Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

W. Phillip Keller (1920-1997) was born in East Africa and trained in agriculture. He worked as an agricultural development specialist, wildlife photographer and naturalist, and has expressed his love for nature and its God in many bestsellers. Among his best-selling books are A Gardener Looks and the Fruits of the Spirit, Wonder O' the Wind (his autobiography), Lessons from a Sheepdog (also on film and cassette), and A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23.

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Lessons from a Sheep Dog

Thomas Nelson

Contents

THE STORY: Lass—a Beloved Border Collie.....................vLESSON 1 In the Wrong Hands.......................................1LESSON 2 Set Free—to Follow.................................11LESSON 3 Learning to Trust........................................21LESSON 4 The Delight of Obedience.................................31LESSON 5 The Test of Faithfulness.................................41LESSON 6 Love and Discipline......................................53LESSON 7 Available for Anything...................................63About the Author..................................................75

Chapter One

As the owner of Fairwinds, I quickly realized I would need help to run the ranch and handle the flock efficiently. That assistance had to come from a faithful, loyal Border collie, bred and disciplined for this unique work.

Though I was an energetic young man I simply could not round up the sheep alone. The flock often scattered and fled in five directions. No matter how fast I ran or how loud I shouted the sheep still strayed in their own stubborn way.

So I was obliged to find a coworker, an "under-shepherd," in a sheep dog who would carry out my will in managing my flock. Working together in harmony, one good sheep dog and myself could accomplish as much as five men.

The same precise principle holds true in God's dealing with men and women. The Lord called Himself the Good Shepherd. He pictured Himself for us as the one who had come to care for the "lost sheep." He carefully instructed His disciples to be His colaborers and feed and tend His ewes and lambs.

After His resurrection, Jesus met His young friends beside the Lake of Galilee, and there prepared for them a breakfast of fish and chappatis. When the meal was over He turned to Peter, asking him three times:

"Peter, do you really love me? Are you really my friend?" When the burly young man assured the Master of his loyalty and love, Jesus responded three times by saying:

"Peter, feed my lambs."

"Peter, feed my sheep."

"Peter, feed my sheep."

This was the special labor, the unique work to which he was assigned.

It has been well said that "God has no hands in the world but our hands. He has no feet here but our feet. He has no lips but our lips." This is stating the rather obvious case that our Father God chooses to carry on His purpose through the fallible agency of common people.

He can, and does, break through into human affairs in supernatural ways. Yet in the main He chooses to use us ordinary people to accomplish His grand designs. Seen in this dimension we begin to perceive the enormous honor He bestows on those chosen to become His coworkers.

Very often, as in my first encounter with Lass, He finds us cast in the wrong role, caught in the toils of our own intransigence, abused and misused by the wrong hands of an uncaring master.

This truth struck me with tremendous impact the day I drove up to the lady's gate and heard her rant and rave about her "crazy collie." She had no inkling of how to handle such a beautiful creature, bred for special service. Nor did she seem to care that all the potential locked up in this animal had gone wrong.

It was a profound portrait of so many of us. For in the dusty dog hobbled with chains, I saw portrayed the plight of men and women who, originally destined for noble service, have fallen into the wrong hands. Now they groveled in the despair of wasted, misspent years.

The skilled master-breeders of the border counties in Britain had produced sheep dogs of acute intelligence and enormous energy. A beautiful specimen like Lass carried within her the capacity for outstanding work.

But she had to be in the right hands! She had to come into the care of a good shepherd. She had to have her old habits broken and her instincts channeled into the purposes for which she had been bred.

The same principle holds true for us. We have been created in the generous sovereignty of God to achieve great things with Him. He endows us with the capacity to carry out His will and do His work in the world, as we work together under His care. It is His intention that we should touch lives, enrich spirits, and bring souls into His care and management.

For this to happen we must be loosed from the tyranny of the wrong owner. We must be released from servitude to sin, to self, and to our slave-master, Satan.

This implies, of course, that a person is unshackled from one owner, to be brought under the management of another. There is no such thing as "absolute freedom." For even though human beings are free agents, they must come under the control of forces and influences greater than themselves.

Often, young people boast of being free to do as they wish, to go wherever they will, or become whatever they choose. This is only partially true. For though they may not realize it, their decisions, their behavior, their lifestyle are not those of their own free will. Rather, they are conditioned, shaped, and directed by the hands that govern them.

Unfortunately, Lass had fallen into the wrong hands. Under the mishandling of the wrong owner, her talent had been twisted and subverted for destructive ends. Her vitality and instincts were being wasted on chasing boys and bicycles. Her capacity for worthwhile work was expended on the empty pursuit of cars.

The upshot was, day by day, she herself unwittingly was forging the shackles of steel that bound her.

We do exactly the same. Jesus stated categorically: "Every one who commits sin is a slave to sin" (John 8:24 RSV).

Those who brag about being free seldom realize they are inexorably bound by their own destructive lifestyles. They are trapped in the toils of their own destructive decisions and desires.

Nor can they be loosed except by the loving hands of the Good Shepherd.

As I approached Lass on the day that I found her in such a forlorn state, she met me with blazing eyes, low growls, and bared teeth. She did not want me to touch her. She trembled at the tone of my unfamiliar voice.

This was not surprising. She had been misused, abused, twisted and torn in spirit. How or why should she trust anyone?

And this is precisely the same with us when first the Great Shepherd comes to us with outstretched hands. We resist His approach. We resent His voice calling us. We recoil in fear from His overtures of good will.

Doubts and misgivings surge through our minds. We cringe from His coming. Our wills are set in stern resistance. We are convinced we will suffer abuse at His hands.

But it is only the hand of God that sets us free. It is His strong hands that can train us to move in new directions. It is His gentle, yet strong, hands which can handle us with skill and love and strength. It is His hands which can change our character, alter our conduct, and send us out to do great and noble service.

The first owner Lass had did not understand dogs. She did not care about the lofty capabilities of this beautiful creature. She wanted only to get rid of Lass as quickly as possible.

Few of us think seriously about the sinister and subversive character of Satan. To many people he is almost less than real, sometimes supposed to be nothing more than a superstitious phantom or a product of man's imagination.

The terrible truth is he is very real, very active, and exceedingly deceptive. While appearing to give us liberty by allowing us to do whatever...