Crumbs from an Oregon special meeting: sheep
Apr 4, 2020 9:01:27 GMT -5
jetmech, iam, and 1 more like this
Post by Get off of TMB on Apr 4, 2020 9:01:27 GMT -5
From a special meeting in Oregon (anonymous by request):
I would like to tell you some of my experiences before going into the Lord's work, when I was caring for and working with sheep in the high and rugged part of New Zealand.
Since early childhood I cared for sheep. The lessons I learned are very much like the lessons God teaches His people...His sheep. The Lord speaks of His people in Jeremiah 13:20, as a “beautiful flock.” Often God refers to His chosen as sheep. This is how they appear to Him, a beautiful flock. We count ourselves a privileged people if we are one of His sheep. We have the right shepherd caring for our soul. We would like to be worthy to be called a beautiful flock.
The Lord is particular about His name and anxious that His name be upheld and the standard of righteousness maintained. The man I worked for was very particular about his name because he sent his sheep to many parts of the country. He wanted the standard of his flock upheld and maintained. He was very interested in seeing the lambs come up to this standard. The Lord wants this standard upheld in His flock too. David, in speaking of the Lord as his shepherd, said, "He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.” (Psalm 23:3) We can be sure that the paths that The Lord may lead us in are for His own name's sake. God would like for us to maintain this standard. A good shepherd is anxious to see the lambs come up to the standard. The Lord's care and interest in the flock begins with the lambs. The thing of greatest importance, when a lamb is born, is to see that it gets a supply of milk. The first milk it gets enables it to stand against some of the cold blasts that come. Milk is the substance of life; it needs milk so it can grow. I have seen one little lamb in the midst of forty or fifty sheep so surrounded by them it couldn't find its mother. A shepherd often has to separate the sheep so that a lamb can be with its mother and get the needed milk. It needs to know where the milk comes from. It is all important that God's lambs get in touch with Christ and the sincere milk of the Word.
When the sheep are resting, you will notice them chewing the cud. This marks the sheep as a clean animal. If the sheep do not do this, it means they are sick sheep. Chewing our cud will keep us healthy. We need to have the right meditations in our hearts to keep healthy in the things of God.
One thing noticeable in the country where I was, was the shepherd's care for his sheep. No matter how healthy the sheep, they needed the care of the shepherd; and God's people have the same need. A person can easily tell if a shepherd cares for his sheep. Real shepherds go through many hardships in order to help their sheep. Their lives are lived for the flocks. There was one shepherd I didn't think so much of as a man, but one thing I must say, he had a shepherd's heart. He went up in my estimation when I saw him walk twenty miles, climbing eight thousand feet, to rescue some sheep. He had seen them as he was bringing his own sheep in one night, and couldn't rest, thinking of those sheep on the mountain top, and got up during the night, took a lantern along with him, and it was morning when he brought them in. In another instance, a sheep rolled down a steep cliff into a dangerous place. One man said, "Leave it, no one will ever know it is there.” But another man and I could not do that; we had to go down after him. When we got to where he was and got all the snow off him, we packed him back up the mountain into safety. Often the shepherd would endanger his life for the sheep, to rescue one from a dangerous place. The Lord's under-shepherds' care and interest in the souls of others will make manifest their genuine love. The heart interest we have, even in little things, will tell. Sometimes we would find sheep that were down and not able to get up. All they needed was help to get back on their feet. The Lord's sheep may be healthy, and still get down, but if one with a shepherd's heart will give them a little help, it will put them on their feet again. If left, they will die. Often seagulls were waiting for the sheep to get down, and then would come and pick their eyes out. Satan, our enemy, likes to catch us when we are down. If he can blot out our vision of the Lord, or mar our vision of days ahead, he has gained his objective. The sheep sometimes feed among briars which get tangled up in their fleece and before they know it, they are hopelessly imprisoned. They have to be freed or they will die. It is easy for the Lord's people to get entangled so that it could mean destruction. They need the shepherd to free them from that which is holding them captive.
