Maybe you're like me: You don't like yard maintenance. You can't keep plants alive. You've never even played Farmville.
If so, the agricultural analogies of the Bible may seem strange to you. But to the people thousands of years ago, agricultural living was the norm.
Today's passage has a farm analogy. It opens with God talking to leaders (who He referred to as "shepherds"). God calls them out for their lousy behavior--exploiting and bullying His people. At the end of His message to the corrupt leaders, God spoke. Here's what He said:
From now on, I myself am the shepherd.
I'm going looking for them.
As shepherds go after their flocks when they get scattered,
I'm going after my sheep.
I'll rescue them
from all the places they've been scattered to
in the storms.
I'll bring them back from foreign peoples, gather them from foreign countries,
and bring them back to their home country.
I'll feed them on the mountains of Israel,
along the streams, among their own people.
I'll lead them into lush pasture
so they can roam the mountain pastures of Israel,
graze at leisure, feed in the rich pastures on the mountains of Israel.
And I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep.
I myself will make sure they get plenty of rest.
I'll go after the lost,
I'll collect the strays,
I'll doctor the injured,
I'll build up the weak ones and
oversee the strong ones so they're not exploited.
These words were God's words to people thousands of years ago, but they reveal God's heart--which applies today. What's amazing is the fact that God said these words about His people when they abandoned Him. At this point in history, Israel was far from God--lost sheep, if you will. Yet in that moment, God expressed how much He wanted to pursue, protect, heal and help His people--and He has that same heart today.
Tomorrow: Ezekiel 37-39
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