How do Sheep Normally Behave?
Sheep are known to be short-sighted and foolish.
Left to themselves, rams, ewes and lambs will:
- Get their fleece hopelessly tangled in bramble bushes and be unable to free themselves.
- Drink polluted water.
- Roll onto their back and get hopelessly stuck in that position.
- Eat poisonous plants.
Sheep panic easily. If a flapping newspaper blows across the meadow, one frightened sheep will start running. The other sheep will flee too, not even knowing why.
Sheep are very gentle. The flock will follow their shepherd when he calls, even if that shepherd happens to be a child. But sheep are also hardwired to follow other sheep and this can be a bad idea.
Just ask some villagers in the Middle East.
When Instinct Backfires
In 2006, a large combined flock in Turkey accidentally committed mass suicide. The 26 village families had brought all their sheep together to feed. When every ewe, ram and lamb was grazing contentedly on grass, the shepherds relaxed and began making breakfast.
Suddenly, one sheep went off a cliff.
To the shepherds’ horror, every other sheep blindly followed, plunging off the cliff at the same spot. About 450 animals died and many more were injured. Many families lost most of their flock, the main source of their income.
All because of one clumsy sheep.
How can a kind shepherd protect such foolish charges?
Well, it takes a lot of work.
Helpless Against Predators
Many predators like the taste of raw mutton. Coyotes, dogs, bears, wolves, eagles, foxes and mountain lions all prey upon sheep. During the attack, individual sheep may die of fear. As the whole flock tries to flee from the predators, pregnant ewes often miscarry.
But what about the rams?
Rams are even aggressive toward humans, especially during breeding season. But apparently when wolves, bears or coyotes appear, these “alpha males” act like…frightened sheep. I haven’t found one story on the Internet about a ram attacking a predator.
Apparently they never do.
The Sheep’s Only Defense
After being raised by humans for the last 10,000 years, sheep are pretty helpless creatures. They have only one natural defense. Instinct causes them to clump together into a large mass, making it harder for predators to attack one or two vulnerable sheep. 
In biology, this behavior is known as “the selfish herd theory.” Hide in the midst of the flock and let the coyotes or wolves kill the sheep on the edges.
A solid mass of woolly animals might baffle some predators completely.
Unfortunately, when the attack happens suddenly, a few sheep already lay mauled or dying before the rest of the flock goes into a huddle.
Against all these dangers, the sheep’s only true protection is the shepherd’s watchfulness and wisdom.
Why Do Sheep Stray?
I don’t know why sheep stray. A few always tend to. Wandering off alone into the wilderness is life-threatening, but these sheep don’t seem aware of that.
Some animals treat the protective fences, clean water and green pastures as a horrible prison they must break out of. Their shepherd repeatedly rescues them, but they keep straying.
Individual sheep can be both stubborn and foolish, blind to the dangers they’re stumbling toward.
Speaking of Sheep…
Christians do too.
My friend Alice has a ministry to the homeless called “Church in the Woods.” Over the years, she’s provided hot meals, showers, haircuts, clean clothes, winter coats, gloves, and trips to the hospital. She lovingly shares the gospel too.
The people hardest to reach are those who first came to Christ as children.
As adults they fled from the Great Shepherd into outer darkness. Despite Jesus’ parable, these prodigal children just can’t believe their Heavenly Father would want them back.
Some straying Christians become homeless after getting hooked on drugs or alcohol. Others become badly damaged through sexual sin.
They struggle to accept God’s forgiveness because they can’t forgive themselves. They also can’t believe Jesus would seek them, because they feel so defiled.
To see a child of God stray and wander off into the world is heartbreaking. Nothing but a sin-damaged life awaits them.
But we can pray and trust in the Good Shepherd.
How is the Lord Different from Earthly Shepherds?
Jesus is the greatest of Shepherds. But our Redeemer acts very differently from His human counterparts.
- Any Christian who wants to walk away from Jesus is free to go.
- No divine pleading.
- No God-offered bribes.
- No Heavenly threats.
- It grieves us, but it grieves Jesus even more, because He understands the future cost of each of their choices.
- He doesn’t need to search—because the Good Shepherd always knows where each of His lambs are.
- Christ travels with the straying believer, because He dwells inside the Christian’s heart.
- Pain comes from their sinful choices as Jesus lets His children find out what “touching the hot stove” feels like, over and over again.
- Our Savior never forces straying Christians to return to Him, but He does keep drawing foolish men or women back to Himself.
Jesus’ Love is Greater
This passage in 1 Corinthians comforts me.
11 For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, 13 their work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person’s work. 14 If what has been built survives, the builder will receive a reward. 15 If it is burned up, the builder will suffer loss but yet will be saved—even though only as one escaping through the flames. (I Corinthians 3:11-17 NIV)
Some Christians will enter eternal life smelling of smoke. They’ll have no reward, except Heaven itself—but that’s enough.
Maybe you don’t think your loved one was ever saved. But remember, Jesus seeks the lost too.
In the various stories about sheep in the gospels, the Good Shepherd seeks those who stray (Matt 18:12) as well as the lost.
In John’s gospel, Jesus says,
I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd. (John 10:16 NIV)
Jesus loves your son, daughter, brother, sister, husband, wife or “special someone” more than you do. Perhaps you have a secret fear that because he or she has rejected Christ, Christ will reject them.
I don’t believe that’s true.
Because that would make Jesus’ love weaker than yours.
Our Savior and Redeemer doesn’t rage at sinners. Jesus walked among us for years and the worst people lived, the more he sought them. God’s Son had a nickname on earth: the Pharisees called Jesus “a friend of tax collectors and sinners.”
He still is.
So keep praying and remember, straying Christians are never out of His sight.
Our Redeemer wants them to return even more than you do.
A Powerful Tool
Andrea Merrill wrote “Praying for the Prodigal” to put a powerful tool in the hands of other parents with prodigal children.
“Praying for the Prodigal: Encouragement and Practical Advice for Parents of Prodigals”
Andrea shares her family’s heartbreaking journey as both her Christian teenagers became addicted to drugs. Eventually God set her son and daughter free and brought them home. The last part of her book offers 30 different scripture-based prayers, one for every day of the month. In the end, her son offers good advice about what his parents did that helped draw him back to Christ and turn his life around.
All these images came from Pixabay.com.