Sometimes sheep would get on ledges of rock, dangerous places, and the shepherd would have to let himself down over hundreds of feet to rescue them. Sometimes we would have to let them down farther to safety, instead of bringing them up. Sometimes when we would get near the lamb, it would shy away, give a jump, and go on to its death. Sometimes, too, when we draw near to help people of the world, they put themselves into a place where it is impossible to help them.
Another thing we had to watch out for, was that the sheep did not get wool-blind. It will grow over their eyes so that they can't see where they are going. The tendency of sheep is to follow the leader. On one occasion a sheep was wool-blind, got too near the edge, slipped on a rock and went over, and seven or eight followed him to destruction before we could get there. When some of God’s people lose their vision of the pathway, they say, “I can do things and go places that seem right to me." What a terrible influence this has on others. Others will follow us. We need to watch our walk and keep a clear vision of the right way. If I take myself to a lost eternity, others will follow.
Perhaps I will mention just a little about the feeding of the sheep. The things the sheep feed on are so very important. Some things are dangerous for them to eat. When I cared for sheep in New Zealand, there was a poisonous plant called "Tute", and it meant quick death. Another plant called "St. John's Wart” worked in a slow way but also meant death. I have thought many times of God's sheep and how abundant their pasture and feed is. The lot of every child of God is to be abundantly satisfied with the abundance of His house. There are some things within the human breast though, to want to feed on other things, and it could mean sure death. If God's children could only remember to feed on the things of God, things that will preserve their testimony, Satan then cannot have any power over them. Feeding on things of this world means slowly losing our lives.
I remember one experience when we were bringing the sheep down from the high country. Some were sick because of the winter experience and had to lie down, so we held back the leader until the sick ones had a rest and could go on. I have seen many sheep reach the end of the journey only because we stopped the leader awhile and let him rest. Sometimes a lamb could not go on and had to be carried. When a sheep would be lying there discouraged and tired, the shepherd would encourage it to go on and all the others would gather around. This would cause it to realize it was still one of the flock and had not been left alone. We can be of help to the weak. They are still a part of the flock and are not to be left alone or forgotten.
The sheep are both ear-marked and branded in order for their master to claim them. Each year when the sheep were brought in for shearing, we used to go to other flocks and get our sheep back that had strayed. One time I claimed a sheep with no ear-marks. Its ears were gone, but there was our brand on that sheep and we could claim it. If only God's people would remember the necessity of having the right marks of preserving their testimony, they would be able to show whose they are and whom they serve. Satan then would have no claim on them. “God’s people are to be known in the streets, among the multitudes of men." There should be a sufficient evidence about us, about our attire, about our walk, to show that we are the Lord's, that we are known of Him and chosen of Him.
Through experiences, some sheep have come in from the field with little or no fleece. They have become entangled with briars, etc., and were noticed among the others. Maybe some of us are like that at times: we feel we have such a little testimony. At the annual shearing time the sheep with little or no fleece came in with the others. They were counted in, then a clear brand was put on them, and they went out into the following year with as good an opportunity as others of growing fleece. We may not have had as clear a testimony as others but the Lord still wants to put His mark on us and claim us among His people, and He gives us the chance of going into the new year to put on new fleece. Sometimes sheep come in with two or three years' fleece on them, and they are so heavily burdened down they can hardly walk. After this fleece is taken off they can hardly keep their balance, because the burden taken off was so great. We, too, can feel like that. Sometimes the cares of life have so burdened us down we can hardly walk or get around, but when the burden is relieved by the Lord, there is a great difference. We can be like the man who was leaping and praising God.
We read of the shepherd's care in Psalm 23. I have been asked if the Good Shepherd had any dogs. Well, if He did, I would like the chance of naming them. Their names would be "Goodness" and "Mercy". David said, “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.” The Lord found us through His goodness and mercy. We can truly say the Lord has had goodness and mercy in dealing with us all along the way. If one of God's sheep needed to be hunted up, He would send Goodness after it. If any got out of touch or out of breath, He would send Mercy after it. It would be like the leading dog to draw them unto himself. May we be those that the Lord can cherish and count as ones of His beautiful flock.
