D.L.

FIRST MONDAY 19th OF LENT

‘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 NIV 11)

There are many ways we can understand this passage from the prophet Ezekiel. The Holy Spirit can highlight more than one truth. However, what is plain to read and see is how much God loves us. We are his sheep, and he is our Shepherd. Jesus spoke about this in John and referred to himself as the Good Shepherd. He would feed them, tend them, search for the lost, bind up the injured, and strengthen the weak. But he would also shepherd the flock with justice.¹

May we feel anxious that another week full of challenges awaits us. Be assured that the “Good Shepherd” will lead you if you let him.

Read and pray and ask the Holy Spirit to use the Word of the Lord to speak to you.

1. Walter Brueggemann, A Way Other Than Our Own, Accordance electronic ed. (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2017), 16. ↩︎