Wednesday Bible Blurb “Bumblefoot” 6 5 2024
Shepherd Stories: The Death of Bumblefoot.
The little lamb came to us with a bit of a limp. He was a bit smaller than the other meat lamb we had purchased but he seemed otherwise healthy and was friendly. As the shepherd I look after my flock and I noticed his foot was not healing. Initially we thought he had twisted his leg a bit but as time went on his limp got worse. Poor little meat lamb needed some attention from the shepherd. After catching him I looked and found no injuries on his leg but his hoof was over grown and needed trimming. When I cut away the overgrown hoof the smell hit me. Rot, pure gaging rot and about 30 squirming maggots were feeding under his hoof. I removed the maggots and cleaned his wound as best I could but he continued to limp and even got worse. The possibility of losing this lamb to a rotting foot infection became very real.
I made a phone call to a master shepherd whom I had purchased the lamb from and he came right over. By now, I thought the lamb would eventually die, but the master shepherd soaked the lamb’s foot in a strong solution of three quarters bleach and one quarter water and gave him a shot of penicillin. To my pleased amazement, the little lamb healed and began to grown again. The master shepherd knew exactly what to do with his healing solution. David anointed his lambs with a healing oil (Psalm 23:5) and gave us an example of great shepherding. We finally named the little lamb, “Bumblefoot” because of his injury and recovery. With so much attention on him, he became very friendly and would run up to me for treats and a scratch behind the ear. All of my sheep know my voice and will acknowledge me when I say their names. They know my voice and I know there baah, because I am their shepherd. Jesus is our shepherd and He says, “…and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd.” (John 10:16b [NKJV]).
Being a shepherd and raising sheep is an amazing experience with many unexpected twists and turns. Sometimes us human shepherds can do everything right and still see failure. At the end of his life Paul wrote to Timothy with some final pastoral instructions (II Tim. 4:9-13). Sadly, for Paul, Demas had forsaken him. Demas was loyal right up to the very end but when Paul was in trouble Demas fled. Poof Demas was gone.
Jesus had chosen twelve men to follow and learn from him. At the end of his life Jesus was to be crucified because one of his disciples, Judas betrayed Him (Matt. 27:5). Sadly, for Jesus, Judas had turned Him into the authorities. Poof Judas was gone.
As a shepherd I must hold on to the faith once delivered and give my sheep every opportunity to grow in His grace and knowledge. Paul said, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” (II Tim. 4:7). Paul endured to the end. The times of worldwide trial and affliction are coming and Jesus told us to “endure to the end.” (Matt. 24:5). Demas did not endure to the end. Judas did not endure to the end. We must endure to the end or we too will be, “Poof we are gone.”
Lambs are mostly destined to be on the store shelf in the freezer section of your local grocery store. Lambs come so small and cute and will follow their shepherd everywhere. They will sit on my lap and then curl up and nap while their mama grazes nearby. Little lambs can melt your heart and yet their destiny is the grocery store. Bumblefoot was scheduled to “go to the grocery store” in three weeks. Instead, I the shepherd went outside to put the sheep away for the night. As I called my flock, the sheep heard my voice and came running. One lamb was missing and when I went looking, I found Bumblefoot laying dead in the field. There were no visible signs of physical attack so the only explanation I can think of was a broken neck from sheep butting heads. Bumblefoot almost endured to the end.
Are we listening to the voice of the shepherds God given us? Are we willing and able to “endure to the end”? Shepherds want their flocks to grow and be healthy. Shepherds sometimes have to remove the maggots from our lives to keep us going strong and help us endure to the end. Shepherds never want to see, “poof you are gone”.
