I shall not want.
-Psalm 23:1
"You are My flock, the flock of My pasture; you are men, and I am your God," says the Lord God.
-Ezekiel 34:31
Ezekiel 34 amazes me. (Read the whole chapter!) God meant earthly shepherds to be for the good of His people; to lead His people in a way that would show them who He is. Yet perhaps too many of them take their jobs too lightly or are ignorant of the fact that they are meant to be a beautiful picture of the One Shepherd. Certainly they are most definitely not beautiful pictures of Him in and of themselves, and never can be--- but by the impartation of Him who is truly beautiful. In the beginning of the chapter the Lord addresses the shepherds, telling them everything they have done against His sheep. The reason that they erred in the first place seems to be because of one thing: Self was on the throne rather that the LORD, which brought much destruction to the sheep and led them astray.
There are many warnings in this chapter; both to the shepherds and the sheep. His shepherds need to recognize their job, and His sheep need to recognize their Shepherd. Though earthly shepherds may be for our good (those who recognize their responsibility and the fact that they too are under the One Shepherd), we (the sheep that is) must never look to them to save us or be to us what only He can be.
In the middle of the chapter He mentions His servant David.
There is one key that unlocks understanding of this whole chapter; one key that this whole chapter points to. The key of David: Jesus Christ.
When we His sheep come to complete dependence on Him, and can truly say that He alone is our Shepherd, there is no other, we have need of nothing because He is our everything, then we will never be led astray.
(If there are any out there who also find joy in this, I would love to hear your thoughts on the subject. Please!?)
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