Caleb and I took this picture just outside of Gunnison Colorado.
I love it because it reminds me of how Jesus sees us.
He calls us sheep.
If you were starting your own sports team and needed a mascot you might consider choosing the lions, tigers, eagles, or bears as they give us a sense of power and independence. I seriously doubt that anyone would consider their mascot to be a sheep. Sheep are not known for their agility, strength or independence.
Yet God has chosen the “sheep” to be the mascot of his people. Not lions, tigers, eagles, or bears, but sheep. Why? Because as God’s people we bear a remarkable resemblance to sheep. Isaiah says it best.
Isaiah 53:6 All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way;
I have a cartoon that shows two sheep looking at a crowd of people and one of the sheep is saying, “All we like people have gone astray.” Unlike the bear, tiger or lion of strength we like sheep are inclined to be self-destructive. Our streak of wanting to be independent hurts us. Like a flock of sheep we need a shepherd. To live life without the Shepherd brings about our own demise.
Life Without the Shepherd:
– The Scattered Life . . .
Ezekiel 34:5 “So they were scattered because there was no shepherd; and they became food for all the beasts of the field when they were scattered.
– The Be Eaten Life . . .
Ezekiel 34:8 “as I live,” says the Lord GOD, “surely because My flock became a prey, and My flock became food for every beast of the field, because there was no shepherd, nor did My shepherds search for My flock, but the shepherds fed themselves and did not feed My flock”;
– The Troubled Life . . .
Zechariah 10:2 For the idols speak delusion; The diviners envision lies, And tell false dreams; They comfort in vain. Therefore the people wend their way like sheep; They are in trouble because there is no shepherd.
– The Wearied Life . . .
Matthew 9:36 But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd.
Like sheep we are prone to wander way from the security of the Shepherd into a life of insecurity and hurtfulness.
David though he was a shepherd himself did not see himself in that light but rather that he is the sheep. We must begin to see ourselves as sheep in need of a shepherd, one who will provide, protect and prepare us for life now and everlasting.
Once you and I admit, “I need Him!” it is then the built in blessings of this shepherd led life begins to bring comfort and care to our hearts.
“The Lord is my shepherd” Psalm 23
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