LifeDate Winter 2025 – Fearfully and Wonderfully Made
by Erika Peterson, Events Coordinator
In Psalm 139:14, we often focus on the wonder of our Father’s creative work as He intricately designs each person in his or her mother’s womb. And rightfully so! Yet, an often-overlooked portion of this verse is “I praise you.”
David’s reflection on the wonderful works of the Lord, including the developing child in utero, leads him to praise our Heavenly Father.
Like David praising God, sheep are meant to praise the Lord, and so are we.
Before King David ascended to the throne, he spent years shepherding sheep to green pastures and beside still waters. While we often romanticize the relationship between the shepherd and the sheep, raising flocks was serious business. It was the livelihood for the shepherd and his family.
In addition to providing food and fiber for God’s people, sheep were raised to be sacrificed as offerings to the Lord.
The first direct reference to sheep in Scripture was an act of worship. In Genesis 4:4, Abel brings the firstborn of his flock as a sacrifice, and “the Lord has regard for Abel and his offering.”
A bit later, in Genesis 22, in an act of obedience and worship, Abraham ascends the mountain to sacrifice his only son Isaac. Mercifully, in place of Issac, and foreshadowing our Lord Jesus who takes our place, the Lord provided a ram for Abraham to offer as a sacrifice.
Moving ahead, in Leviticus, sheep were prescribed for a variety of offerings: sin offerings, peace offerings, dedications, Passover, etc.
Based on rough calculations, it is estimated that at least 500,000 Passover lambs were used annually when the Hebrews were wandering in the desert with Moses. This does not include those required for daily offerings by the priests or for any needed personal atonement.
During King David’s reign, that number jumped up to around 1,000,000 lambs annually, for Passover rituals alone.
If you consider the additional religious requirements of the sacrificial lambs, such as being unblemished, male or female, a year old, etc., millions of extra sheep would have been needed to offer the proper selection to satisfy the religious requirements.
Raising and tending sheep was essential for the prescribed worship of the Lord. Given to us by the Lord in creation for us to offer back to Him, sheep were part of praising the Lord from the beginning.
If sheep were created to be offered in worship, how does that apply to us? Throughout scripture, God’s people are referred to as sheep. It is understandable we prefer not to think of ourselves as the humble ruminant, perceived to be weak, dumb, dependent, vulnerable, etc.
However, the Lord chose that image intentionally. Like the sheep of Moses and David’s day, the Lord’s flocks today, His Church, are meant to be available to serve Him—whether for our wool for clothing (sheltering and serving others), our lives for food (given daily in service to the Church and our families), or as a sacrifice on the altar (worship and ministry).
While it’s painful to think of ourselves as such a meek animal, we are invited to accept this delightful image our Good Shepherd has chosen for us. Not only does He give us the image to understand ourselves within His Kingdom, but more critically to understand Him and His Divine relationship to us.
Sheep need a shepherd. We are vulnerable without one! He guides us and keeps us from predators who seek to steal, kill, and destroy us. We know His voice, He gathers us in His arms; He seeks us when we are lost.
We, as sheep, are on the receiving end of the Good Shepherd’s grace!
Nowhere is that grace seen more clearly than when Jesus takes on the image of the sheep Himself as the Lamb of God given for the life of the world. Jesus Himself fulfills the image of the sacrificial lamb from the beginning.
Foreshadowed in Abel’s sacrifice, in Abraham’s offering of His one and only son, in Isaac’s substitutionary ram, and in the blood of every unblemished Passover lamb offered for the life of God’s people, Jesus is the one true Lamb of God, whose sacrifice accomplished what all the others before could not—freeing us from our sins to live with and for Him.
The Lord Himself, as the Lamb of God, was the full and final offering for our sins so we can be united to God now and for eternity!
So, like sheep, we daily offer our lives to worship the Lord. We bring a sacrifice of praise to Him and in His service to our neighbors.
For Jesus’ ultimate sacrifice for us, we praise Him.
For His wonderful works, we praise Him.
For likening us to tender lambs and stubborn sheep that need His mercy and protection, we praise Him.
For creating us in His image and likeness, we praise Him.
For fearfully and wonderfully knitting us together in our mother’s womb, we praise Him.
“I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well” (Psalm 139:14).
Note: Erika has sheep on her hobby farm, and all images are from her and used with permission.