Thoughts about Sheep and Children

God uses the analogy, Shepherd, to describe Himself and sheep to describe us. And there is so much depth to this thought.

Shepherds are cartakers or sheep. They look after them. They protect them from danger and harm. They even fight beasts to rescue them. Shepherds are studs! They are strong, fearless, and always attentive to the ones under their care.

The sheep belong to them. When the sheep go astray, the shepherd goes to them, picks them up and brings them back to a place of safe pasture. What's interesting about sheep is that they are defenseless. They don't even know how to growl. So if anything tries to harm them, they can't defend themselves. They need their shepherd. Without him they are doomed to be eaten by a wild animal.

Children are the same way. They aren't strong enough to fight back if someone tries to harm them. They need someone to figt for them, to protect them. Yet God urges us to be like little children, and says that His power is made perfect in weakness.

I think it is interesting that God created us with needs. Children seem to have a lot of needs, but when they grow up, they still have needs. All people have needs to be loved and valued, for security and protection, for food and water. In short, people have God needs, needs that only He can meet. He designed us that way. God wants us to be born in need of Him and to never outgrow this need. If we need Him, He can be the one who meets our needs. He can be our provider, helper and Father. And we can be His kids.

It's interesting to think about how kids don't worry. They don't worry about their needs being met. They don't worry about paying bills. They just live. They know who they belong to and they have security in that. (sadly, this doesn't apply to all children in the world) Kids don't really do anything productive. Rather, they often do more things that might seem destructive, like make messes. Yet God calls them blessed.

When kids color pictures, they don't even color in the lines, but those pictures are precious to their fathers. Likewise, God doesn't expect us to "color in the lines" and work all the time. If we simply sit in His lap, it gives Him great pleasure. He just loves us. We are His kids, His little sheep.

In the Bible, God says about sheep that He carries them close to His heart. Though all they do is have needs and wander around, He treasures them. He calls us to be childlike, not because grown-ups don't have needs, but because children know that they have needs and they look unashamed at their father to meet them.