From Max Lucado’s book, ‘Traveling Light’:
Sheep aren’t the only ones who need preventative care, and sheep aren’t the only ones who need a healing touch. We also get irritated with each other, butt heads, and then get wounded. Many of our disappointments in life begin as irritations. The larger portions of our problems are not lion-sized attacks, but rather the day-to-day swarm of frustrations and mishaps and headaches. You don’t get invited to the dinner party. You don’t make the team. You don’t get the scholarship. Your boss doesn’t notice your hard work. Your husband doesn’t notice your new dress. Your neighbor doesn’t notice the mess in his yard. You find yourself more irritable, more gloomy, more . . . well, more hurt.
Like sheep, you don’t sleep well, you don’t eat well. You may even hit your head against a tree a few times. Or you may hit your head against a person. It’s amazing how hard-headed we can be with each other. Some of our deepest hurts come from butting heads with people.
Like the sheep, the rest of our wounds come from just living in the pasture. The pasture of sheep, however, is much more appealing. The sheep have to face wounds from thorns and thistles. We have to face aging, loss, and illness. Some of us face betrayal and injustice. Live long enough in this world, and most of us will face deep, deep hurts of one kind or another.
So we, like the sheep get wounded. And we, like the sheep, have a shepherd. Remember the words we read? “We belong to him; We are his people, the sheep he tends” (Ps. 100:) He will do for you what the shepherd does for his sheep. He will tend you.
If the gospels teach us anything, they teach us that Jesus is a Good Shepherd. “I am the good shepherd,” Jesus announces. “The good shepherd gives his life for the sheep” (John 10:11).
Didn’t Jesus spread the oil of prevention on his disciples? He prayed for them. He equipped them before he sent them out. He revealed to them the secrets of the parables. He interrupted their arguments and calmed their fears. Because he was the good shepherd, he protected them against disappointments.
Not only did Jesus prevent wounds, he healed them. He touched the eyes of the blind man. He touched the disease of the leper. He touched the body of the dead girl. Jesus tends his sheep. He touched the searching heart of Nicodemus. He touched the open heart of Zacchaeus. He touched the broken heart of Mary Magdalene. He touched the open heart of Cleopas. And he touched the stubborn heart of Paul and the repentant heart of Peter. Jesus tends his sheep. And he will tend to you.
If you will let him. How? How will you let him? The steps are so simple. First, go to him. David said, “You anoint my head with oil.” Have you taken your disappointments to God? You’ve shared them with your neighbor, your relatives your friends. But have you taken them to God? James says, “Anyone who is having problems should pray” (James 5:13) Before you go anywhere else with your disappointments, go to God.
Maybe you don’t want to trouble God with your hurts. After all, he’s got famines and pestilence and wars; he won’t care about my little struggles, you think. Why don’t you let him decide that? . . . . ~Max Lucado, Traveling Light, (Thomas Nelson, Nashville, Tennessee), 128-130
