DEVOTION / Counting sheep
Counting sheep was important
Job was a child of God who lost everything as Satan tried to make him give up his faith and curse God. The Bible says Job lost his family, all his cattle, his home, and even his good health. Job went through some very severe trials. The Bible says Job lost 7,000 sheep in a fire. But at the end of the story we see Job once again blessed by God, only this time he had 14,000 sheep. God doubled his blessing!
We notice that the Bible gives the exact number of sheep in Job’s flock. We might think that is not important, but to the people in those days, it was extremely important. Sheep counting was a daily job of the shepherd. He had to be certain at any given time that he was not missing any sheep. It is like the teacher who counts heads when the children get on the bus to be certain no one is left behind. When someone can’t sleep we tell them to lie there and “count sheep.” It’s likely that saying began in a shepherd’s field long ago.
Shepherds used several different methods to count the sheep. Sometimes they would hold out their hand and count them one at a time as they entered the gate of the sheep fold. Jeremiah 33:13 says: ’Flocks will again pass under the hand of the one who counts them’, says the LORD. Another method was to take the rod or short wooden club and hold it above the sheep as they walked under it to be counted. Ezekiel 20:37 says: I will take note of you as you pass under my rod. The shepherd was careful to get an exact count every day.
God knows his sheep!
God keeps record of the sheep that are his, and he knows the exact count. This is what Jesus said in Matthew 18:12-14: If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go and look for the one that wandered off? And if he finds it, truly I tell you, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off. In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should perish.
It makes us glad knowing that we are numbered as Jesus’ sheep. It gives us comfort knowing that Jesus will not let us wander off and get lost but will diligently look for us. Jesus assures us, I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep.
by Reynold R. Kremer