5 Lessons to learn from Sheep's Clothing

Several days ago I had the pleasure of washing my wool poncho. I bought it while on a mission trip in Mexico so I wash it by hand to keep it nice. I filled my bathtub with soapy water and baptized my favorite piece of clothing. As I pulled up the 50 pounds of water with my poncho soaked in it, I remembered Psalm 23.

“The LORD is my shepherd… He leadeth me beside still waters.”

I imagined a sheep in a rushing stream. Wool, as my sore back was discovering, gets extremely heavy when wet. If a sheep were to get caught in some swift, or even slightly too deep water, he would drown. From this picture I painted in my imagination, I learned two things.

Number 1: Our good shepherd plans our future. He will not bring us to water that is too deep or too strong. And Number 2: Our good shepherd is very strong. Even if a sheep were to get in water for a little it would be 30 pounds heavier.

Now as I dried off my poncho I found that a lot of the moss that had found its way onto the in-linings was still attached. This told me something else about my good shepherd. Number 3: He is very good at keeping His sheep clean. The 23rd Psalm gives us another insight into this:

“He maketh me to lie down in green pastures”

Now I don’t know if you’ve ever walked onto some green grass bare in the feet, but it’s a lot more comfortable than doing it on dry grass. During mid-summer where I live you will see a lot of dry grass. It’s rough and prickly and it gets everywhere if you roll in it. But if you will watch that scene from Star Wars: Attack of the Clones that my parents always skipped when I was a kid, you will notice that no grass was stuck on our lead actors.

Ain’t it great that just when we think we’ve discovered all the benefits to God’s creation, He seems to surprise us with another. In this case, it’s that green grass does more than feed. It also doesn’t get in our wool.

Now washing a big blanket of wool is one thing. Drying it is another. It has now been the third day since I washed that thing and it is still wet. Now I can’t just stick that thing in the dryer; it’ll shrink. Can’t put it on a rack; it’ll sag.

The only thing I can do is put it on a towel in an airy room, or in the sun, which we don’t get a lot of in these parts. Now I did squeeze as much water out of it as I could. Thought I done pretty well for myself, it apparently takes a lot longer to dry one of these things than A.I. said it would. Now don’t that tell me something else about my Good Shepherd.

Number 4: Our Good Shepherd is patient. A little sheep that jumps in some water may not be strong enough to walk himself back home. The shepherd might have to carry him part way. That mean his clothes are soaked, he’s carrying an extra 100 pounds, and he smells like the Apostle John’s pits after outrunning Peter to the tomb. But God never does anything unless He believes it is worth it.

I’m gonna let you read that again: God never does anything unless He believes it is worth it.

That means when He knit you in your mother’s womb and placed you in the place you live with the income you have and the government that is over you and the type of food you eat, the people you are around and the skills you have learned, He said “I believe it is worth it.” Now if God believes it is still in His best interest to keep your heart beating, how about you join Him.

To recap, remember...

Number 1: Our Good Shepherd plans our future.

Number 2: Our Good Shepherd is very strong.

Number 3: Our Good Shepherd is very good at keeping His sheep clean.

Number 4: Our Good Shepherd is patient with us.

And Number 5 as a bonus: Our Good Shepherd loves you.