All We Like Sheep

Jesus described Himself as the "good shepherd," and when we are in need we can consecrate ourselves to Him, so that we might know His power. In Mark 6, we can read:
34 And Jesus, when He came out, saw a great multitude and was moved with compassion for them, because they were like sheep not having a shepherd. So He began to teach them many things.
35 When the day was now far spent, His disciples came to Him and said, "This is a deserted place, and already the hour is late.
36 Send them away, that they may go into the surrounding country and villages and buy themselves bread; for they have nothing to eat."
37a But He answered and said to them, "You give them something to eat."

Here we see the contrast between human wisdom and heavenly wisdom.  Jesus, we are told, was "moved with compassion."  His disciples wanted the people to feed themselves, the intent of Jesus was to feed them.  The views of the situation were quite different, and can be a reminder to us - when we are tired and desperate, we can go to our shepherd, our good shepherd, who brings His wisdom into a situation and provides for us according to His will.

+++++

Even the great shepherd David recognized the importance of regarding God as his shepherd, as we read in the 23rd Psalm. In Isaiah 53, we see insight into the human condition:
5 But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed.
6 All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.

Maybe you have seen it on social media - a video of a sheep who had become wedged inside a ditch.  A boy reached in and extracted the sheep from its predicament.  Newsweek described the video and an odd twist:

A sheep getting trapped is nothing unusual, but moments after it was freed the animal proved it may not have shared the same intelligence as other members of its flock.

When it was let loose, the sheep jumped away before it landed itself, almost with pinpoint precision, back into the same trench, just a few yards away.

The article said that the video had been viewed "tens of millions of times." It related that Brady Boyd, Pastor of New Life Church in Colorado Springs had shared it with his over 16,000 followers, with the comment: "Every pastor knows this to be true. We help the sheep get out of the ditch only to see them jump back into trouble."

The website, Not the Bee had a brief commentary on this series of events.  This is a site that actually publishes stories of real-life occurrences that might be considered too bizarre for real life and might find a home at the satire site, The Babylon Bee, if it were not real.  The Disrn website, also operated by the Bee, has now merged with Not the Bee. 

The video, from Allie Stuckey's Twitter feed, was embedded in the story. And, writer Joel Abbott said: "The moment that sheep got free, he immediately imprisoned himself again," adding, "You and I do the same thing every day with our shortcomings, addictions, and habits."

The good news? It's right here, as the writer points out:

"I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep." - Jesus

There is the powerful analogy in Scripture, and it's no coincidence that Jesus referred to Himself as the good shepherd.  As the old hymn says, we are indeed, "prone to wander."  We think we have all the answers, but human wisdom is fallible, God's wisdom is perfectly reliable.  As His followers, we can be diligent to submit to Him.

We can also be confident that God will not abandon us when we fall.  In fact, in our brokenness, we can know His strength and healing.  When we make the wrong decision and perhaps get ourselves in hot water, we can call upon His name, we can call out to the rescuer.  We may have to face the consequences of our self-reliance, but we can experience the fruit of His abiding presence.

We can be purposeful, then, to walk in God's wisdom.  The Bible says that when we lack it, we can ask of Him - human wisdom will certainly lead us astray, but God's wisdom will enable us to walk in His way.