THE SAFETY OF YOUR SHEPHERDING! (BY GBILE AKANNI)

The LORD is my shepherd; I have everything I need.(Psalm 23: 1)
The fall of man had a negative effect, not only on Man but on all of God’s creation. God’s beautiful picture of a balanced ecosystem at peace with itself and all of nature was disrupted. (Rom 8: 19-23)The earth became wild, bearing thorns; the creatures became fierce, lost every sense of togetherness and became violent competitors. Every animal, in order to survive, had to learn the art of self-defence; and every specie, in order not to be wiped out, had to be born with a natural instinct of self-survival.

The rebellion against man’s authority that you see in the animals around us today is merely a reflection of what Man himself has done to God. Man had rebelled and become independent. He had acquired a personal, self-based knowledge of good and evil. Man no longer felt a need to be guided or told what to do. The human race had decided to rely on itself and fend for itself.Read more.>>

As you see the natural animal resent domestication and resist human shepherding, so also does Man in his natural state, resent any form of shepherding, guiding or leadership. Man as himself hates to be a follower.

There is that natural sense of wild, free-ranging in every man that makes us to resist God’s shepherding and miss out on His loving provisions. The natural man loves independence and loves to prove that "he" and he alone made it. He loves to point at accomplishments and beat his chest. His highest point of exhilaration is to boast that he achieved whatever he acquired all by himself.

And that, unknown to him, makes him naturally restless. He runs . . ..... up and down, here and there, in and out . . . . looking for what oftentimes he doesn't even know, much less can describe.

May God make us to see the need and then love and long for shepherding. To be content just to follow because we know and are convinced that we miss nothing by following God. To just be convinced that in Him, we have everything that we need.

The free range animal out of ignorance and the perspective of the flesh may despise and taunt the domesticated(tied down) animal. But in reality, the domestication of the tied down is his safety. It is the basis of his sufficiency.It is his source of fulfillment. On the contrary,the "freedom”, the “liberty", the absolute lack of control of the wild free-ranger is the very root of his insecurity and restlessness.

Whoever ties down an animal must provide for its needs wherever he tied him down. Whoever domesticated a wild animal and re-trained him out of its aggressive self-defence must make adequate arrangement to make sure he is not molested. And being tied down re-focuses one to see his immediate environment and learn to appreciate the things in his immediate vicinity.

Moreover, the human hunter, as much as it is his calling to kill animals for food, NEVER has the urge or instinct to hunt down a domestic animal. Wherever he finds one domestic animal or household pet, he merely plays with it. He even helps it out of a ditch or the trap set for wild animals once he recognizes it as a domestic animal, even if no one is there. On the other hand, even when a free ranging wild animal comes around the house and pretends to be or mixes with domestic animals especially if it comes near their feeding trough, the natural reaction of men is to hunt it down and kill it.

Domestication or more properly put, “Discipleship” is again, God's way of deliverance from enemies and “Soul hunters”. That’s the way it works. All natural enemies lose all urge to harm or kill a disciple when they see his domestication. Same way, no one drives a domestic animal from his feeding trough, rather everyone is on the look-out for good things to take home for his domestic animals.

On the contrary, everything the free range animal eats, he steals to eat it and he eats under pressure, hastily, for fear of being caught. His basic needs of food, water and shelter; legitimate desires and necessities of life become the very baits with which men trap him and hunt him down.

May my soul rest, Oh Saviour, in the safety of your shepherding. May I know the secrecy of your shepherding base . . . .out of sight of hunters of prey, as well as the dangers of the wild. May my soul rely, trust and completely relax in the comprehensiveness of your cover. May I not go about seeking where else to hide other than under the shadow of Thy wings.

May my soul rest, Oh Master, in the restfulness of your shepherding. May I agree to be tamed, to be domesticated. May I agree to cease from running in the wild, roaming the wilderness of life, seeking what I know not yet pursuing the “fleece” for fear of not “making it”.

May my soul rest, Oh Lord, in the certainty of your shepherding. May my heart agree to be led, to be herded, to be discipled, to be told what to do and what not to do. May my heart long for your sheepfolds where you will feed my soul and water my thirsty tongue in your lovely feeding troughs. No one ever turns out wrong from following You the righteous One.

May my soul rest, Oh Father, in the sufficiency of your shepherding. To be content with what you bring, whatever it is . . . . . and to know that it will be Manna for my journey. To wait for when you bring it, knowing that YOU, the Lord of time and eternity cannot be out of tune with reality. To cease from running around on my steam searching for what you will effortlessly bring home to me in the confines of your base.

Son 1:7 [Addressing her shepherd, she said] Tell me, O you whom my soul loves, where you pasture your flock, where you make it lie down at noon. For why should I [as I think of you] be as a veiled one straying beside the flocks of your companions? [Psalms 23:1, 2]