“You’d better get down here right away. One of your ewes is out in the middle of Peoria Road, nursing its twins.” 

The call came early one Sunday morning from the neighbor lady whose pasture I was using for some of my sheep. They had plenty of good grass, a stock tank full of fresh water, and a stout fence that I thought was secure. What more could I have done for them? Foolish sheep! 

Why would a mother sheep leave the security of a lush pasture and go out onto a paved highway with high-speed traffic? Only because sheep are prone to wander, never seeming to be content. It certainly seems foolish for sheep to squeeze through a fence that’s designed to protect them, but how often do people do the same thing? “Thus saith the Lord unto this people, Thus have they loved to wander, they have not refrained their feet” (Jeremiah 14:10). 

The Good Shepherd instituted the church to gather, nourish, and protect His own flock. His “green pastures” provide the purest of food, and His “still waters” are essential for sound health and proper growth. Because of our independent nature, however, we have a tendency to depart from His pastures, and then we soon find ourselves “wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked” (Revelation 3:17). This puts us in imminent danger of overwhelming destruction, which demonstrates that we are indeed very similar to those foolish sheep. 

How much wiser it is to follow Him who leads us in paths of righteousness, restores our soul, and comforts us with His rod and staff. If we faithfully seek Him, goodness and mercy will follow us all our days, and we will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls. 1 Peter 2:25

– Pete Lewis