sheep telling shepherds what only a sheep can tell them."
Are you having intimate time with Jesus, the Good Shepherd, and telling him what only you can tell him? We are His people and the sheep of his pasture (Ps. 100:3) and He loves us. Do you recognise His voice? (John 10:4)
It is no wonder that the Psalm of the Good Shepherd (Psalm 23) is nestled in context between Psalm 22 (the Saviour) and Psalm 24 (Worshipping God the Victor).
References:
Lewis, C.S., Modern
Theology and Biblical
Criticism (Renamed “Fern-seeds and Elephants”),
http://orthodox-web.tripod.com/papers/fern_seed.html, 12/8/17.
Sherwood, Wirt, "C.S. Lewis on Heaven, Earth and Outer Space.”,
Interview of C.S. Lewis by Sherwood Wirt on May 7, 1963. http://www1.cbn.com/narnia/c.-s.-lewis-on-heaven%2C-earth-and-outer-space. Accessed 12/8/17.
Yarbrough, Mark, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkMj155uNHs, accessed 12/8/17