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Is Your World Not As It Should Be?

The term “helicopter parent” describes the sort of parents who always must be intimately involved in the development of their children.

But what happens when parents discover situations where they are helpless to protect their children? The Atlantic Monthly reports the story of an inadvertent tween girl and her father’s reaction:

A few days ago, an 11-year-old posted a video of herself responding to online critics with a foul-mouthed piece of little girl bravado. She was so profane and mildly amusing that she became, in Gawker’s words, a “microcelebrity among Internet tween scenesters.”

Soon, she was being harassed not just online, but in real life. Call girls and pizza deliveries began to show up at their home from the great electronic beyond.

Today, her father got involved. In some room with wall-to-wall carpeting, in some house near a mall, this father tried to protect his daughter from the pain the world can inflict. As she sat crying in the foreground, he kneeled behind her and roared into a webcam at the nameless, faceless forces who had reduced his daughter to tears.

We can understand why he would make his threats, full of false bravado, against the nameless and faceless Internet trolls who were bullying his daughter from the safety and comfort of their computer screens. Whether or not someone is a “helicopter parent”, we can understand their anger. The anonymity of the Internet and the ubiquity with which kids feel the liberty to share personal information presents problems for parents that were nearly unheard of a decade ago. Yet, these kind of threats probably do little to deter the kind of behavior that this girl’s father was ranting against.

When the challenges facing children are outside their parents’ power to prevent, what can they do? Have you ever faced similar concerns with your own children? If your child is being bullied, please check out this article: Cyber Bullying: What it is and what to do about it. And feel free to contact us if you prefer to talk privately about bullying issues.

Want the good news or the bad news first? Let’s take the baa-d news first. God says you and I are sheep. Have you felt like a sheep lately? Acted like a sheep lately? Sheep are fearful, dull-witted, helpless, defenseless and vulnerable to attack. Sheep wander easily and get lost. Designed to be dependent, sheep need a shepherd. Does that sound like you? Sounds like me. “We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way…”  (Isaiah 53:6).

But there is stunning news! The Lord is my Shepherd – the only Lord who has all power, authority, ability and wisdom. This Lord creates all things everywhere. His tool? A single word. He speaks and things form, instantly finished! “For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things and in him all things hold together” (Colossians 1: 16, 17).

This Sovereign Ruler, sole owner of all worlds, all peoples, promises to be our shepherd. The Supreme Lord of the universe humbled himself – the high, Exalted One stepped down into the lowest position to serve and save his people. “Know that the Lord is God. It is He who made us, and we are His; we are His people, the sheep of his pasture” (Psalm 100:3).

I can hardly wrap my mind around that awesome thought. The God of All Glory is our shepherd. How can that be? What would cause Jesus to sacrifice his deity, leave the glories of heaven and come down to search us out and save us? Yet He did! “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost” (Luke 19:10).

God loved us so much that He sent Jesus to be not only Shepherd but Sacrificial Lamb for our sins. He suffered and died to lead his flock to Heaven. As the only pure lamb, Jesus qualified to die for our sin, setting us free from the penalty of death. Then he rose again proclaiming we are joint heirs, priests and rulers with him in his Heavenly family! “For you know … that you were redeemed … with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God. If you belong to Christ … then you are … heirs” (1 Peter 18, 21; Galatians 3:29).

Is our faith and hope in this God? Are we listening for Jesus’ voice and following? If so, we are safe eternally. No one can snatch us from the Good Shepherd’s hand.

We bow in worship, Jesus. You are our Shepherd and sacrificial Lamb. You are God and we are the people of your pasture, the flock under your care. We love you. Amen.

Questions: Why do you think that Christ so often compares us to sheep? How do you respond to the fact that Jesus came down and became a sacrificial lamb for our sins? Is your hope in God or in other things?

About the Author Petey Prater

Daily audio podcast: A second daily devotional, Fullness of Joy, today on the Men’s Devotional Blog

The pictures document the unbelievable human plight of thousands of Africans fleeing Goma for refugee camps this week. It also documents the convening of the U.N. to discuss a solution when their biggest peacekeeping force in the entire world, 17,000 strong, isn’t enough in this central african nation.

What can I do? I can’t make anyone put down their grenade launcher, I can’t hash out a ceasefire and I definitely can’t talk to the leader of the Congolese army or rebel general Laurent Nkunda.  My emotions seem to have no answer because guns will fire still fire, and bellies will still ache for food, and there will still be death, regardless of the depths of my feelings.

Do you ever find yourself feeling completely helpless about world conflict? What do you do with what you read, the pictures you see and the emotions you feel?

Image credit: cyclopser