(The following are other interesting experiences that were shared with us.)
Sometimes sheep get snowed in, up in the high ranges, for weeks at a time before the shepherds can find them. Many times the sheep will be huddled together, completely covered with snow and the shepherds look for a "blow-hole", an opening where the warm breath of the sheep keeps an opening melted and enough air comes in to sustain them. Occasionally the shepherds find such a hole, but help has been too long in coming, and the sheep have all died.
During such times of imprisonment, there is no food, and a sheep, nuzzling the fleece of another will discover a burr in the wool, and in eating the burr, will get a taste of the wool and may eat a patch of wool off the other sheep. It naturally makes it hard on that other sheep because of the cold, but it is really harder on the one doing the eating, because wool is very hard to digest, and it takes longer to get over the effects of that. Sometimes we are tempted to pick at something wrong with someone else's testimony...but though the burr shouldn't have been in the wool, we harm ourselves rather than helping the other person.
In such experiences when the sheep can't feed, the fleece stops growing and commences again when the sheep get to pasture, but there is a "break” or weak place in the fleece which causes the fleece to peel off easily as the sheep go through brush, briars, etc. It is easy to spot sheep who have had this experience but after the shearing they have the same chance as the rest to grow new wool.
Ticks are no problem if the sheep are healthy, but if for any reason the sheep get sick, the ticks seem to take over. Occasionally we came upon a sheep that seemed more dead than alive, and after picking it up, we would find it covered with ticks. When it was impossible to save the sheep’s life, we would cut its throat and very little blood would come out, because the ticks had most of it. This warns us of the danger of allowing wrong things to remain in our lives. No matter how small they appear, they can multiply and rob us of the very source of life.
Because of the presence of ticks, there is a law in New Zealand that all the sheep are to be dipped in a sheep-dip once a year. This is done after the shearing, and we could see a noticeable gain in the strength of the sheep daily after the ticks were removed. The dipping kills all the ticks, but the eggs still remain and they hatch out in about two weeks, so the dip is such that if for any reason the sheep gets wet again...rain, dew, etc...the dip is reactivated and it kills the new ticks. This is like when we leave conventions or some similar meetings. Sometimes things appear that were not evident before, but we can recall the things we heard and it helps us to deal with those fresh problems. It is something that is brought into effect again with each fresh “watering."
Once when we were shearing, as it got later in the afternoon, we found it increasingly difficult to get the sheep into the shearing shed, and we finally had to carry them in one by one. We stopped for supper and afterward it was dark, so I took along a lantern and hung it in the shearing shed. The next thing I knew, all the sheep were around me in the shed, and then I realized what the trouble was before...it had been darker inside the shed than outside, and the sheep didn't want to come in. You can carry a sheep back into the darkest corner, set it down and it will hurry back to the light. Sheep prefer the light. The contrast between the sheep and the goat nature is that the goats, if subjected to a similar experience, will want to get back into the dark corner. They prefer the dark. The Lord's sheep are attracted to the fold because of the light it offers, and are content to dwell there.
Some mornings we could look out and see goats coming down from the mountains, leaping and bleating, and we knew it meant that a storm was coming. The sheep would be going higher and higher into the mountains and would be snowed in, if we couldn't get them down in time. This helps us to understand Luke 16:8. “The children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light." This is one of the reasons why sheep need a shepherd and goats do not.
If you want two goats to graze without wandering off too far, all you have to do is to tie them together with a snort length of rope. They will pull in opposite directions and consequently stay in the near vicinity. This would never work with sheep, because one would follow another, and they would wander over hill and dale together. In this lies an interesting thought...two servants going together are a living witness that God is working in their lives. If they did not have the right nature, they could not work together and go forth as Jesus sent the twelve and the seventy.
We often hear people mention the "black sheep”. There is one thing that makes all sheep alike...when they are sacrificed. When the skin is removed, there is no difference between the black sheep and the white sheep. It costs one just as much as it costs the other. It is only when the Lord's people are placed on the altar of service that we all become alike. May we always be willing to yield our bodies as a living sacrifice as Paul mentioned in Romans 12:1.
