Like Sheep

This week in Backyard Bible Club we finished up a unit on Jesus' parables. Our parable for the week was about "The Lost Sheep".

"What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.'
Luke 15:4-6

I get to lead the activity session, which is usually some kind of game to reinforce the main point of the lesson. I told the kids that I was a REALLY BAD shepherd because I had "lost" fifteen sheep. Actually, I just hid them! ;) It turned out that I had hidden MORE than fifteen... And by our last class, we discovered that I had "lost" eighteen sheep! ;)

As I was preparing for our lesson (which meant a lot of cutting...) I was thinking about sheep. When I was thirteen, I got to see a flock of sheep up close and in person. The shepherd was trying to move them to another pasture (I assume) which was across the highway from where they had been. I was a passenger in a car trying to DRIVE on said highway... Of course we slowed down waiting for the sheep to move, but there were a couple that were DETERMINED to be on the road! The shepherd would coax them off the road only for them to jump back into it just as our car was reaching them! And in my youth, I said, "Sheep are so stupid! I'm so glad we're not like sheep!" Our driver, just looked over his shoulder at me and said, "The Bible says differently." And in that moment I was reminded of DOZENS of times that I had been just like that sheep, escaping danger only to jump right back in...

All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned--every one--to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
Isaiah 53:6
 
I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek your servant, for I do not forget your commandments.
Psalms 119:176
 
A Psalm of David. The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD forever.
Psalms 23:1-6
 
Get you up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good news; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good news; lift it up, fear not; say to the cities of Judah, "Behold your God!" Behold, the Lord GOD comes with might, and his arm rules for him; behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him. He will tend his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms; he will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young.
Isaiah 40:9-11
 
As a shepherd seeks out his flock when he is among his sheep that have been scattered, so will I seek out my sheep, and I will rescue them from all places where they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness.
Ezekiel 34:12
 
I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
John 10:11
 
He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.
1 Peter 2:24-25