In Jesus’ day, shepherds took flocks of sheep out to graze and brought them back to the sheepfold for safety at night. Wild animals loved a tasty lamb chop dinner, so the caution was needed to keep the flock intact. Walls of the sheep pen would be topped with thorny branches to keep out climbing predators and often the shepherd slept at the gate to enforce the “no access” rule for the bad guys.
When Jesus said, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep,” it’s not hard to see the image of a protecting God, looking out for those who depend on and follow him. But if I’m being honest, it’s sometimes hard for me to reconcile this image of a protecting God with what I see in the world--people starving in South Sudan, children with brain tumors, innocents killed by drunk drivers, or broken relationships ending in divorce. (Please tell me I’m not the only one who struggles with this?) It is hard to think of God as “protection” in these circumstances. What helps me make at least some sense of this is going back to what I know is true.
I know that God loves me. This is true. I know that miracles were never intended just to keep Christians healthy. This is true. I know that I live in a broken, messy world where rotten things happen…to everybody. This is true. I know that much of my spiritual growth and closeness with God has come about during the crummiest, excruciating, most painful experiences in my life. This is true. I hate that this is true, and if I were God’s Michigan representative, I would vote for this to change, but…it is true. But even Jesus didn’t get what he pleaded for from God in the garden of Gethsemane, and he was the person most deserving of God’s protection in the whole wide world. I find this oddly comforting in a way I can’t quite explain.
So where does that leave me? I think my biggest block comes when I look at what I value as protection for my children and compare that to what God values as protection. As a parent, I value my children’s health and safety. I want them to be protected from sickness, pain, suffering, and grief. I want them to have good jobs that fulfill them, pay them enough to afford health insurance, and hope they never have to use it. And I want them never to die. Ever.
God may have a slightly different perspective. God values qualities such as kindness, fortitude, faithfulness, self-control, freedom, and trust, and will give us opportunity after opportunity to grow in those attributes, even if it means some really rotten experiences. And against all reason and rational thought, we see it happen. The parents who walk through chemo with their four-year-old and still believe in the goodness of God. The grown children who lovingly care day after day for a parent with Alzheimer’s, even though he no longer knows who they are. The parents of children killed by an inexperienced young driver who go and pray with her and forgive her. We see it in ourselves when we give up our hurt and longing for revenge to speak the words “I forgive you.” God calls us into his kingdom and that begins here and now. God’s hand of protection begins by removing the heavy guilt that haunts us. He defends us against the things that steal and destroy the fullness of life we have in Christ. He takes us out of our gripping anxieties, our fears, our addictions, our toxic dependencies, and our screwed-up lives, and he calls our name and whispers “Come home.”
“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy;
I have come that they may have life and have it to the full.”
John 10:10
[Sandy Navis is happily retired and spends her days doing pretty much whatever she wants to do. She is a firm believer in the power of laughter, singing while doing the dishes, crazy dancing while cleaning house, and eating chocolate every day. Sandy has three grandkids, who she loves to talk about even more than breadmaking.]
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