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In Christ, Mark
In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
“‘For this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I Myself will
search for my sheep and look after them. As a shepherd looks after his
scattered flock when he is with them, so will I look after my sheep. I will
rescue them from all the places where they were scattered on a day of clouds
and darkness. I will bring them out from the nations and gather them from the
countries, and I will bring them into their own land. I will pasture them on the
mountains of Israel, in the ravines and in all the settlements in the land. I
will tend them in a good pasture, and the mountain heights of Israel will be
their grazing land. There they will lie down in good grazing land, and there
they will feed in a rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. I Myself will tend
my sheep and have them lie down, declares the Sovereign Lord. I will search for
the lost and bring back the strays. I will bind up the injured and strengthen
the weak, but the sleek and the strong I will destroy. I will shepherd the
flock with justice.’”
Ezekiel 34:11-16
This ends today’s
reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
God always has a Plan B.
Maybe you have heard this said before and if we consider how
He has dealt with His people throughout the ages, then we can attest that He
truly does find a way to have His way be the way, even when we fail to do our
part.
Point in case can be found in our scripture passage today as
we continue our series on examining how shepherds and sheep can be used to
describe God’s people and their need for someone to lead, guide, and protect
them.
Now you’ll recall yesterday that God had leaders in place
amidst His people who He expected to shepherd His flock (the people being
compared to sheep) but those shepherds had failed miserably in carrying out
their responsibilities. You may remember that God, who sees everything, knew
that the shepherds were only concerned about taking care of themselves and thus
neglected the sheep of their flock, leaving them without direction or
protection. Plan A wasn’t working so as we look at our passage for today, we
find God implementing Plan B:
“‘For this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I
Myself will search for my sheep and look after them. As a shepherd looks after
his scattered flock when he is with them, so will I look after my sheep. I will
rescue them from all the places where they were scattered on a day of clouds
and darkness. I will bring them out from the nations and gather them from the
countries, and I will bring them into their own land. I will pasture them on the
mountains of Israel, in the ravines and in all the settlements in the land. I
will tend them in a good pasture, and the mountain heights of Israel will be
their grazing land. There they will lie down in good grazing land, and there
they will feed in a rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. I Myself will tend
my sheep and have them lie down, declares the Sovereign Lord. I will search for
the lost and bring back the strays. I will bind up the injured and strengthen
the weak, but the sleek and the strong I will destroy. I will shepherd the
flock with justice.’” Ezekiel 34:11-16
How did God resolve the situation at hand?
He placed Himself in the role of the shepherd and got to
work immediately locating and saving the flock which had become scattered. God
saw that the only way He could assure that His people were properly cared for
was to care for them Himself.
And so we read where God rescued His sheep from “all the
places where they were scattered on a day of clouds and darkness”, bringing
them from the nations and gathering them from the countries to a land that
would be their own. Once there, the newly reunited flock would enter into the good
pastures of Israel and be justly tended to by their Shepherd no matter where
they might be, whether it be the mountains, ravines, or settlements. The sheep
could rest easy and lie down in the pastures under the watchful eye of God as
He brought back the lost, bound up the injured, and strengthened the weak.
All of this brought me back to the following words that proceeded
the days of Ezekiel, the days when David was the King of Israel as he wrote the
following words:
The Lord is my
shepherd, I lack nothing.
He makes me lie down in green pastures, He leads me beside quiet waters, He refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths for His name’s sake. Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
Surely Your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Psalm 23
God has been the Good Shepherd of His people since the dawn
of creation, always tending to His sheep and the good news for us today is that
He is still caring for us: helping us lie down in green pastures, leading us
beside quiet waters, refreshing our souls, and guiding us along the right paths
for His name’s sake. He allows us to walk through life unafraid because we know
we never walk alone for we’re always under the watchful eye of our Shepherd.
Indeed, He is our hope and through Him, goodness and love
will follow us all the days of our lives as we advance toward that day when we
will dwell in His house with Him forever.
Today and every day, let us rejoice that God cared for us
enough to have a Plan B, stepping into the gap to shepherd us when others
failed to do so.
Tomorrow, we turn our attention to the sheep of His flock.
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
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