NOTE: Your input and suggestions are deeply appreciated. I am always open to directions and ideas that God will suggest through you as you are on your own spiritual journey.
Once again we are reminded that God is our shepherd. As a city boy, growing up in Miami, I can appreciate this image while not fully understanding it. I would guess that most of us are in the same boat. Oh, we have heard/read farmers talk about the relationship between a shepherd and his sheep … that we understand, but that is about as far as it goes. I remember hearing Dr. Clovis Chappell share the story of preaching in the Midwest to a group of farmers who raised sheep who didn’t appreciate being referred to as sheep … dumb sheep. Well, maybe that is why we need a shepherd because we continue to make dumb decisions.
Scripture: Jeremiah 23:1-8
A woe and a promise are made. Woe to the bad shepherds who have scattered his sheep and a promise that God is sending a good shepherd, “The Lord Our Righteousness,” who will gather the sheep back into the fold and onto their own land.
Reflection: Personally, this is a very interesting passage at this particular time for I am being asked to once again take on the role of shepherd to one of God’s flocks. Somewhere along the way this congregation has gotten lost. Somewhere along the way this growing and dynamic church was misled by a shepherd or two and are now at a point that they cannot afford a full time pastor. Somewhere along the way they have lost their focus and a sense of why God brought them together. Somewhere along the way … but, now may God take center stage and may I not get in the way as I seek to lead them back to the promise land.
Prayer: Faithful and caring shepherd, gather once again your scattered sheep. Bring us to good grazing fields. May I be worthy of the role and spiritually rooted for the task placed before me. Prepare their hearts for the future that you and you alone is laying out before them. Give us eyes to see it and a heart to desire it. In the name of our shepherd, Jesus Christ himself. Amen.
Further reflection from A Diary of Private Prayer by John Baillie
“To-day, O Lord – let me put right before interest: let me put others before self: let me put the things of the spirit before the things of the body: let me put the attainment of noble ends above the enjoyment of present pleasures: let me put principle above reputation: let me put Thee before all else.
“O Thou the reflection of whose transcendent glory did once appear unbroken in the face of Jesus Christ, give me to-day a heart like His – a brave heart, a true heart, a tender heart, a heart with great room in it, a heart fixed on Thyself; for His name’s sake. Amen.”
The Struggle: The feelings that are confronting me this morning are multi-layered. On the one hand I am excited to be given an opportunity to serve another church. Any retired pastor worth their salt will admit that they miss that sense of personal relationship that a pastor has with a congregation – like a shepherd has with his/her sheep. But on the other hand, I am painfully aware that though the position is part-time I know myself well enough that nothing I have ever done is part-time. So, it is with some reluctance that I step back into the role of pastor because of the demands on time and energy … and more than one sleepless night. My struggle is to keep ever before me that I am only the under-shepherd. God is the shepherd. I need to remember that … God is in charge!
Savior, like a Shepherd Lead Us, Attr. to Dorothy A. Thrupp:
Savior, like a shepherd lead us,
Much we need thy tender care;
In thy pleasant pastures feed us,
For our use thy folds prepare.
Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus!
Thou has bought us, thine we are.
Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus!
Thou has bought us, thine we are.
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