SCRIPTURE: Ezekiel 34
OBSERVATION/APPLICATION:
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 34:16, compare Luke 15:3-6]
Some days it is easy to find a connection to Jesus; today is one of those days.
When God’s appointed leaders fail to shepherd His sheep with justice and compassion, He Himself takes over, He steps in to care for the sheep.
I will place over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he will tend them; he will tend them and be their shepherd. I the LORD will be their God, and my servant David will be prince among them. I the LORD have spoken. [Ezekiel 34:23-24]
We know who this is; in v.16 He says that “He will search for the lost” while in v.23 it is His servant David”, or the heir of David since David is long dead.
Jesus is this Son of David, this good shepherd that comes for the sheep.
I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. [John 10:11]

‘As for you, my flock, this is what the Sovereign LORD says: I will judge between one sheep and another, and between rams and goats. [Ezekiel 34:17]
Part of this is the separating between the good sheep and the bad sheep.
This time of judgment is for a purpose, to get rid of the troublemakers that are defying God and harming His sheep.
When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. [Matthew 25:31-33]
Jesus comes to set things right, to bring the proud and wicked down, and to seek, rescue and restore the humble and the weak.

From this message we see God’s passion and compassion for His sheep.
God cares for every person that has ever existed, they are all His much-loved sheep.
But He also is angered by those who ought to care for the sheep, but instead could care less – the bad shepherds who only look out for themselves.
God is still angry about this, and we need to see for ourselves where we fit in.
We are His sheep, but we also are shepherds over others of His sheep; as parents, as teachers, as employers, as friends, as citizens, as peers, we have a level of responsibility over others, and how we treat them.
The bad ones are the ones that do not care, that do not look out for the weak and the needy, that do not sacrifice from themselves to help others.
This is what the good shepherd does, He lays down His life for the sheep.
And this is what His shepherds ought to do as well.

Are we good sheep or bad sheep?
Are we good shepherds or bad shepherds?

PRAYER:
Lord, thank You for being a good shepherd to me. Help me be a good shepherd to others.