I would like to tell you some of my experiences before going into the Lord's work, when I was caring for and working with sheep in the high and rugged part of New Zealand.
Since early childhood I cared for sheep. The lessons I learned are very much like the lessons God teaches His people...His sheep. The Lord speaks of His people in Jeremiah 13:20, as a “beautiful flock.” Often God refers to His chosen as sheep. This is how they appear to Him, a beautiful flock. We count ourselves a privileged people if we are one of His sheep. We have the right shepherd caring for our soul. We would like to be worthy to be called a beautiful flock.
The Lord is particular about His name and anxious that His name be upheld and the standard of righteousness maintained. The man I worked for was very particular about his name because he sent his sheep to many parts of the country. He wanted the standard of his flock upheld and maintained. He was very interested in seeing the lambs come up to this standard. The Lord wants this standard upheld in His flock too. David, in speaking of the Lord as his shepherd, said, "He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.” (Psalm 23:3) We can be sure that the paths that The Lord may lead us in are for His own name's sake. God would like for us to maintain this standard. A good shepherd is anxious to see the lambs come up to the standard. The Lord's care and interest in the flock begins with the lambs. The thing of greatest importance, when a lamb is born, is to see that it gets a supply of milk. The first milk it gets enables it to stand against some of the cold blasts that come. Milk is the substance of life; it needs milk so it can grow. I have seen one little lamb in the midst of forty or fifty sheep so surrounded by them it couldn't find its mother. A shepherd often has to separate the sheep so that a lamb can be with its mother and get the needed milk. It needs to know where the milk comes from. It is all important that God's lambs get in touch with Christ and the sincere milk of the Word.
When the sheep are resting, you will notice them chewing the cud. This marks the sheep as a clean animal. If the sheep do not do this, it means they are sick sheep. Chewing our cud will keep us healthy. We need to have the right meditations in our hearts to keep healthy in the things of God.
One thing noticeable in the country where I was, was the shepherd's care for his sheep. No matter how healthy the sheep, they needed the care of the shepherd; and God's people have the same need. A person can easily tell if a shepherd cares for his sheep. Real shepherds go through many hardships in order to help their sheep. Their lives are lived for the flocks. There was one shepherd I didn't think so much of as a man, but one thing I must say, he had a shepherd's heart. He went up in my estimation when I saw him walk twenty miles, climbing eight thousand feet, to rescue some sheep. He had seen them as he was bringing his own sheep in one night, and couldn't rest, thinking of those sheep on the mountain top, and got up during the night, took a lantern along with him, and it was morning when he brought them in. In another instance, a sheep rolled down a steep cliff into a dangerous place. One man said, "Leave it, no one will ever know it is there.” But another man and I could not do that; we had to go down after him. When we got to where he was and got all the snow off him, we packed him back up the mountain into safety. Often the shepherd would endanger his life for the sheep, to rescue one from a dangerous place. The Lord's under-shepherds' care and interest in the souls of others will make manifest their genuine love. The heart interest we have, even in little things, will tell. Sometimes we would find sheep that were down and not able to get up. All they needed was help to get back on their feet. The Lord's sheep may be healthy, and still get down, but if one with a shepherd's heart will give them a little help, it will put them on their feet again. If left, they will die. Often seagulls were waiting for the sheep to get down, and then would come and pick their eyes out. Satan, our enemy, likes to catch us when we are down. If he can blot out our vision of the Lord, or mar our vision of days ahead, he has gained his objective. The sheep sometimes feed among briars which get tangled up in their fleece and before they know it, they are hopelessly imprisoned. They have to be freed or they will die. It is easy for the Lord's people to get entangled so that it could mean destruction. They need the shepherd to free them from that which is holding them captive.
