We are His sheep and He is our Shepherd - by neely

My entire spiritual life, I've strived and longed to understand God. I want to finally get to a place where I can say "Oh, now I get it God. Now I get why you let that happen. Now I get why you did that. Now I get why you took so long to answer that prayer." ... I was talking to my mom today about that, and she had a lot to say. She said some things that helped me realize that I won't ever understand God or the way He works. But I do know that I NEED Him desperately. He urges us to get to know Him more, so when we strive to know Him, shouldn't our goal be to understand Him more? Not necessarily. Our relationship with Him is based on trust, not understanding. The more I know Him, the more I trust Him. My mom told me that we are His sheep and He is our Shepherd. She shared the following with me... (she found it at this site http://acharlie.tripod.com/shepherd.html)

"Sheep are single minded, skittish, near-sighted, critters. They are one of the few creatures who, if let on their own, will totally destroy their pasture. They are easily terrified and prone to wandering off from the flock. They require constant attention. They will continually repeat wandering and getting into dangerous situations without ever learning to avoid them." 

Aren't we so much like sheep? We may not like to think of ourselves this way, but it's so true. Today, I'm just so thankful for My Shepherd. So thankful that when I repeatedly fall into "dangerous situations" that He doesn't get mad or irritated with me, He just comes and gets me and turns me around to the right path. I can't trust myself, but I can trust My Shepherd.

John 10:3 & 4 - The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep recognize his voice and come to him. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.

After he has gathered his own flock, he walks ahead of them, and they follow him because they know his voice.