Sheep - Day Two

From Psalm 23: ....."He makes me lie down in green pastures."

Today's reading of Philip Keller described something else interesting about sheep. They will not lie down and go to sleep unless four things are taken care of:

1) they have to be free of fear

2) they have to be free of tension between themselves

3) they have to be free of torment (from pesty flies, bugs, itches, ailments, etc.)

4) they have to be free of hunger.

Unless these four conditions are satisfied, they cannot lie down and rest. The shepherd must take great care to make sure that --

1) no intruders are about to scare them during the night

2) they can't be fighting amongst themselves. The bossy, aggressive sheep have to be tamed and/or permanently silenced (yikes).

3) they have to be bug-free and itch-free so the shepherd must be taking care of them with ointments, creams, whatever it takes to make them comfortable physically and mentally.

4) they have to be well-fed during feeding times so that when rest time comes, they can sleep and not be tormented by their hunger.

Our Great Shepherd watches over us and is willing and able to provide all these conditions for us.

Is your sleep tormented? I know mine is often. And it's usually for one of the above mentioned reasons!!!!! Unbelievable! We really ARE like sheep. This morning I had to pray that the Lord would free me from some of the mental and psychological torments that plague me. As well as some physical ones. They do disturb my sleep and when I get up in the morning I feel like I need to go to bed in order to get some rest from the previous night's torment! And the Shepherd is waiting to heal me like the balm of Gilead! I just need to understand and apply this analogy of the sheep to myself.

Dear Lord, I am a wayward, itchy, irritable lamb. I am sometimes bossy and aggravating to others. I need to be one of the less-aggressive sheep that allows the Shepherd to comfort me because I know He is there to do just that. Forgive me for being so easily tormented and for tormenting others. Forgive me for not asking you to calm my mental and physical itches and aggravations. Your lamb, Lisa