SCRIPTURE: 2 Chronicles 10
OBSERVATION/APPLICATION:
Three days later Jeroboam and all the people returned to hear Rehoboam’s decision, just as the king had ordered. But Rehoboam spoke harshly to them, for he rejected the advice of the older counselors and followed the counsel of his younger advisers. He told the people, “My father laid heavy burdens on you, but I’m going to make them even heavier! My father beat you with whips, but I will beat you with scorpions!” [2 Chronicles 10:12-14]
The role of the king was to be a shepherd among the sheep.
Ezekiel talks about the bad shepherds that only rule for themselves.
Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds, the leaders of Israel. Give them this message from the Sovereign Lord: What sorrow awaits you shepherds who feed yourselves instead of your flocks. Shouldn’t shepherds feed their sheep? You drink the milk, wear the wool, and butcher the best animals, but you let your flocks starve. You have not taken care of the weak. You have not tended the sick or bound up the injured. You have not gone looking for those who have wandered away and are lost. Instead, you have ruled them with harshness and cruelty. So my sheep have been scattered without a shepherd, and they are easy prey for any wild animal. [Ezekiel 34:1-5]
Rehoboam was a bad shepherd, disregarding the sheep under his care.
And the result was the division and scattering of the nation, and its eventual downfall.

It is in this context that Jesus describes Himself as a good shepherd.
I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd sacrifices his life for the sheep. A hired hand will run when he sees a wolf coming. He will abandon the sheep because they don’t belong to him and he isn’t their shepherd. And so the wolf attacks them and scatters the flock. The hired hand runs away because he’s working only for the money and doesn’t really care about the sheep. I am the good shepherd; I know my own sheep, and they know me, just as my Father knows me and I know the Father. So I sacrifice my life for the sheep. [John 10:11-15]
He knows and loves His sheep, He even dies for them.
Charles Colson once observed that there have been many kings that demanded their people to die for them; but only one King that was willing to die for His people … Jesus, the good shepherd.

Not only is this our comfort, that Jesus is a good king, the best King, the perfect King.
But we also need to learn from His example as we serve as under-shepherds for Him, caring for His sheep.
As leaders we do not boss people around, make demands of them, insist on our rights and their responsibilities.
As leaders the example Jesus gave us is to be humble, willing to serve, ready to suffer and even die if necessary for those that the Lord has entrusted to our care.
Too often leadership goes to our heads, and we think in terms of power, or privilege.
But at the end of the day, we will have to give an account for how we shepherded His sheep.

If only Rehoboam had heeded the advice of his elders, or understood what Peter understood:
As a fellow elder, I appeal to you: Care for the flock that God has entrusted to you. Watch over it willingly, not grudgingly—not for what you will get out of it, but because you are eager to serve God. Don’t lord it over the people assigned to your care, but lead them by your own good example. And when the Great Shepherd appears, you will receive a crown of never-ending glory and honour. In the same way, you younger men must accept the authority of the elders. And all of you, serve each other in humility, for “God opposes the proud but favours the humble.” [1 Peter 5:1-5]

PRAYER:
Lord, what kind of leader am I? How do people perceive me? Am I sensitive to the needs and concerns of the sheep under my care? Am I a good shepherd, like Jesus?