Proverbs 27:23-27
Know well the condition of your flocks, and give attention to your herds, for riches do not last forever; and does a crown endure to all generations? When the grass is gone and the new growth appears and the vegetation of the mountains is gathered, the lambs will provide your clothing, and the goats the price of a field. There will be enough goats’ milk for your food, for the food of your household and maintenance for your girls.
You can’t manage effectively when you don’t have accurate information. This applies to goats and sheep, as the Proverb above says, but we can expand that to our finances, businesses, families, organizations and to our churches. Pay attention to your flock, and it will grow, and it will sustain you and others.
Shepherds live among the sheep. As Dr. Lynn Anderson put it, “They Smell Like Sheep.” Shepherds become intimately involved with each sheep, they learn each sheep’s personality. A shepherd knows the strengths and weaknesses of sheep. He can see when one is sick or needs special attention. He can look ahead and see the needs coming up, such as a need for green pastures with fresh grass or a better place for water. His eyes are always open for threats to the health and safety of his sheep. He takes this personally! It’s his life. The sheep are his life. Those sheep become comfortable and learn to be safe with that shepherd. As Jesus said, the sheep will learn to recognize the unique voice and call of their shepherd (John 10). That takes time, and a lot of patient consistent effort on the part of the shepherd.
I remember one time we had a really skiddish sheep. Snickers the sheep (see attached picture). He was young, and we had just brought him home. He would not come to anybody. My wife, Anna, took a chair out to his pen and sat there with animal crackers in her hand. She didn’t force him and she didn’t yell at him and command the sheep to come. She just sat there patiently and consistently with an animal cracker in her hand. This sheep would at first run around his shelter several times, then pause from behind the shelter and peek out to see Anna. Then he would step out a little closer to Anna as he felt safer. It wasn’t very long and he was eating out of her hand. And it wasn’t much longer after that when Anna was petting him and scratching behind his ears. He loved Anna, and was the most affectionate sheep. Anna knew her sheep and what he needed.
Can you imagine if Anna would have chased that sheep around with a stick, barking out orders to him? What about if she would have put a leash on him and forced him to come to her side? That would have changed the relationship, wouldn’t it? What if she would have quit in frustration, slammed the animal crackers box down on the ground and left before the sheep was really comfortable with her?
Question, why did so many “flock” to Jesus during His day (Luke 15:1-2)? Yes, many came for miracles or because they heard about the miracles, but there’s so much more to it than that. Let me ask another question, why were they not going to the Pharisees and Sadducees? You don’t see the people racing to their side for comfort, wisdom and direction, do you? Why not? They put heavy burdens on people, they were hard-nosed, they were distant and aloof, and they were very hypocritical.
Another question, do people feel safe coming to you? Sometimes we may look around and realize that people are not coming to us for wisdom. What do we do at that point? Do we blame everyone else? Do we throw rocks at the sheep who are not coming to us? Or do we look in the mirror and do some serious reflection? Maybe I don’t really know my sheep, and maybe I haven’t been truly invested in knowing the sheep. And even more than that, maybe I’m scary to the sheep. I walk in and they run for safety. If that’s the case, go get a chair and some animal crackers and learn to create a safe environment.
If you want to know your sheep, then you have to create an environment where sheep are safe around you.
Isaiah 40:11
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.
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