The humble sheep


He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young. (Isaiah 40:11)

Sheep, now that is a topic that most don't write about and they should !! Isn't this a gorgeous photo of mother sheep and her lambs. 

I grew up on a farm and when I was quite young my dad own sheep that were sheared and the wool sent to market. I can remember the shearers coming each year to shear, but my fondest memory of the sheep was during lambing season. Every now and again I would find a baby lamb in a box in the kitchen keeping warm by the wood stove. Sometimes they could be found in the warming drawer of the wood stove for extra warm.  I always thought it was very sweet and a wonderful sight to see at breakfast in the middle of winter. 

There are over 600 references to sheep, lambs, shepherds and ewes in the Bible, more than any other animal. The lamb is used in scripture to teach us biblical truths, one of my favourites would have to be Matthew 18:12-14. Like a shepherd who cares for his flock and searches for any that go missing, Christ will go looking for that one lost sheep out of the hundred and make sure He bring ALL the sheep home to Him. We are like sheep and wander away from the Word, get distracted and need help in finding our way home. God loves us so much that He will never give up on us and rejoices when we rejoin the flock.  He doesn't want any of his children to perish. 

If a man has a hundred sheep,
 and one of them goes astray,
 does he not leave the ninety-nine
 and go to the mountains to seek the one that is straying? 
And if he should find it, 
assuredly, I say to you,
he rejoices more over that sheep 
than over the ninety-nine that did not go astray. 
Even so it is not the will of your Father
 who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.

Jesus is the Good Shepherd and we are His sheep and He is our provider and protector.  However watch out for wolves in sheep's clothing bringing false prophets.  They promise and never deliver, the tear down and cause divisions, smooth talking, cause grief and turn people away from the truth.

My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. 
(John 10:27-28)
Sheep are weak and many die when the weather turns bad. They are also vunerable to foxes and wolves and cannot protect themselves. Many baby lambs perish in the winter months. Some farmers use Maremma dogs to protect the flock. These dogs are accepted into the flock and the sheep know that they are there to look after them. We too are spiritually weak and need the Shepherd to guide us and protect us. The Shepherd is like the Maremma dogs - watches over us and standing guard. We know His voice, as the sheep know the voice of their shepherd and will follow him, likewise we need to stay close to our Shepherd and listen out to His voice. He will protect us in bad weather and from those who want to destroy us, like the foxes attaching the flock of sheep.  If we follow our Shepherd we will remain stay safe. 

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. 
(Psalm 23:1)





Comments

  1. We so easily get too sure of ourselves and our ability to manage life. How wonderful that even then, through it all, He is watching over us, and we will be safe!
    Thank you Jo, for the reminder of His care.
    love,
    Bets

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  2. I so loved and was blessed by this post! I recently wrote about sheep myself so this resonated with me on many levels. Beautiful post both in word & photos! Blessings!

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  3. Love the pictures -- so sweet, and your words were very timely for me today. Such a good reminder that the Lord is watching over and caring for all his sheep.

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  4. I thoroughly enjoyed this post, Jo. I love the illustration in Scripture of us being sheep - people are so silly, so helpless, so apt to make the same mistake over and over, just like sheep. And our Shepherd is so patient and careful with us. Beautiful illustration.
    I also love the illustration of Christ being the Lamb of God. Lambs are so innocent and beautiful! :)

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    1. My dad always referred to us as sheep and The Lord as the shepherd. Perhaps because he was a farmer and understood the weakness of sheep and how easy it is for them to get into danger. So I can't help but think of him when read these verses about sheep. Sometimes on our weather we receive warning about "grazier" alerts and the need to bring sheep in from the higher grounds otherwise they will suffer from the cold. It's the same with us poor feeble humans.

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  5. I scheduled a Tweet to share your beautiful graphic. Are you on Twitter? Blessings!

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  6. What a lovely collection of sheep pictures :-) Lambs are just so adorable!

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