Why? I don't know.
Recently one of his nanny goats birthed three kid goats. From what I understand, while I'm no goat enthusiast, nannies typically birth one or two but can birth as many as five kids at a time. I'm doing good to keep an eye on the one kid I've got at my house.
As his farm continues to grow there is a constant barrage of bleating goats. Seriously, think about it! All that tugging on shirt tails and jumping on the furniture. "Mom, can I have some milk? Can I go outside to play? Billy, won't stop head butting me!"
While I'm sure there are some significant differences between goats and sheep would you please spare a moment to see the implications of the following story?
There was a king named Saul who was given orders by the prophet Samuel to attack and overtake an enemy's land. "Destroy everything! Have no mercy and take nothing for your own personal possession!"
But once the king entered the land, he spared King Agag and kept for himself the best of all the livestock and possessions. "He would not destroy completely" all that was there. And God regretted that he had made Saul the king.
When Samuel confronted Saul, his response was, "I have done all that the Lord has commanded me." And Samuel said, "Then what's this bleating of sheep that I hear?"
You may be asking, "What does this have to do with me? I'm not a goat farmer, king, or prophet?" No, but we're all prone to lie, steal, exaggerate, or simply rebel against what we've been instructed to do; remove anything and everything that stands in the way of God being acknowledged as the supreme being in our lives.
While God has probably never said, "I regret that I ever made you," He does hold a high standard that He expects us to uphold. The problem is that we keep trying to hide the bleating sheep of our disobedience and show our reluctance to follow His command with a dazzling display of livestock. But He hears every form of bleating and inhales the stench of our foul behavior, and He's not pleased.
The bleating sheep represents the pastures of our wrongdoing, our sin. And when God says to destroy everything, He means it. Make no room and have no reservations for what seems acceptable, rational, or justifiable in your own eyes. Bleating sheep aren't worth God's disappointment, anger, or absence in your life; He will not contend forever with the sound of bleating sheep in your fields.
Do you hear the familiar sounds of bleating sheep in your land? Stop pretending! Stop dressing up your secret sins as something God can be pleased with! Quit justifying your actions to do what you want! Kill those sheep!
I know it doesn't sound lovely nor is it saturated with this hyper-grace version of Christianity we've become accustomed to sharing. But God isn't interested in making our lives comfortable; He's interested in making our lives Christ-like. And that requires putting to death every bleating sheep of sin in your life.
Fortunately for us, there was one last bleating sheep, the one that uttered the words, "It is finished!" Do we really even understand the implications of that phrase? "It is finished" removes the need to hide in fear, to embellish our way to some justifiable end, or to build our own monuments of arrogance and pride. And when we behold the prize of His Son we can be assured that He will most certainly be pleased with us!
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