Who are the shepherds of God's flock? I believe that there are a great many shepherds out there who don't really recognize that they are involved in shepherding ministry. I think that anyone who cares for another's spiritual needs at any level is a shepherd, if only on a small scale.
I am also convinced that God is raising the bar for those who shepherd His flock.
How do God's shepherds learn to care for God's sheep? Over the years we've been subjected to story after story about the methods sheep herders (those that care for the woolly kind of sheep) supposedly use to keep the sheep in line. How they make the sheep behave. How they keep the sheep alive in spite of the animals' innate stupidity. Honestly, I doubt that many of those stories are true. Perhaps if we lived for a year with a Navajo or Hopi sheep-herding family, we might get some real insight into the ways of shepherds with their sheep in a desert land. But whether the old stories are true or not, or whether we try some extreme method of learning how to care for woolly critters, I suggest neither has much to do with a Biblical model of shepherding. These stories and methods all focus on making the sheep do something or act a certain way. But that does not help us to understand how God wants His sheep cared for.
So, I suggest that we attempt to model our shepherding practices after the perfect Shepherd - God Himself. Where do we look for advice from God's viewpoint? I think Psalm 23 might be a good place to start.
Psalm 23 is, of course, written from the viewpoint of a contented sheep. It is preserved for us, conveyed to us in Scripture, so that we sheep can understand and trust the provision and protection offered by the Great Shepherd - God. So, I would never claim that the point of the psalm is to teach shepherds how to take care of sheep.
However, it makes sense that to shepherd God's flock, we should imitate God's methods, strive for God's results. So, I think it is profitable to look at Psalm 23 from the point of view of a shepherd, to see how we should care for God's sheep.
1 The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters,
3 he restores my soul. He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
6 Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.
The sheep that God shepherds are not in want. They lie down in safety and security in abundant pastures. They drink from still, clean watering places. The path they follow is intended to profit the owner of the sheep.
Do we care for God's sheep in this way? Is our concern that the sheep lack nothing? Do we provide them a place to feed on the best greenery, at rest in rich fields? Do the sheep drink from quiet, clear waters? Do we lead them along a path that leads to God's glory?
Or do we give all the best grass to our sacred cows? Do those sacred cows wade brazenly into the waters, stirring up the mud and dropping piles of manure into the streams? Are our traditions eating up and destroying the resources that the sheep need? Is our way of "doing church" devouring the food and spoiling the water that God would have given to the sheep if he were at the front of the flock?
Do we find the paths that seem easiest for us, regardless of their destination? Is our road the one that leads to God's glory, or is it one that attracts us because of its familiarity, one that we have traveled so many times that it is easy, comfortable, and automatic? Never mind that it leads in futile circles, or ends up in our own barn instead of in God's house!
Do our sheep not follow where we are leading? Perhaps we should re-evaluate our course. Maybe we need to make sure we are, in fact, leading them into God's glory, and not into our own desires. Unfortunately, the temptation is strong to give up leading and turn to driving in order to impose our will upon the so-called "wayward" sheep.
The Good Shepherd cares for his sheep so that they have no fear. Even though their path may lead into the most dangerous places, their Shepherd has proven that he knows the way through, and that His skill in weapons will bring the flock through in safety. Sadly, when the flock shows fear, many human shepherds "comfort" the rod and staff right across the sheeps' noggins.
When God's sheep are surrounded by enemies, He exalts them and gives them a place of honor so that the foes know they have no footing to attack the flock. When the sheep are criticized by enemies, do we exalt them or throw them under the bus (or to the wolves!)?
God's sheep walk in love and kindness up the trail that leads to God's house. I'm afraid that many of the sheep entrusted to us walk in paths of selfishness (ours) and pride (also ours) and end up inside our own barns, as though they were our sheep.
So, to quickly recap - let's look carefully at our sheep. Let's listen to them, even if they bleat things we don't care to hear. Are they confident that we are feeding them, and not using them to support the herd of sacred cattle? That any attacker who wants to take their lives will have to get past us first, and stands little chance of doing so, because we are ready, willing, and able to defend them? That when they are criticized, we will show them honor? That our goal for them is solely to deliver them in safety and good health to the House of their Owner? That we have no agenda for them that includes our own enrichment or enlargement?
If they do not have this sort of confidence, will we first look to our leadership skills, or will we blame their stupidity and stubbornness, and turn our rods on them to break their legs so they learn to obey us?
