You're Invited to a Pool Party in the Sheep Dip!

“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. 2 He makes me to lie down in green pastures: He leads me beside the still waters. 3 He restores my soul: He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake. 4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil:  for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff they comfort me. 5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of mine enemies:  You anoint my head with oil; my cup runs over. 6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”  Psalm 23

Most people use this psalm as a funeral dirge, focusing mainly on “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death…”  I did, too, until I read a book by Phillip Keller titled A Shepherd Looks at the 23^rd Psalm.  Mr. Keller walks the reader through his personal experience as a shepherd, offering lots of great insight into David’s sojourn as a shepherd, and how he must have penned his words to the Lord from that perspective.    The book paints David’s words with a different palette altogether, and as I am a sheep myself, I have come to not only appreciate them for what they are, but they have offered a great deal of comfort as the years have passed. 

The words “You anoint my head with oil…”  are particularly comforting.   Here’s why:

When my friend and I go through particularly rough circumstances, we tell the other to get out the bug spray.   That means that things are really getting to us and we know to pray for one another.  We don’t reprimand the other. We lead each other to the Shepherd. 

What does bug spray have to do with trials?  Our own Good Shepherd handles His own lambs with such care and tenderness.  Sheep are easily distracted.    The shepherd must ensure that nothing gets near them to cause them alarm - including the bugs that sometimes find their way up the sheep's noses.  Hence, the practice of anointing the sheep’s head with oil to keep the bugs away.  Really, if you had bugs up your nose, wouldn’t you go a little nuts? 

To fully explain this, I have to quote right from Mr. Keller’s book.

“Sheep are especially troubled by the nose fly, or nasal fly, as it is sometimes called.  These little flies buzz around the sheep’s head, attempting to deposit their eggs on the damp, mucous membranes of the sheep’s nose.  If they are successful the eggs will hatch a few days to form small, slender, worm-like larvae.  They work their way up the nasal passages into the sheep’s head; they burrow into the flesh and there set up an intense irritation accompanied by severe inflammation.

“For relief from this agonizing annoyance, sheep will deliberately beat their heads against trees, rocks, posts, or brush.   They will rub them in the soil and thrash around against woody growth.  In extreme cases of intense infestation a sheep may even kill itself in a frenzied endeavor to gain respite from the aggravation.  Often advanced stages of infection from these flies will lead to blindness.

“Because of all this, when the nose flies hover around the flock, some of the sheep will become frantic with fear and panic in their attempt to escape their tormentors.  They will stamp their feet erratically and race from place to place in the pasture trying desperately to elude the flies.  Some may run so much they will drop from sheer exhaustion.  Others may toss their heads up and down for hours.  They will hide in any bush or woodland that offers shelter.  On some occasions they may refuse to graze in the open at all.” 

“Only the strictest attention to the behavior of the sheep by the shepherd can forestall the difficulties of ‘fly time.’  At the very first sign of flies around the flock he will apply an antidote to their heads.” 

“What an incredible transformation this would make on the sheep. Once the oil had been applied, there was an immediate change in behavior….  The sheep would start to feed quietly again, then soon lie down in peaceful contentment.”

Mr. Keller goes on to talk about the need to bathe the sheep in a dip in order to prevent other conditions that easily spread throughout the flock.  He would, instead of dunking the sheep’s head, rub it very carefully with the solution. 

David knew about these irritations.  He knew that anointing the heads of the sheep with oil would help keep the bugs away.  “You anoint my head with oil,” or, “You keep the vermin from getting up my nose.”  It seems humorous, but it reminds me of how tender our Jesus is to care for us in the midst of the things of life that would otherwise drive us to distraction; when the bugs are buzzing around and trying to get into our heads.

It is a wake-up call for me at times when I realize I’ve allowed the bugs to get up my nose because I am not resting in His Word and leaving my troubles at His feet.  Unlike some, I can be driven to distraction with life’s irritations.

 

Merely telling people not to be distracted can be maddening to the recipient of that kind of “correction.”  People have to know that we truly care about them and want them to have relief – not to just shut them up for our own selfish gain – but because we ourselves know from experience that we need relief ourselves.  And the only One who can give it is our Good Shepherd Jesus Christ.   

Maybe the bugs are buzzing around you and really getting into your head.  Jump into the Word.  Cry out for your Shepherd.  Maybe someone near you is infected.   Don't try to fix them.  That's the job of the Tender One.  Invite them to a pool party in the sheep dip.