This is a quotation from the book A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23 by Phillip Keller. I got this book from my dad and have been reading it sporadically over the past months. Last night, right before I went to sleep, I picked it up and opened it randomly to the following passage. It couldn't have come at a better time for me.
"Paul in writing to the Christians at Corinth warned them of this danger. "So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don't fall!" (1 Corinthians 10:12)
Admittedly this may appear as one of the paradoxes and enigmas of our spiritual lives. When we examine it carefully, however, we will not find it too difficult to understand.
As with sheep, so with Christians, some basic principles and parallels apply which will help us to grasp the way in which a man or woman can be cast.
There is, first of all, the idea of looking for a soft spot. The sheep that choose the comfortable, soft, rounded hollows in the ground in which to lie down very often become cast. In such a situation it is so easy to roll over on their backs.
In the Christian life there is great danger in always looking for the easy place, the cozy hardship, no need for endurance, no demand upon self-discipline.
The time when we think "we have it made," so to speak, is actually when we are in mortal danger. There is such a thing as the discipline of poverty and privation which can be self-imposed to do us worlds of good. Jesus suggested this to the rich young man who mistakenly assumed he was in a safe position when in truth he was on the verge of being cast down.
Sometimes if, through self-indulgence, I am unwilling to forfeit or forego the soft life, the easy way, the cozy corner, then the Good Shepherd may well move me to a pasture where things aren't quite so comfortable -- not only for my own good but also His benefit as well." (A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23 page 76 & 77)
Never, never, never, NEVER let your guard down.
p.s.
I have no idea what it means for a sheep to be "cast", but I am assuming it is a bad thing!
