The Essential JesusSample

The Good Shepherd

PRAY: Lord, there are many problems in the world and my life, but no matter what, I can always praise you for how good and great and loving you are.

READ: Jeremiah 23:1-9

REFLECT: After God announced his plan to bless all nations of the world through his chosen people (Genesis 12:2-3), it would be nice to think they lived happily ever after. But as we see in the rest of the Bible, it didn't work out that way. The Israelites couldn't resist the temptation to do things their way instead of God's (that's the short definition of sin), which got them into all kinds of trouble.

Jeremiah was one of the prophets God sent to denounce Israel's sin and turn them back to God. It wasn't a job he wanted (Jeremiah 1:4-19), and it caused him a lot of grief (Jeremiah 20:1-18). But Jeremiah faithfully expressed God's perspective to the people around him. That's still difficult to do today, but our world desperately needs men and women who will speak "the truth in love" (Ephesians 4:15) despite the consequences.

One group that especially felt the heat of Jeremiah's prophecy was the religious leaders ("shepherds," Jeremiah 23:1-2). We know from other parts of this book that they were following a path of idolatry, injustice, and immorality instead of truly caring for the people (v. 2). In response, God says he's going to defrock the religious leaders and take the reigns himself ("I myself..." v. 3). That should be a wake-up call to the leaders of God's people in any age.

It also opens the door for another prophecy about God's plan. Jeremiah tells us that the Savior God was preparing to send would not only be a descendent of David but also something more__-"a righteous Branch" (v. 5) and "The LORD Our Righteousness" (v. 6). In other words, God himself was planning to step into the picture to re-establish the right relationship between him and us that sin had destroyed. He would do that by sending his own Son, Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 1:30). Viewed from our perspective, the tragic impact of these bad shepherds has a good purpose in God's plan; they highlighted the need for the good Shepherd (John 10:11-18).

APPLY: Is there a situation in your life where you sense God "nudging you" to speak out for him? How could you do this?

PRAY: Jesus, help me to see the difference between my way and your way of doing things in some of the difficult areas of my life.