The Shepherd

I’ve been reading Psalm 23 for a long time now.

Now, yesterday, I said there was difference between reading the words and reading the words. I know, weird choice of words.

And I said that just reading the words on paper and then reading them as if on a stage, are different.

Reading it from a stage puts me in the position of being an actor in the drama. That makes me reach in and confront the things that I’m afraid of.

It’s a stage many of us are standing on right now.

So, let’s try reading out loud. “God, My shepherd!” or if you prefer “The Lord is my Shepherd.”

Well, if he’s the Shepherd, that makes us Sheep.

Most people understand the idea of sheep needing a shepherd. What they don’t get is the sheep themselves. I think part of it is the comparison.

If you’ve ever worked with sheep, you might agree that they are the dumbest animal on the face of the Earth. I had a friend who was a big animal lover and she always felt it wrong to eat them. She took a job as a shepherdess for the summer and at the end of it, was convinced we were doing them a favor by putting them on the grill.

They’re also some of the most helpless critters about.

They’ve no real defenses against the world. No claws. No fangs.

Now, I’ve never had to defend sheep against wolves, but I know men and women who have defended them against pack dogs. Dogs are creatures we share our lives with. Our little puppy girl, Fancy, is a little cutie. She’s never far from us. She watches TV with us, sits at the table near us, and shares our lives.

Looking at her, it’s difficult to think some of her larger cousins will attack sheep just for the sport of it.

They’ll organize into a pack, sometimes as many as a dozen or more, and descend on a flock like a lightning bolt. The sheep will be doing nothing except what sheep do and bang. several are dead. Other’s injured.

And unless there’s a human nearby who objects, there’s almost nothing the sheep can do except run and hope they aren’t targeted. The shepherd has to pull out a rifle to defend the flock. King David used a sling with equally deadly precision. But without the shepherd, the sheep aren’t going to make it.

Now hold on to that idea. We’re going to circle back to it in a bit.

Now, I kind of objected earlier to being called a sheep, so what is the difference between us and them? Why the comparison?

Biggest difference?

They know they’re sheep.

We don’t.

We have an illusion of control around us. Note, the operative word here is illusion. Things happen and we can’t do a thing about it.

We lose jobs.

We get sick.

Death comes knocking.

We are not as in control of our world as we think, and it scares us to even think that. We learn a lesson that’s Hard. We can everything right and still lose because of events around us.

Now, honestly, how many of you feel that way? It’s okay. Put them up there.

Dogs you didn’t ask for came into your world and ripped it apart.

And just like that, you’re standing outside where you used to work with your personal possession in a box.

Or you just exited the doctors office with news you didn’t want to hear and the clock is ticking.

Or a police officer knocks on the door and asks if your daughter was driving a now totaled car.

It may as well be raining on you. You’re the man in the rain and fear is drizzling into your life.

You have no control over what happened.

And here come the dogs. Dogs have an interesting strategy. They play with the flock before killing it. They will circle the herd. Nipping and barking.

The dogs want the sheep confused and without direction. Then they kill. They feed on the fear and whole herds can be wiped out this way.

You have no control over what’s going to happen next. The pack is circling. Bills are barking. Needs are ducking in to nip at out heals. And all you can hope for is to get away.

We have two reactions in a bad situation. Fight or flight.

But what are you fighting against? There’s nothing to fight against.

You don’t know where to run. Pretty explanatory.

And that’s when we have to admit we aren’t masters of our destiny after all.

We need the Shepherd to be there for us.

And step one is to realize, we’re not the Shepherd.