The Sheep Stake Guide

 

 

The sheep-stake guide

I wonder what that could be,

Sheep and stake I understand

But guide I cannot see.

 

An illustration would be best

To help you understand,

It is simple but profound

Though not grandiose or grand.

 

Having been given the task

A field of furrows to cut

The young lad watched the sheep

And ran straight into a rut.

 

 

The furrows were out of line

And as crooked as could be

Whereupon the farmer was annoyed

And extremely angry.

 

“What were you watching?”

The farmer enquired of the lad

Who by this time was crestfallen

And looking quite sad.

 

“What do you mean?”

He asked the wise old farmer

And did not have long to wait

Before receiving an answer.

 

“Reference point,” he said,

“I mean, what was your marker?”

“The sheep,” the lad replied,

Evoking the farmer’s laughter.

 

The lad had seen a sheep

In the field he was furrowing

And took his gauge by the sheep

Oblivious to its moving.

 

 

“Next time used the sheep-stake,”

The farmer wisely advised,

“The sheep follows the grass

But the stake is stabilized.

 

As in that young lad’s case

We can learn a lesson from this,

Don’t be too high and mighty

Or that lesson you would miss.

 

Some use the daily tabloids

In order to interpret God’s Word

And since the news changes daily

They have repeatedly erred.

 

 

They interpret Bible prophecy

In the light of modern-day events

And to show Jesus’s return is near

Is most surely their intent.

 

But the news changes daily

And is unreliable like the sheep,

It invariably follows world events

Even as we speak.

 

Though a poor analogy,

God’s Word is like the sheep stake,

It is steadfast and immovable

And it doesn’t make mistakes.

 

 

Hence, the sheep stake guide

Is better than the sheep

And the Bible in any given era

Is always God’s heartbeat.

 

I note here of late

A very dangerous declaration,

The Bible has been deemed outdated

By a certain denomination.

 

A team is to be impaneled

To rewrite the Holy Bible,

This I would say about such a feat-

It would be spiritually suicidal.

 

Who would that bench-marker be?

Or maybe, I should ask what,

Considering there is no human being

That could qualify for the slot.

 

Heaven and earth will pass away

But God’s Word endures forever,

The sheep and the sheep stake will too,

But God’s Word?  Never!

 

Stewart Russell © November 23, 2020