Finding God in the Mysteries of every day

Week 12 Day 4

Finding God in the Mysteries of every day

Jeremiah 50:6 “My people have been lost sheep;
    their shepherds have led them astray
    and caused them to roam on the mountains.
They wandered over mountain and hill
    and forgot their own resting place.

            As a young teen I had occasion to visit a friend’s house where they kept sheep.  In the dark of the night I arrived at the house and proceeded to get completely turned around and ended up climbing a fence and ending up in the sheepfold. I could see the vague outline of the space between the house and a barn across the expanse of the pen. Foolishly I chose to try to walk through the sheep shortening the journey by several steps rather than climbing out and going around. I learned that night an awful lesson about what psychologists call “herd mentality”. The sheep, deciding that they were frightened did give way before me, but it was not without a cacophony of noise, much kicking and nipping, and a general lack of cooperation with my attempts to cross their “space”.

            So too, I have noticed a kind of herd mentality that overtakes people when faced with the reality of sin and judgement, even when preceded by the sincerest invitation of grace. Jesus is not popular. Even among some church attenders, the very idea of becoming someone in whom the laws commands and statutes of God are obeyed intrinsically is offensive and unachievable. Psalm 119:11Your word I have treasured in my heart, That I may not sin against You.

            The issue is not half-hearted devotion, it’s a kind of “I will if you will” sort of thought process. Many are far too frightened to walk the steeper path, the “upward way”. They remain content to mill about in the sheepfold doing nothing, producing nothing and waiting and watching to see if someone else will leap up the hill.