Sometimes sheep would get on ledges of rock, dangerous places, and the shepherd would have to let himself down over hundreds of feet to rescue them. Sometimes we would have to let them down farther to safety, instead of bringing them up. Sometimes when we would get near the lamb, it would shy away, give a jump, and go on to its death. Sometimes, too, when we draw near to help people of the world, they put themselves into a place where it is impossible to help them.
Another thing we had to watch out for, was that the sheep did not get wool-blind. It will grow over their eyes so that they can't see where they are going. The tendency of sheep is to follow the leader. On one occasion a sheep was wool-blind, got too near the edge, slipped on a rock and went over, and seven or eight followed him to destruction before we could get there. When some of God’s people lose their vision of the pathway, they say, “I can do things and go places that seem right to me." What a terrible influence this has on others. Others will follow us. We need to watch our walk and keep a clear vision of the right way. If I take myself to a lost eternity, others will follow.
Perhaps I will mention just a little about the feeding of the sheep. The things the sheep feed on are so very important. Some things are dangerous for them to eat. When I cared for sheep in New Zealand, there was a poisonous plant called "Tute", and it meant quick death. Another plant called "St. John's Wart” worked in a slow way but also meant death. I have thought many times of God's sheep and how abundant their pasture and feed is. The lot of every child of God is to be abundantly satisfied with the abundance of His house. There are some things within the human breast though, to want to feed on other things, and it could mean sure death. If God's children could only remember to feed on the things of God, things that will preserve their testimony, Satan then cannot have any power over them. Feeding on things of this world means slowly losing our lives.
I remember one experience when we were bringing the sheep down from the high country. Some were sick because of the winter experience and had to lie down, so we held back the leader until the sick ones had a rest and could go on. I have seen many sheep reach the end of the journey only because we stopped the leader awhile and let him rest. Sometimes a lamb could not go on and had to be carried. When a sheep would be lying there discouraged and tired, the shepherd would encourage it to go on and all the others would gather around. This would cause it to realize it was still one of the flock and had not been left alone. We can be of help to the weak. They are still a part of the flock and are not to be left alone or forgotten.
The sheep are both ear-marked and branded in order for their master to claim them. Each year when the sheep were brought in for shearing, we used to go to other flocks and get our sheep back that had strayed. One time I claimed a sheep with no ear-marks. Its ears were gone, but there was our brand on that sheep and we could claim it. If only God's people would remember the necessity of having the right marks of preserving their testimony, they would be able to show whose they are and whom they serve. Satan then would have no claim on them. “God’s people are to be known in the streets, among the multitudes of men." There should be a sufficient evidence about us, about our attire, about our walk, to show that we are the Lord's, that we are known of Him and chosen of Him.
Through experiences, some sheep have come in from the field with little or no fleece. They have become entangled with briars, etc., and were noticed among the others. Maybe some of us are like that at times: we feel we have such a little testimony. At the annual shearing time the sheep with little or no fleece came in with the others. They were counted in, then a clear brand was put on them, and they went out into the following year with as good an opportunity as others of growing fleece. We may not have had as clear a testimony as others but the Lord still wants to put His mark on us and claim us among His people, and He gives us the chance of going into the new year to put on new fleece. Sometimes sheep come in with two or three years' fleece on them, and they are so heavily burdened down they can hardly walk. After this fleece is taken off they can hardly keep their balance, because the burden taken off was so great. We, too, can feel like that. Sometimes the cares of life have so burdened us down we can hardly walk or get around, but when the burden is relieved by the Lord, there is a great difference. We can be like the man who was leaping and praising God.
We read of the shepherd's care in Psalm 23. I have been asked if the Good Shepherd had any dogs. Well, if He did, I would like the chance of naming them. Their names would be "Goodness" and "Mercy". David said, “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.” The Lord found us through His goodness and mercy. We can truly say the Lord has had goodness and mercy in dealing with us all along the way. If one of God's sheep needed to be hunted up, He would send Goodness after it. If any got out of touch or out of breath, He would send Mercy after it. It would be like the leading dog to draw them unto himself. May we be those that the Lord can cherish and count as ones of His beautiful flock.
(The following are other interesting experiences that were shared with us.)
