I’m not in contact with any sheep personally, but I have this on good authority: sheep spend their whole lives fearing wolves, but usually end up being dispatched by the butcher.
When nibbling grass, it’s hard to get the big picture if your eyes are two inches off the ground. And if you don’t have a good shepherd protecting you, it’s lamb chops, here we come!
There’s another problem, says the Bible: “All we like sheep have gone astray.” (Isa 53:6) We’re not only working with limited information; we’re on the wrong path entirely. It’s a dangerous place for fangless, hornless, clawless sheep.
Jesus described our world as inhabited by sheep, but also by thieves and robbers, wolves, strangers, and hirelings (Jn 10) And they’re all after you!
Thieves and robbers see sheep as an easy means of self-enrichment. They love things and use people rather than loving people and using things. Wolves love sheep—but not for the sheep’s benefit. Often they aren’t easy to spot, especially when sporting the latest Paris sheepskin. There’s a great deal of wolf love today.
Hirelings come in many disguises. The elected representatives who end up representing only special interests. Teachers who indoctrinate rather than educate. Ministers who proclaim their own agenda in lieu of God’s Word. Shame!
The strangers, said Jesus, are those who are unrecognizable to the sheep. The sheep hear them but don’t trust what they say. Oh no, am I speaking about mass media?
I’ve been around the sheepfold a long time, and I’ve noticed the trend. Sheep are skittish. If you panic the population, they’ll become compliant.
My generation was told to hide under our desks to prepare for a Russian air attack. I was just in grade school but wondered whatever the authorities were thinking! The Red Scare didn’t work with me.
I also lived through the certain approach of the next ice age. The January 11, 1970, Washington Post declared: “Colder Winters Herald Dawn of New Ice Age.” Now, with a straight face, the same people tell us we should fear global warming. Of course climate matters. But such apocalyptic pronouncements cause massive anxiety, especially in children, and that isn’t helpful.
So it goes. In 1966, we were told that all the oil would be gone in ten years. In 1970, ecologist Paul Erlich warned: America Subject to Water Rationing By 1974 and Food Rationing By 1980. And then there was the population explosion. The continent wiped out by killer bees. The oceans dead in a decade. And so on.
Meanwhile, it’s not the wolves getting us; it’s the ones supposed to be protecting the sheep. I’m afraid that’s what the lust for power does.
There’s only one answer. In this world’s waste and wilds, see the little sheepfold. Who sits protectively in the doorway? It’s Jesus. He said, “I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.” (Jn 10:9) By far, it’s the best offer anywhere.
I never want to get very far from Psalm 23. “He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul.” (Ps 23:2-3) If Jesus is your Good Shepherd, you don’t need to fear all those rascally trouble-makers.
Article by Jabe Nicholson first published in the Commercial Dispatch, Sunday, July 31, 2022