Mensa Otabil - You Belong to God
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Welcome to a brand new week, and I trust that God’s grace will be sufficient for you throughout this week. There are several thoughts in the Bible that encourage us to trust God, and one of them is in Ezekiel 34: 31: «You are my flock, the flock of my pasture; you are men, and I am your God,» says the Lord God. God uses many images in the Bible to show the relationship He wants to have with us, and one of the images He uses is that of the shepherd. We are very familiar with that throughout the Old and the New Testament.
In this passage, God reassures us that He is our Shepherd and we are His flock. He tells us that although we are human beings, we have a relationship with Him that is similar to the relationship a shepherd has with his sheep. God is our Shepherd, and we are His sheep. There are three things that He does for us from this passage. The first is that He leads us; He helps us to find the way. The sheep can find their way, but they would not be very purposeful in finding their way. If sheep want to go to a place, they will be going in many directions, probably not even finding the right place they should go. That’s why the shepherd’s job is to lead the sheep. The shepherd knows ahead of time where the sheep ought to go — where they go to feed, where they go to find pasture, where they go to find safety-and He leads them there.
One of the things we have to trust God for every day of our lives is for Him to lead us. He’s going to lead us by ordering our steps; He’s going to guide the choices we make. He’s going to remind us of things we shouldn’t be doing, and sometimes, when we’re just about to make a decision, He will remind us or put a thought in our heads that will caution us not to make that decision. If God is your Shepherd, expect Him to lead you.
The second thing is that He keeps us; that means He protects us. In the days of the Bible, that was a very important aspect of the work of a shepherd. These days, sheep are guided in very enclosed areas and rarely encounter wild beasts, but in biblical times, the sheep would go out to pasture and be in territory that has lions, bears, and other wild animals. Not only is the life of the sheep in jeopardy; the life of the shepherd is also in jeopardy. Every sheep desires and needs a shepherd who is a protector, and that’s what God says to us-that as He leads us, He also protects us. He will protect you; He will deliver you from every lion, every bear, from wild attacks, and He will shield you from destruction. He cannot keep the enemy away, but He can protect you from the enemy, and that’s what we trust Him for: to lead us and to protect us.
The third thing we look for from the Lord as the sheep from the shepherd is for food. He feeds us; He provides the meals for us. In the natural system, the shepherd feeds the sheep by leading them to the right place where there’s the right grass. God feeds us with His Word, with His peace, with His goodness; He feeds our souls, He feeds our minds, and He helps us. He strengthens us so that at all times we are strong to take on the challenges of life.
I trust that you will allow the Lord to be your Shepherd, that you will allow Him to lead you, that you will allow Him to keep you, to protect you, and that you will also allow Him to feed your soul. Let us pray. Say with me: Heavenly Father, you are the Shepherd of my soul. I trust you to guide and provide for me. In Jesus' name, amen.