When God called us the “sheep of his pasture,” he wasn’t complimenting us. He was giving us a truth of Scripture. As we continue to focus on the wisdom of Psalm 100, we will grow wiser if we take every word to heart.

Compared to God, we are sheep. Some sheep are smarter than others, but no one talks about the intelligence of sheep. Sheep are born to follow, and if they follow the wrong leader they can walk over a cliff, into deep water, or just get lost and separated from the flock. Jesus left the ninety-nine to look for the one lost sheep because that was the only hope that lost sheep had. Sheep aren’t smart enough to retrace their steps and rejoin the herd.

Sheep are led to “still waters” because they are too afraid to drink from a running stream. A sheep with wet wool weighs so much that it can easily get swept away, even in a light current. Sheep have no guile because they aren’t able to think that way. Sheep have no guilt because they fall into sin instead of choosing it. 

God thinks of us as sheep. God chooses us to be the sheep of “his pasture.” God made us and has always known how badly we need a shepherd. The eternal human flaw is that we think of ourselves “more highly than [we] ought to think” (Romans 12:3). 

The most gifted and capable servants of God are those who think of themselves as “sheep.” Those are the people who will understand that God created us to “follow” and remain in “his pasture.”

Being labeled a sheep isn’t a compliment; it is an encouragement to understand our great need for a shepherd. And we have a Good Shepherd!

Wisdom is offering our gratitude to God. He created us to be sheep so that we would live this life following him as our Good Shepherd. We can be grateful every day for his loving guidance.