Sheep for Dinner

I am certain that there are many books and magazine articles and websites that can be of assistance when planning dinner for a guest with a special need. You can find information for those who are vegetarian, vegan, gluten intolerant, lactose intolerant, those who have a peanut allergy, those who follow kosher or halal. You can find information for when you have a guest who has a seafood or shellfish allergy or is allergic to soy. The list goes on and on. But what if your dinner guest is a sheep? How do you set the dinner table for a sheep? Read on to find out how Little One’s shepherd prepares a table for him.

Little One, why is your shepherd on his hands and knees over there? He looks like he’s pulling weeds. Was that a thistle plant he just dug up and tossed aside? What’s going on?

He’s preparing the table, Little One? What table? We’re in the middle of the pasture. There’s no furniture out here. What do you mean?

Dear woman friend reading this, when we have guests for dinner, we like to be sure everything on the menu is healthful, right? If our guest is gluten intolerant, we do not serve foods containing gluten at all or we offer foods that do not contain gluten along with those that do contain gluten. We want to be certain that our guest is well-cared for and not harmed in any way, right?

Your shepherd is the same way, Little One? What do you mean? I don’t understand.

Before your shepherd lets you graze in the pasture, he examines it for poisonous plants and dangerous creatures? Is that why he was on his hands and knees weeding? Is that why he dug out the thistle plant and tossed it aside? So you and the rest of the flock would not eat something that would harm you?

But, Little One, what does a table have to do with this? You say that the pasture is the sheep’s table and it eats from that just like I sit at a piece of furniture called a table in order to eat? All right. That makes sense.

Dear woman friend reading this, our Shepherd, the Lord Jesus, is the same way. We encounter many things in life that are harmful, don’t we? Still, we can rest assured that the Lord Jesus has already “examined our pasture or table” before we arrive.

Does this mean we will have a rose-filled life with no problems of any kind? Does it mean we will never make a bad decision or get ourselves in trouble? No, it means our Shepherd will be with us through the problems. He will warn us when we are about to make a bad decision or get ourselves in trouble. Then we have to decide whether or not we love and trust Him enough to obey Him. When Little One’s shepherd pulled out the thistle plant and tossed it aside, Little One still could go over and eat it and suffer the consequences of his choice. Or he could realize that there was a reason his shepherd pulled it out and tossed it aside and not touch it. Now I am certain that Little One’s shepherd will gather up the thistles and other plants he pulled out and remove them from the pasture so that his flock is not in danger but his sheep still have to choose not to charge over and try to eat the bad plants anyway. We are the same way. God warns us about a decision we are about to make or something we are about to do or say. Then we have to choose whether or not to listen. And sometimes we have to keep choosing to listen until the bad plant is removed by our Shepherd or until He moves us to another place where the bad plant won’t be tempting us.

Dear woman friend reading this, God is more concerned about you than Little One’s shepherd is concerned about him and more concerned than you are about a dinner guest with a special need. Will we trust our Shepherd and follow Him? Or will we do our own thing and end up with a mouth full of thistles? It’s our choice. What do you choose?