The Wolf…

I did not know that there are wolves in this part of France.

Brittany is in Northern France and is not mountainous but mainly coastal and not a natural environment that I would associate with wolves. There are forested areas but it is mainly agricultural and open farmland with a network of villages, towns and cities.

Wolves are a protected species here and their numbers have been increasing. They are the top of the food chain, the Apex predator and there is no other animal (or human) that threatens their existence.

The result is the growing wolf population has moved out steadily from their original habitats further afield for food into these rural farming communities.

Our family suffered their first wolf attack about three weeks ago. They found 40 of their flock of sheep and lambs attacked in one night. Initially, the environmental police who monitor the wolf movements thought it was a wild dog but then 2 other local farmers also had attacks and one had cameras which confirmed it was a wolf.

The wolves have moved into new territory.

Our family have set up cameras and also installed higher and stronger fencing around the sheep fields but the following weekend the wolf returned and found a way in. More sheep were killed.

They have installed yet more fencing and even brought the sheep inside for a time to shear them early but the sheep need to be outside where the lush grass is. The sheep cannot be kept inside. They have to roam free.

Each day the family are apprehensive about what they will find….have they managed to keep the wolf out or has he found a way in again. Will their flock be safe and secure. Will the wolf give up and move elsewhere.

The wolf is a natural predator who will if given the opportunity attack, scatter and kill the sheep.

Jesus said:

“I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd lays down His [own] life for the sheep. But the hired man [who merely serves for wages], who is neither the shepherd nor the owner of the sheep, when he sees the wolf coming, deserts the flock and runs away; and the wolf snatches the sheep and scatters them.”
John.10.11-12 AMP

Jesus also said He is the door of the sheep…He is the good Shepherd. The listeners would have understood His message. In those days the Shepherd brought the sheep into a pen at night for protection and then the Shepherd lay across the threshold as the “door” of the sheep. There was only one way to get to the sheep and that was through the “door” which was the Shepherd.

Jesus is our protection from the enemy and those wolves in sheep’s clothing. He is not running away and leaving us vulnerable or alone. He has already laid down His life for us and then equipped us with all we need to overcome the enemy.

It is a reminder to fix our eyes and minds on Jesus and to follow Him and Him alone.

He is the Way, the Truth and the Life.

He is the living Word of God. The Word made flesh.

The wolf wants to separate the sheep from the Shepherd. To devour Faith, to devour Truth, to devour Accountability, to devour Right Living, to devour Repentance, to devour Relationships, to devour Generosity, to devour Selflessness, to devour Kindness, to devour Prayer, to devour Fellowship, to devour Ministry…he is a devourer.

Is there is a wolf in our lives, devouring, devouring, devouring…what is that wolf devouring.

I pray our eyes will be opened to see that wolf for what it really is, to see the truth and the devouring wolf will be rebuked and will flee. We will be free as Jesus intends us to be.