“The LORD is my shepherd…” Psalm 23: 1
When I was a kid, we had a couple sheep as pets. They’re the silliest creatures. They like to eat grass, hang around with their friends, and for the most part do what their human tells them to do. In the Bible there are more than 500 references to sheep, more than any other animal. Some of the characteristics of sheep, their gentleness, humility, willingness to follow the shepherd, etc. seems to be what God desires for His people.
In the 23rd psalm, David likened himself to a sheep with the Lord as a shepherd. And in Isaiah 40 God gathers the lambs in His arms and carries them close to His heart. In Mark 6:34, Jesus had compassion on the people because they were like sheep without a shepherd. In John 10:14 Jesus says, “I am the good shepherd; I know My own sheep, and they know Me.” In John 21 Jesus says to Peter “Then take care of My sheep,” and so on and so on.
Goats on the other hand, based on my own experience are a different story. Sure, they’re cute and playful when little, but when they grow up they want to do what they want to do and go where they want to go. We had a goat that would jump a 4 foot fence to get into the yard to eat the garden, the flowers, the bushes, the trees, the laundry off the clothesline and chase my little brother. We finally had to get rid of our pet goats because they were causing way too many problems and were too hard to handle.
I think if goats were going to rewrite the 23rd psalm it might be something like:
The Lord is my herdsman I’ll do what I want.
He tries to make me lay down in the grass by the quiet waters but that’s boring.
Even if things get scary I am not afraid and I can fight anything off
You can provide the food I should eat but I’ll go eat everything else that looks interesting
And I’ll be a goat forever.
Matthew 25: 32-34 “…. He will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on His right and the goats on His left.” The sheep are saved and the goats not so much.
I’ve been thinking which am I, a goat or a sheep and which do I want to be? Sometimes I think I’m way too much goat. In truth I’m probably 60% goat and 40% sheep. Maybe, with a little awareness and work I can improve that percentage.