Month: September 2016

Arnold to the Rescue!

An eighty-foot tall lizard? What is happening in the pasture?
Little One!  You’re all worked up! What’s wrong?
Whoa! Slow down!  I can’t write that fast!
Something about Arnold and a giant lizard?  Please tell me you haven’t been watching old Godzilla movies.
A giant lizard was about to eat you? Ok. Let’s take this one step at a time.
Where was this giant lizard?  It came out of a hole in the ground in the pasture?  Why? It was hungry and wanted to eat you?
What did this giant lizard look like?  It was eighty feet tall and had teeth the size of a compact car? And it came out of a hole in the ground in the pasture?
So, uh, what did you do when this giant lizard came out of its hole? Nothing?  You didn’t do anything? You didn’t have to do anything?  What do you mean you didn’t have to do anything?
The lizard was about to eat you in one gulp but Arnold swooped down and grabbed the lizard and carried it off to his nest?
Uh, where was your shepherd while you were being attacked by this giant lizard? Huh? He was bopping a coyote? With what?  His rod?
Ok. Well.  That was quite an adventure!  A giant lizard and a coyote. Did this happen in the new pasture?  It did?
Wait! Where are you going? Back to the fold for the night?  Well, good night,  Little One.
Dear woman friend reading this, yes, the narration got a little more,  um, imaginative than I planned but then I realized that it still fits.
When something scares you, does it seem bigger and,  well,  scarier than it really is? Just like the lizard seemed eighty feet tall to Little One?  In reality,  it was a harmless little salamander but it startled Little One and that made it seem huge to him. It works the same way us, doesn’t it? It scares us and that makes it seem bigger than it really is.
But what about when the thing we fear really is eighty feet tall?  What if it really is something serious? What did Little One do when he was scared? Right. He didn’t do anything. Why? Because Arnold swooped down just then and grabbed the salamander for his lunch. Am I saying that God, our Shepherd, will never let scary things come into our lives? No. But He will care for us through the scary times. Like how Arnold cared for Little One by swooping down and grabbing the salamander.
What was Little one’s shepherd doing during the salamander scare? He was “bopping a coyote” as Little One put it. Why? The coyote was a threat to Little One and the rest of the flock so his shepherd was using his rod to defend the flock.
God does the same with His flock (us). He is our defender. Isaiah 43:2 says, “When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.” Ok, He probably won’t send an eagle to swoop down and carry off the thing that is scaring us or bop it on the head with His rod but He will handle it.
Let’s trust our Shepherd to care for us!

Still Waters

Ok. Little One, I’m going to be quiet and let you tell me about your adventure in the different pasture.

One day your shepherd whistled for all of the flock to gather and signaled you to follow him. Wait. Did he tell you where you were going and why? No? Well, why did you follow him then? Because you have learned to trust him and follow him without question.

Ok. Where did he take you? To another pasture?

No? First you walked a long way along that stream over there? Why? The shepherd was taking you to a place where you could cross safely? What did that place look like? Had the stream dried up so you could cross? No? Well, how did you cross then? The shepherd took you to a place where the stream was very, very narrow and he built a dam to block the waters and then led you across on dry ground? Well, not dry but the water had flowed away so your feet were on the ground. How did he know about that place? It’s his responsibility to know about things like that so that he can care for you and the rest of the flock? Well, how did find out when he has to stay with you all the time? He can’t just go off exploring and leave the flock alone. Arnold? (Remember, Arnold is our eagle friend.) What does he have to do with this? You say that Arnold, because of his amazing, God-given vision had seen that spot before and had pointed it out to your shepherd?

So your shepherd led you to the place where the stream was extremely narrow and he could build a dam and lead the flock across without all of you being afraid of the flowing water. Then what? He took down the dam and let the stream go back to flowing normally? That was a good thing. Then what? You walked along a dirt path between two really dried-out pastures? Were you nervous that your shepherd was taking there where you wouldn’t have enough to eat? No? Why? Because you knew you could trust him? Was that the reason?

So you walked along a dirt path past two dried-up pastures and then what? You saw up ahead a beautiful, lush pasture and the shepherd gestured to you to enter and begin to graze? So you got to feast on fresh, juicy grass. But weren’t you tired from the long walk? You say that one by one, the sheep stopped eating and went over and lay down in the shade to rest? What about you? Did you go and rest or did you keep eating the grass? That’s a story for next time? That’s mean! I want to know what happens next!

Dear woman friend reading this, don’t you hate it when someone stops the story right at the good part?

Well, until next time, let’s talk about Little One’s trip.

First, sheep are afraid of moving water. They can’t swim and are afraid they will fall into a flowing stream. They won’t even drink from a flowing stream. So the shepherd, knowing that about Little One and the rest of the flock, took them to a place where he could dam up the water instead of forcing them to swim across the moving water.

Our Shepherd, the Lord Jesus, knows us far better than Little One’s shepherd know him. The Lord knows our fears. Does that mean that we will never find ourselves in a scary situation? No. But it does mean that He will never make us go through a scary situation alone. He will always be with us, leading the way.

Let’s trust our Shepherd even more than Little One trust his shepherd!