I AM HIS SHEEP - part 1

When your last name is WOOLEY, I guess it's a pretty natural thing that you would have an affinity for sheep. Right?

Admittedly, I know little about sheep from personal experience. I'm a "city girl" to the core! Some years ago when I was privileged to visit Israel, I got to see nomadic Bedouin shepherds in the fields with their flocks. Many of the sheep were pretty scruffy looking and smelly - not at all like the cute little white fluffy images I use as decorations in my home. Still, their shepherds spent their entire day walking among their flock faithfully caring for them.

The day our travel group visited Bethlehem we passed a field where a lamb had just been born and watched a shepherd drying it off and then holding it closely to his chest for a moment before returning it to its mother. What a tender sight! It evoked countless thoughts of God as Jehovah Rohi, the LORD our Shepherd - for scripture plainly tells us:

Know that the LORD, He is God;

It is He who has made us,

and not we ourselves,

We are His people 

and the sheep of His pasture.

Psalm 100:3

Over the years I've learned (through study) many things about sheep that make it easy to understand why scripture so often compares us human beings to them.

For instance: Sheep need full-time supervision - and they are about the only herd animal that does! Have you ever thought about that? Most other herd animals can be fenced, fed, watered and checked on occasionally and they will probably be fine. But not sheep. Sheep must be watched during the day and secured at night. Did you know that in some Middle Eastern countries shepherds even take their sheep into their homes at night?

In the Shepherd's Fields outside of Bethlehem there are caves where the shepherds have taken their sheep inside with them on cool nights for many centuries.  Caves, of course, have no doors. Nor did the brush and/or rock enclosures shepherds built out in the fields to contain the sheep at night when no caves were nearby. So.  What kept the sheep in the caves?  What kept them inside the enclosures?  What kept predators out?   The SHEPHERD!  The shepherds actually sleep in the doorway. They *are* the door! None of the sheep leave the cave or enclosure without the shepherd's knowledge.  No predator can enter without getting past the shepherd first!

That's what Jesus meant when He said, "I am the door of the sheep.  I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.  I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep."  (John 10:7, 9, 11)

Today - I WILL REMEMBER WHO I AM - I AM HIS SHEEP. 

Today - I will remember that because I am His sheep, my Shepherd never leaves me nor forsakes me. He is my constant companion. He gives me full-time faithful supervision day and night.

Today - I will remember that I am His sheep and I cannot stray from His fold day or night without His knowledge.

Today - I will remember that I am His sheep and no enemy can come against me without passing by Him first!