Little Bo-Peep has lost her sheep,
And doesn’t know where to find them.
Leave them alone, and they’ll come home,
Wagging their tails behind them.
Mother Goose
I know! It’s not my habit to start a post with a nursery rhyme, but I have a toddler, so it was bound to happen eventually. As I read this poem to my sweet girl yesterday it struck me as funny once again. I have heard this poem for much of my life and sometimes when things permeate culture you don’t think about them in depth.
When we bought a book of nursery rhymes for the baby, she loved the big indestructible pages and the simple paintings, and I read each poem to her, all familiar. When I got to Little Bo Peep my husband said. “That’s awful shepherding advice.” The whole family laughed because it was true and had never struck us as funny.
Sometimes I make the mistake of thinking that’s how Jesus shepherds too. I think He’s too busy or too important to go looking for the lost sheep because He has so many other sheep and He sits on a throne. I think that it’s people’s job to find God all by themselves. How do I forget that Jesus pursued me my entire life and always will? He’s the only reason I am safe with the flock.
Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus. 2 But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”
3 Then Jesus told them this parable: 4 “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? 5 And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders 6 and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ 7 I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.
Luke 15:1-7
He’s very involved! He doesn’t take a break! He doesn’t sit helplessly watching me wander and sin and hope that I’ll come back. I have flaws and limitations so I sometimes attribute those to Him. Sometimes I am just so stuck in the physical world that I have a hard time seeing what is happening in the spiritual world. As if what I see with my own eyes is all there is.
When I decided to go to church a decade ago I took credit for that decision. I wanted the kids to have friends, so I went looking for a church. When I quit my job to stay home, I went looking for other housewives and joined a MOPS group at church. Some ladies at MOPS invited me to their small group Bible study, and I liked them, so the whole family went.
These things felt like my ideas, but the truth of the matter is that they were happening because God was calling me and my whole family to Him and His flock. He put desires in me and opened opportunities because He loves me, and it is His will that I follow Him. I could have said no but I’m so glad I didn’t.
The more I pay attention to what God is doing the easier it is to spot His influence and His shepherding behavior. He is always working. He is always drawing people to Him! I love when people show up at church or I strike up a conversation with someone about God and find out that He is already moving in their hearts. Sometimes they appear to be perfect already and so we feel comfortable and confident but sometimes they are tax collectors and sinners as it says in Luke. These outward indications are seldom a good indication of what God is doing. We can ask the Holy Spirit to show us how to work with Him since He is in charge.
When we fall away, He is so faithful to bring us back gently. He doesn’t leave us alone as the nursery rhyme suggests Little Bo-Peep should do, He is always shepherding, moving Heaven and earth to save us. When a friend calls just to check up on us when we are lonely, God has a hand in it. When someone starts a Bible study on the very thing we have been struggling with, God prompts it. When the verse of the day on our Bible app just happens to be the reassurance we need, we know Who put it there.
He’s so involved but we miss it sometimes. He died to redeem us, so we can trust that He loves us, notices us, and wants us with Him. We can also trust that He is capable and willing to restore us.
I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
John 10:11
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