![]() ![]() As a result, the shepherd was concerned not only to feed, care for and protect his sheep from predators but to increase his flock. Although sheep were food, their true economic value was found in their wool, a renewable resource. Part of what made the shepherd-king imagery resonate is that sheep were not primarily intended for slaughter. But there was something about the way a shepherd carried out his tasks that lent itself to comparisons to the political and spiritual realms, in which the king was the shepherd of his people and God was the shepherd of all humanity. Clearly this association emerges from the pastoral context of the time, when sheep- and goat-herding were central to the ancient Semitic way of life. Akkadian, Babylonian and Sumerian texts, including the Code of Hammurabi, all invoke the king as shepherd. He knows the way our job is to follow Him.The correlation of the roles of king and shepherd precedes even the Old Testament. ![]() What decisions do you have to make? Trust the leading of the Shepherd. In all your ways know, recognize, and acknowledge Him, and He will direct and make straight and plain your paths” ( Proverbs 3:5-6, The Amplified). So as we acknowledge our reliance upon Him to make it through this world successfully, despite the odds, let us remember the words of Solomon, “Lean on, trust in, and be confident in the Lord with all your heart and mind and do not rely on your own insight or understanding. Not only will He lead us, being the one in charge, but He will do so in and along the pathways that are pleasing to Him. Also, to be righteous is to be in right standing with God. Notice the words “He leadeth me” because it affirms who is in charge the sheep doesn’t attempt to go ahead of the Shepherd. Putting himself in its place, he was acutely aware of his reliance on the LORD, His Shepherd, to lead him and so it was with confidence in God’s ability that he says, “He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake” ( Psalm 23:3b, KJV). We need the guidance of the Shepherd if we are to make it home safely.īecause of his experience as a shepherd boy, the psalmist David was fully aware of the sheep’s vulnerabilities. The decisions we make along these paths are potential life and death decisions spiritually, and to use our secular abilities to live the Christian life is like trying to walk blindfolded across a busy roadway. There are many paths that seem to be the right ones yet we are reminded that “there is a path before each person that seems right, but it ends in death” ( Proverbs 14:12, NLT). Trying to navigate the Christian walk is filled with various challenges and dangers. In a sense, we take on the characteristic of the sheep. When we come to the LORD we become His sheep and He becomes our Shepherd. The sheep followed the shepherd, knowing they were walking in the right path.” What does that have to do with us? I am glad you asked. But some paths lead to green pastures and still waters. Some of these paths led to a precipice over which the simple sheep might fall to its death. Palestinian fields were covered with narrow paths over which the shepherds led their sheep to pasture. In his book The Healing Power of the Twenty-Third Psalm, Charles Allen writes, “The sheep has very poor eyes. Not being the smartest of animals, they also have no sense of direction. ![]() We try to do the best we can with the information we have, using our God-given wisdom to assess situations and trust the Lord that everything will turn out the way they should. Life would be wonderful if we had a sure-fire way of knowing how to make the right choices. Often times we are left wondering and second-guessing ourselves about some of the ones we made. It seems everywhere we turn, they are waiting to be made. ![]()
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