Baa baa baa

His Sheep Am I
Words and Music by Orien Johnson
© 1956 by Orien Johnson
Assigned to Sacred Songs (a div. of Word, Inc.)/ASCAP
All rights reserved
Psalm 23:1
"The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want."

In God's green pastures feeding, by His cool waters lie;
Soft in the evening walk my Lord and I.
All the sheep of His pastures fare so wondrously fine,
His sheep am I.

Waters cool, (In the valley)
Pastures green, (On the mountain)
In the evening walk my Lord and I;
             (In the evening walk my Lord and I)
Dark the night, (In the valley)
Rough the way, (On the mountain)
Step by step my Lord and I.
              (Step by step my Lord and I)

After spending about a month off and on at my parent's ranch in Bandera, Texas, this summer, I found myself reflecting often again about being God's sheep.  

I think when the Bible says "we are His people, the sheep of His pasture" (Psalm 100:  ), the surprising thing in the verse is that we are HIS, not that we are SHEEP.  

Because, really.  Look around.  We humans are a LOT like sheep.  We are ALL sheep, really.  The only difference is WHOSE sheep we are.  To whom do we belong?  Because we all belong to someone.  We all have a Shepherd.  The question is, is our shepherd good, or not good at all?  

Don't believe me that we homo-sapiens are really wool-less, two footed sheep?  Well....

• Have you ever seen junior high girls at a lunch table when ONE girl decides she needs to go to the restroom?  What happens - every time?  Yep.  They ALL go to the restroom. (I did.)
• Have you ever voted for someone just because he or she was a Democrat, Republican or Independent? (I have.)
• Did you ever drink in high school or college, maybe even choking the foul tasting liquid down, just because you didn't want to look different? (Yep.  I did that, too.) Or if you didn't drink, did you have a certain teacher or youth leader or youth group giving you the strength (and peer group to copy) to not partake? 
• Do you drive a car very similar in make, year and model to what everyone else in your social/educational/economic group of peers drives? (Check.)
• How about the clothes you wear?  Who tells you what's in style?  Do you listen, or just wear whatever?  (Unfortunately for my kids, I'm maybe not enough of a sheep on this one, but I'm trying....baa baa baa.)
• When a convincing, vocal person tries to get a group worried about something, what do most people find themselves doing?  Yeah, they get worried, too.  
• When convincing, vocal people try to get people enthusiastic and happy about something, what do most people find themselves doing?  Yep, we get excited and enthusiastic.  Go SPURS! TFND!  
• There are so many examples of what followers we are, of how much we are looking for someone to follow.  I'd love to read your examples in the comments section.  Please send me more ideas and examples!  

I do not list these to say it is bad that we are sheep, or that those things above are all bad - they aren't! I only list them to illustrate that maybe we aren't as independent as we think we are. 

Anyway, my point is just this:  If God made us, if He loves us and if Jesus has bought us and saved us, then we really are His Sheep - and, even though sheep are often smelly, dumb, ignorant and kinda awkward critters, it is GOOD to be HIS Sheep.  If I gotta be a dumb sheep, I wanna be HIS. Just sayin.

Because if you're a sheep anyway, it's always good to have a GOOD SHEPHERD.  More than good, it is imperative to survival, and to enjoying grassy, green pasture, to be following a GOOD shepherd! 

A bad shepherd falls asleep on the job, runs for his own safety when foxes and wolves come to attack, and otherwise just doesn't care for his sheep's welfare. 

Even More tragic than having the wrong shepherd, is when one of HIS (the good shepherd's) sheep doesn't realize how good she has it and wanders away from the Good Shepherd's herd, trying to be a sheep and her own shepherd all at once. 

Sheep that do that ruin the great deal they had all by themselves. At least the poor sheep with the bad shepherds have someone else to blame for their lousy grazing areas and dangerous existences. 

As His people, the sheep of His pasture, lets relax a bit and enjoy the particular, especially chosen-for-us cool waters and peaceful valleys to which He brings us. Lets quit worrying about what the other sheep are doing or wearing or driving - and just stay near our Good Shepherd. 

"He leadeth me, oh blessed thought!"