I’m revisiting the subject of the shepherd today.

“He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young” (Is. 40:11).  Ever the gentle shepherd! He makes allowances for the young, for the weak, and for the needy. He is not a “respecter of persons,” (Acts 10:34); yet he has regard for the lowly. He is not given to showing partiality but he gives heed to the needy. Ps. 138:6 says, “Though the Lord be high, yet hath he respect unto the lowly . . .”

Check Ezekiel 34:17-22 and see His feelings toward the way “fat” sheep behave toward the weak sheep. Verse 16 “…but the sleek and the strong I will destroy…”  He will not abide bullying, even if he has to destroy the bullies.  I do not suggest that he will not try to discipline them, but if he has to choose between the bully and the weak, he will protect the weak.

God delegates his “shepherd” role to pastors of our day.  Also many of us who are lay people will find we have sheep to care for.  There are people in your sphere of influence who look to you as their “shepherd.”

It is a fearful thing to be accountable to God as a shepherd. God wants his sheep cared for. One can see the anger which God has toward poor shepherds by his complaint in Ezekiel 34:1-10. Verse 4 says, “The diseased have ye not strengthened, neither have ye healed that which was sick, neither have ye bound up that which was broken, neither have ye brought again that which was driven away, neither have ye sought that which was lost.”