Swamp Sheep
All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. — Isaiah 53:6
There are some days when you work in the outdoors that you will see something completely new…a real National Geographic moment, if you will. But it is rare. In forestry, what you see every day are trees, and if you work in the southeast, you see pine trees. These pine trees all look alike. Fortunately, my job also takes me into many hardwood stands, so I get to see the variations associated with southern hardwoods. But I am also blessed in that I also get to work in swamps. While that is not a coveted job in my profession, it is one that I have long loved. I started in a place called the Green Swamp. The ditches were full of cottonmouth moc- casins and alligators. Tics in the woods would knock you down and take your lunch money. My first day on the job included an encounter with a rattlesnake.
Among the uncommon things you may see in a swamp would be giant snapping turtles fighting, a snake with a fish in its mouth, and bears passing by or charging, or eating the berries on the other side of the bush where you are doing the same. But occasionally you will be confounded, even bewildered, at what may show up, especially if it is a swamp sheep.
We were trying to prepare a stand of timber for harvesting; and to do that I had to grade a road and remove some beavers. While the dozer worked the road, a contractor began removing the resident flattails, and thus dropping the water some three feet, out of the stand we intended to harvest. It was over two miles to the beaver pond on the dirt path, and over half a mile through the same swamp and beaver kill to anything close to civilization the other way. The beaver activity had created a real wasteland. You weren’t going to get to this spot on the globe without really wanting to…and I suppose the swamp sheep really wanted to.
The sheep showed up one morning, standing on the backside of the beaver dam, entangled in a snare that had been set for the beavers. The snare held his back right leg, and he was going nowhere. Not that he cared; apparently this swamp in the middle of nowhere was his destination.
Keep me from the snares they have laid for me, and from the traps of the workers of iniquity. — Psalm 141:9
We are prone to wander from God, and when we do, odds are we will wind up in the wasteland. We think we are in control, until we take a path we have no business being on, and we find ourselves snared. And there we are, like a defenseless animal, a sheep, basi- cally tied to a spot, waiting for a passing coyote or bear. Those two predators were very common in this particular swamp. Anyone for mut- ton tonight? You and I are no dif- ferent, only Scripture declares we are being stalked by Satan.
Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. — 1 Peter 5:8
So, we had a sheep entangled in a snare, on the edge of a beaver pond, miles into the wasteland; and in contacting local folks, no one knew of anyone who kept sheep. There’s something you don’t see every day! The sheep was covered with mud and probably weighed in around 130 pounds. Half of its wool had shed, leaving its front shoulders bare and exposed.
Like the swamp sheep, we get stuck, entangled in the snares of life, and find we are helpless to release ourselves. Now endangered, we need a deliverer.
“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep.” — John 10:11
The swamp sheep needed delivered. It needed rescued. It needed the snare of death loosened from its leg. It needed a shepherd, someone undeterred by the swamp, undeterred by the mud, a shepherd capable of removing the snare. Like the swamp sheep, we find ourselves in the same predicament, with the same need. For us, Jesus came into the swamp.
“What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost until he finds it?” — Luke 15:4
It took two men and a dog to get the swamp sheep untangled!
On a tree, on a bleak hillside outside of Jerusalem, Jesus untangled the snare of sin and death for us. He proved that he was strong enough, and brave enough, and bold enough to defeat sin and death; and to proclaim forgiveness and eternal life.
The swamp sheep now had to decide what to do. It could flee the swamp, it could follow the men and the dog and escape the destruction of the swamp, or it could stay there on the edge of the swamp. This one stayed on the edge of the swamp.
The snare of death has been loosened; salvation has been offered. The hand reaching out and coaxing us to come is scarred. This is the price that pays for our deliverance. Before we can be carried out of the swamp, we must surrender to the Shepherd.
“And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!’” — Luke 15:5, 6
Excerpted from: Woods, Worship, and Wasteland, author Bradley Antill, See more titles at www. onatreeforestry.com
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