[This Reflection was published in the weekly news bulletin of Horley Baptist Church, 19/Mar/2017]
From my terrace at home I can often see flocks of sheep grazing on the surrounding hills. Throughout summer and autumn they stay there but during the winter and spring they are bought into the village for overnight shelter. Each morning they are taken out again to the fields. Does this suggest an idyllic rural scene in which the sheep follow the shepherd’s voice as he leads them out to find pasture?
Not exactly! The shepherd and his dogs encourage the sheep to move along, but not by calling them from the front. Collectively, the flock knows where it is going; it has done this trip many times and indeed one of the local flocks is actually led by a couple of old goats – perhaps some of us feel that we can identify with that!
We do not have the lion and the bear which honed David barJesse’s skills but the Romanian shepherd has a similar role – that of protecting the flock from danger. In this case the main risk is from passing traffic on the journey to and from the fields; the shepherd walks behind the flock and, by looking ahead, he will be able to see any approaching danger. He can encourage any stragglers and will move alongside any sheep that he feels is threatened.
Is there a spiritual parallel? We hear the Good Shepherd calling us onward to the green pastures and still waters but how often do we wander along, thinking that we know the best way to get there, or perhaps content to follow our own equivalent of the goats? Take a moment to ponder again on these words from Psalm 25:
Show me your ways, Lord, teach me your paths. Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Saviour, and my hope is in you all day long (NKJV).
Thank God that His Spirit is with us, to encourage us when we fall behind, to redirect us when we turn aside and to defend us when trouble comes.
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Contributed by Steve Humphreys; © Steve Humphreys