From Phillip Keller's book, "a shepherd looks at Psalm 23" which I am using for Bible Study at Prairie View Assisted Living.
It is not generally known that sheep are so timid and easily panicked that even a stray jackrabbit suddenly bounding from behind a bush can stampede a whole flock. When one startled sheep runs in fright a dozen others will bolt with it in blind fear, not waiting to see what frightened them. One day a friend came to call on us from the city. She had a tiny Pekingese pup along. As she opened the car door the pup jumped out on the grass. Just one glimpse of the unexpected little dog was enough. In sheer terror over 200 of my sheep which were resting nearby leaped up and rushed off across the pasture. As long as there is even the slightest suspicion of danger from dogs, coyotes, cougars, bears or other enemies the sheep stand up ready to flee for their lives. They have little or no means of self-defense. They are helpless, timid, feeble creatures whose only recourse is to run.
When I invited friends to visit us, after the Pekingese episode, I always made it clear their dogs were to be left at home. I also had to drive off or shoot other stray dogs that came to molest or disturb the sheep. Two dogs have been known to kill as many as 292 sheep in a single night of unbridled slaughter. Ewes, heavy in lamb, when chased by dogs or other predators will slip their unborn lambs and lose them in abortions. A shepherd’s loss from such forays can be appalling. One morning at dawn I found nine of my choicest ewes, all soon to lamb, lying dead in the field where a cougar had harried the flock during the night.
It was a terrible shock to a young man like myself just new to the business and unfamiliar with such at- tacks. From then on I slept with a .303 rifle and flash light by my bed. At the least sound of the flock being disturbed I would leap from bed, and calling my faithful collie, dash out into the night, rifle in hand, ready to protect my sheep. In the course of time I came to realize that nothing so quieted and reassured the sheep as to see me in the field. The presence of their master and owner and protector put them at ease as nothing else could do, and this applied day and night.
There was one summer when sheep rustling was a common occurrence in our district. Night after night the dog and I were out under the stars, keeping watch over the flock by night, ready to defend them from the raids of any rustlers. The news of my diligence spread along the grapevine of our back country roads and the rustlers quickly decided to leave us alone and try their tactics elsewhere.
“He maketh me to lie down.”
In the Christian’s life there is no substitute for the keen awareness that my Shepherd is nearby. There is nothing like Christ’s presence to dispel the fear, the panic, the terror of the unknown. We live a most uncertain life. Any hour can bring disaster, danger and distress from unknown quarters. Life is full of hazards. No one can tell what a day will produce in new trouble. We live either in a sense of anxiety, fear and foreboding, or in a sense of quiet rest. Which is it?
Generally it is the “unknown,” the “unexpected,” that produces the greatest panic. It is in the grip of fear that most of us are unable to cope with the cruel circumstances and harsh complexities of life. We feel they are foes which endanger our tranquility. Often our first impulse is simply to get tip and run from them. Then in the midst of our misfortunes there suddenly comes the awareness that He, the Christ, the Good Shepherd is there. It makes ll the difference. His presence in the picture throws a different light on the whole scene. Suddenly things are not half so black nor nearly so terrifying. The outlook changes and there is hope. I find myself delivered from fear. Rest returns and I can relax.
This has come to me again and again as I grow older. It is the knowledge that my Master, my Friend, my Owner has things under control even hen they may appear calamitous. This gives me great consolation, repose, and rest. “Now I lay me down in peace and sleep, for Thou God keepest me.”
It is the special office work of God’s gracious Spirit to convey this sense of the Christ to our fearful hearts. He comes quietly to reassure us that Christ Himself is aware of our dilemma and deeply involved in it with us.
And it is in fact in this assurance that we rest and relax.
“For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound [disciplined] mind” (2 Timothy 1:7). The idea of a sound mind is that of a mind at ease- at peace - not perturbed or harassed or obsessed with fear and foreboding for the future.
“I will both lay me down in peace and sleep: for thou, Lord, only makest me dwell in safety.”
