Arise, Sheep

“Come on, mama; get up!” I urged. The ewe made no effort to move as I shoved and pushed on her hip. I gave up with a disgusted grimace. Silly sheep. She had two hungry, wet, newborn lambs to lick off and she laid there acting as if she were paralyzed!

As I did my best to dry off the lambs and get some milk into them, a verse kept circling in my head. “Arise, for this matter is your responsibility. We also are with you. Be of good courage and do it.” (Ezra 10:4) It seemed to fit the situation perfectly. But as I thought about it, I got the guilty feeling that God may think the same thing about us as Christians. Do we really shirk our duties as badly as this ewe was hers?

“Arise.” The ewe wouldn’t even get up. If she stood, then I could at least suckle the lambs on her. But no, she had to lie on the straw like a hundred-and-fifty-pound duffel bag. How frustrating. Am I that awful for God sometimes? “Nope. I’m not gonna do it.” Flop! I cross my legs and arms and shut my eyes. With the sheep, I put the new lamb in front of her and she turned her head away. With me, God’s will for my life is directly under my nose and I resolutely ignore it. And God’s command for us in such instances is “Arise. I have a job for you to do so get up and do it.”

Our wary response is, “Why?” God’s reply:

“Because it’s your responsibility.”

It’s not an option. Those lambs couldn’t be neglected and expected to survive. They needed a mother, and it was her job to take care of them. It wasn’t an, “Oh, if you think you can handle it,” sort of thing. No rancher could make a living that way! Each animal pulls its own weight; each mother is expected to raise her young. That’s the way God made sheep - - the mammy raises her lambs. And God made us in the same way. He has jobs and responsibilities for us to do. They’re not options; they’re what He specifically designed us for. He has made us for a purpose. So what are we going to do about it? Are we going to insist that we don’t have a God-given mission in life and go our own merry way instead? Or are we going to stand up and do our job? If that ewe refused to take care of her lambs, I would have had two orphan lambs to deal with. And while I could raise them up, I could never have tended them as well as she could. The same goes for our God-given responsibilities. Sure, we can pass them off on somebody else, but no one else can do them just the way we can. Perhaps nobody can give the job the perfect touch that God placed within our own fingertips.

Maybe the task is daunting. The ewe was tired, she had two noisy lambs in front of her, she wasn’t used to being confined in a jug, and she had never had lambs before. But she wasn’t alone. “We also are with you.” I had helped her with the lambs; I dried the lambs off and gave them milk; I tried to boost her on her feet. I was willing to help her, and I did all in my power to do so. And you know what? The same is true in our Christian lives. When we look at our task and shake our heads in disbelief, Christ is right there at our side with His hand on our shoulder. We’re not alone. He’s going to help us every step of the way; He’s going to offer us His own strength and nourishment and protection and love. He’s not neglecting us. He’s not deserting us. He promised, “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
And God always keeps His promises.

I did the best I could for my stubborn sheep. Finally I gave her some peace and quiet and let nature takes its course. She did eventually accept her lambs like a good mother. Maybe she just had to come her senses. Maybe she had to calm down and recuperate. Regardless, she is now raising two healthy lambs. And that’s what God wants of us. “Be of good courage and do it.” Yes, stepping out on a limb for God does take courage. We have to determine to obey God’s command for each Christian to “deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow Me” whatever the cost. And then - - no backing down! No giving up! Arise. Take that first step. And the second and the third. And don’t stop until you have fulfilled your responsibility. Rely on God. Rest in His presence. Draw from His abundant grace. Do what you were meant to do.

A sheep can do it. Why can’t we?