Fences are primarily used to keep something from getting in or to keep something from getting out. They are there to protect and isolate. They can be a picture of something much deeper going on within our hearts. We all have spiritual and emotional fences. We can put up self protection fences in an attempt at keeping something within from getting out or for protecting from attacks from the outside. Our first tendency when we have been wounded is to put fences around our heart. We put up walls thinking we are more secure rather than trusting God and others. The world around us reinforces our fences primarily with fear. If we do not learn to live without fences they can and often start to define us: what we have, what we don’t want to lose and in essence who we are.
Where there are fences there is no need for a Shepherd. John 10:1-5 says, “I tell you the truth, the man who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber. The man who enters by the gate is the shepherd of his sheep. The watchman opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice.” The watchman guards the gate of the pen, but it is the shepherd who leads the shepherd out of the pen into wide open spaces where there are no fences. The sheep know the voice of the shepherd, but they do not know the voice of a stranger or even the gate watcher.
Sheep without a Shepherd. Jesus defined the human state as being sheep without a shepherd. Sheep are dumb. They are completely helpless on their own and very vulnerable. Without a shepherd they are easy prey for robbers and wild animals. Without a shepherd they have no one to lead them safely beyond the fences of their pen.
Sheep with the Good Shepherd
We all build fences to protect our lives, when in essence we are shutting ourselves off from the only One who can truly lead us into life. Are we trusting in our fences or in the good Shepherd? What are the fences in our life keeping us from trusting Jesus our great Shepherd to lead us into the wide open spaces of abundant life? We need to ask the Holy Spirit to reveal the fences around our hearts – for where there are fences there is no need for a shepherd. Jesus our good Shepherd is beckoning us beyond the fences out into wide open spaces of abundant life. Can you hear His voice?
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