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!
Lambs and Wings 