On Goats and Sheep

I was so foolish and ignorant;
I was like a beast before You.
Nevertheless I am continually with You;
You hold me by my right hand.
You will guide me with Your counsel,
And afterward receive me to glory.
Psalm 73:22-24

Have you ever tried to help an animal, but because it didn’t understand, was hurt and afraid, it wouldn’t let you? One time we had a baby deer caught in an old wire fence, and it took a while to get it free because it kept fighting us. Recently I saw on the news that a baby alligator (5-foot-long however!) had crawled into some Floridian’s home through a doggy door! There was video of the animal control person v-e-r-y slowly putting the control pole around its neck, but the second it closed around the neck, the animal went crazy twisting and turning in a panic. Animals often don’t understand when we’re trying to do what’s best for them. And because they don’t understand, they fight.

I imagine there are times Jesus would like to use a control pole on us! And maybe sometimes, in a sense, He does. God certainly has His providential ways of pushing us, pulling us, dragging us sometimes to where we need to be for our own good.

Whereas animals don’t have the capacity to look back, reflect, and say, for example, “Thank you, human, for taking me to the vet to get those shots to keep me healthy,” we humans are created in the image of God and have memory and language. So hopefully we have all realized at times in our lives that the seemingly bad thing we didn’t want to happen, was actually happening for our good. If even Old Testament Joseph could come to that conclusion after all he went through (Genesis 45:4-8), surely we can learn to appreciate our difficulties in retrospect.

But what about in the moment? In the moment of difficulty and of not understanding, we are usually more like dumb animals.

So which animal will we be? Jesus said that someday he is going to divide the sheep from the goats (Matthew 25:31ff). In this world, we’re really encouraged to be more like goats, wouldn’t you say? Sheep are docile; they don’t question anything; they have to be told what to do. Goats, on the other hand, are stubborn fighters, assertive, bold, and independent. Which of those does our world hold up as good?

When we say someone is one of the sheep, we mean it as an insult! The only kind of sheep we might be proud to be is “the black sheep,” the rebel, the one who stands out as brave and different.

Yet Jesus said, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand,” (John 10:27-28).

God’s kingdom is full of all kinds of people. Some are leaders; some are followers.

But even elders, who are told to “shepherd the flock of God which is among you, serving as overseers,” are instructed not to do it “as being lords over those entrusted to [them], but being examples to the flock,” because they themselves are under the leadership of “the Chief Shepherd,” (1 Peter 5:2-4).

Ultimately Jesus is the Good Shepherd and we all need to follow Him.

For you were like sheep going astray, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls. 1 Peter 2:25

Jesus calls us to follow Him and sometimes He’s going to lead in a different direction than we would choose. In such moments, we DO have to choose. Will I follow Him like a sheep follows its shepherd? Or am I going to do what I want to do?

Like a goat.

So often what we want is not what’s good for us. So often what we want will not accomplish anything for the glory of God. Do we trust God as Creator to know what is best for us? Do we trust that as our Father He desires what’s best for us? Or will we fight His control like a wild beast, a frightened animal, a stubborn goat?

Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Luke 12:32

Dear God, there is so much in this life that I don’t understand, but help me to trust in You. May I always hear and know the voice of the Good Shepherd and follow wherever He leads. Forgive me for the times I have tried to take control because of stubbornness or fear. In Jesus’s name, Amen.

by Christie Cole Atkins