Thursday 03 August 2023

Psalm 90

Background

The continuing metaphor that we read today in John 10 says something about who we are, and it is not a flattering image: we’re sheep! I know a lot of people who say they don’t mind calling the Lord their shepherd but have never been very happy about being called one of the sheep. We might hope to be an eagle, but a sheep? Sheep aren’t particularly smart. They scare easily and have a knack for getting themselves lost.

When lived in Cornwall, I didn’t realise how much material the county would give me in the preparation of sermons. In Cornwall, there were sheep everywhere, many more sheep than people. Frequently, if I went out for the day, as I was returning home I would come across a sheep that had got out through the fence onto the road, which was often very narrow. So I would drive the last mile or so home, very slowly, giving the panicked sheep time to run ahead. I never particularly wanted to scare the sheep, but there seemed no other way to handle it.

One afternoon was very poignant. A sheep was outside the fence on the road running ahead of my car.  Her little lamb was inside the fence trying to keep up with his mother. It made my heart break to watch the little lamb separated from his mother by a fence and trying to keep up with her. Later that evening I went out for a walk and went down the road. I saw the lamb had figured out how to get through the fence, so the sheep and the lamb were now both outside the fence. They were reunited but both were on the road, and at risk. It wasn’t enough for the sheep to escape her pasture, now she was teaching a new generation how to do it.

To Ponder:

• What impact do you think you have on another person’s life?
• Who has the most influence over your life? 

Prayer

God of such a reckless love that you would lay down your life for me, help me to know that love in my life in this moment, and teach me to share that love in the most helpful ways with the people I share life with. Amen.