On the ranch where I grew up, we raised cows that looked similar to the ones in this picture. This memory is a parable memory. The parable is one I heard my dad share on several occasions.
If you put a herd of cows in a pasture or corral and leave the gate open, you do not have to worry about the cows getting out unless you see one cow wandering close to the open gate and looking toward the opening. Then, you just need to scare the cow away from the gate. In other words, the only time you need to worry about the cows getting out is when it looks like a cow is headed to the gate.
I experienced this phenomenon many times as a youth. We had a large Powder River gate just outside the backdoor of our house. We called this the “green” gate. This gate provided access to the corrals around and near the house and barn. We typically had a few horses and or cattle in these corrals. For the most part, we would leave the big green gate open during the working day. If a horse or cow (or group of them) came near the gate, we would scare them away from the gate (the dogs were usually pretty good at watching the gate as well).
In Dad's parable, he would compare this gate watching to life. If you had sin in your life of any form, then Satan had effectively put you in a corral. However, after putting you in the corral, Satan leaves the gate open. If Satan sees you moving toward the gate, he works harder to scare you away from the gate. This is one of the reasons why it is so hard to overcome sin when we try to repent. Not only do we have to overcome the bad behavior pattern establishes as we engage in sin, but also, we have to overcome Satan's increased efforts to scare us away from the gate.
.jpeg)