All We, Like Sheep, Have Gone Astray

Partly because of a stuffed lamb my sister made, and partly because it's extremely blogworthy, I wanted to blog about a song from Handel's Messiah, but then I remembered that I kind of already have.

My favorite song from Handel's Messiah comes from Isaiah 53:6 "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all." I like the song for two reasons. First, it starts off light-hearted and catchy and is fun to sing along with. then, second, they drop all pretense of fun to demonstrate the magnitude of the burden the Lord carried in Gethsemane, leaving me with the powerful realization that for every sin and transgression that any person (including myself) has ever committed or will ever commit has a price, and in Gethsemane, Jesus Christ paid all of it.

At the time, I was blogging about The Price of the Atonement, but today, I want to emphasize the blindness of the sheep. Sheep are, I'm told, pretty clueless. They sometimes wander off from the rest of the group and either get stuck in ditches and fences or simply get lost. Most people will think that doesn't apply to them. Of course, we never choose our own paths, become unsure of where to go or what to do, or find ourselves in predicaments we'd need outside help to escape from. Surely, we'd never be so foolish.

On the contrary, I sometimes doubt that we'll ever be wise enough to stop doing those things. We often wander, like sheep, turning "every one to his own way," until we become so lost or stuck that we need a Good Shepherd to rescue us. Had we truly been so wise as we sometimes pridefully think we are, we'd have never left the Shepherd's side in he first place. I wish I were that wise. But until I learn to be wise, I can at least be thankful for the Lord's mercy and patience, and I can try not to test the limits of His mercy and patience.

We're all fairly clueless without Jesus. Let's try to be wise enough to follow Him, and be grateful for His patience when we fail. He stood by us in Gethsemane. Let's try not to wander away from Him.