Sometimes sheep get snowed in, up in the high ranges, for weeks at a time before the shepherds can find them. Many times the sheep will be huddled together, completely covered with snow and the shepherds look for a "blow-hole", an opening where the warm breath of the sheep keeps an opening melted and enough air comes in to sustain them. Occasionally the shepherds find such a hole, but help has been too long in coming, and the sheep have all died.
During such times of imprisonment, there is no food, and a sheep, nuzzling the fleece of another will discover a burr in the wool, and in eating the burr, will get a taste of the wool and may eat a patch of wool off the other sheep. It naturally makes it hard on that other sheep because of the cold, but it is really harder on the one doing the eating, because wool is very hard to digest, and it takes longer to get over the effects of that. Sometimes we are tempted to pick at something wrong with someone else's testimony...but though the burr shouldn't have been in the wool, we harm ourselves rather than helping the other person.
In such experiences when the sheep can't feed, the fleece stops growing and commences again when the sheep get to pasture, but there is a "break” or weak place in the fleece which causes the fleece to peel off easily as the sheep go through brush, briars, etc. It is easy to spot sheep who have had this experience but after the shearing they have the same chance as the rest to grow new wool.
Ticks are no problem if the sheep are healthy, but if for any reason the sheep get sick, the ticks seem to take over. Occasionally we came upon a sheep that seemed more dead than alive, and after picking it up, we would find it covered with ticks. When it was impossible to save the sheep’s life, we would cut its throat and very little blood would come out, because the ticks had most of it. This warns us of the danger of allowing wrong things to remain in our lives. No matter how small they appear, they can multiply and rob us of the very source of life.
Because of the presence of ticks, there is a law in New Zealand that all the sheep are to be dipped in a sheep-dip once a year. This is done after the shearing, and we could see a noticeable gain in the strength of the sheep daily after the ticks were removed. The dipping kills all the ticks, but the eggs still remain and they hatch out in about two weeks, so the dip is such that if for any reason the sheep gets wet again...rain, dew, etc...the dip is reactivated and it kills the new ticks. This is like when we leave conventions or some similar meetings. Sometimes things appear that were not evident before, but we can recall the things we heard and it helps us to deal with those fresh problems. It is something that is brought into effect again with each fresh “watering."
Once when we were shearing, as it got later in the afternoon, we found it increasingly difficult to get the sheep into the shearing shed, and we finally had to carry them in one by one. We stopped for supper and afterward it was dark, so I took along a lantern and hung it in the shearing shed. The next thing I knew, all the sheep were around me in the shed, and then I realized what the trouble was before...it had been darker inside the shed than outside, and the sheep didn't want to come in. You can carry a sheep back into the darkest corner, set it down and it will hurry back to the light. Sheep prefer the light. The contrast between the sheep and the goat nature is that the goats, if subjected to a similar experience, will want to get back into the dark corner. They prefer the dark. The Lord's sheep are attracted to the fold because of the light it offers, and are content to dwell there.
Some mornings we could look out and see goats coming down from the mountains, leaping and bleating, and we knew it meant that a storm was coming. The sheep would be going higher and higher into the mountains and would be snowed in, if we couldn't get them down in time. This helps us to understand Luke 16:8. “The children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light." This is one of the reasons why sheep need a shepherd and goats do not.
If you want two goats to graze without wandering off too far, all you have to do is to tie them together with a snort length of rope. They will pull in opposite directions and consequently stay in the near vicinity. This would never work with sheep, because one would follow another, and they would wander over hill and dale together. In this lies an interesting thought...two servants going together are a living witness that God is working in their lives. If they did not have the right nature, they could not work together and go forth as Jesus sent the twelve and the seventy.
We often hear people mention the "black sheep”. There is one thing that makes all sheep alike...when they are sacrificed. When the skin is removed, there is no difference between the black sheep and the white sheep. It costs one just as much as it costs the other. It is only when the Lord's people are placed on the altar of service that we all become alike. May we always be willing to yield our bodies as a living sacrifice as Paul mentioned in Romans 12:1.