Did you know that the Lord, as the Great Shepherd, wants to guide you and provide for you as though you were a lamb in the meadow? “The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not be in want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters.”
Why does Psalm 23 use a lamb and not a mule in its analogy? Does a lamb have the reputation of being more docile and submissive than a mule? Uh, yep. There’s a very good reason a lamb was featured in this well-known psalm and not a mule. Try to read psalm 23 as if you were that stubborn mule rather than a lamb. It would sound like this:
The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall want my own way. He makes me lie down in green pastures, but I will keep geting up and wanderng off to eat dead grass. He’ll pull me to quiet waters, but I will refuse to drink. He ends up dragging me along right paths, and I dig my heels in the whole way. So when I end up in a dark valley, I just say to myself, “I’ve got this. I’m good.” But, actually, I am asolutely terrified because I’m not sure He is with me. I think He is, but, I am so stubborn and self-absorbed, I can’t see in the dark.
His rod and staff don’t comfort me; they drive me crazy, and I resent them. He prepares a table before me, but I clamp my jaws and refuse to eat. He anoints my head with oil, and I buck and kick the whole time. My cup would overflow if I would just be still, but I am bent on my own way.
Amazingly, His goodness and mercy still follow me all the days of my stiff-necked life, and despite myself, but because of His grace, I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
Isn’t that a lot like our own stories? When we don’t cooperate with God’s plan of redemption, we really do act stubborn as a mule. One phrase defines our stubborness – “pride is the sin of destruction” which perfectly describes the prideful thinking, “I’ll do it my way.”
Unconfessed and unforgiven sin will keep us out of heaven ~~
So what can we do about it? Well, it would be prideful to think we can rid ourselves of sin; but God can. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleasne us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9)
If you were to describe yourself, would you be a mule or a lamb? Hmm? Is the Shepherd leading or are you going your own way?