Monday, April 26, 2021

Ezekiel 34 Devotions by Stephen Taylor

Ezekiel 34:15-16

“I myself will tend my sheep and have them lie down,” declares the Sovereign LORD. “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.”  


What a promise!! This was accomplished through Jesus Christ, my Lord and Savior! I love how it shows the heart of God here. He says He will take it upon Himself to do the dirty work of tending His flock and watching over them! We serve a God who comes looking for us when it should be the other way around! We should be hunting for Him any and everywhere, but He says right here that He will come looking for us! Praise God!!

 

To me, it shows He will pursue both the people who don’t know Him and the ones who have fallen back! So, take heart where ever you are, because God is looking to bring you back and heal you! He wants to strengthen you in Him and bind up your wounds! Let’s let the one who created us and knows us best care for us and heal us! I have to stop getting in His way and let Him do what He does best, save me from myself!!!

 

We serve a God who wants to love and care for us but who will also rule with justice and truth! There is a choice here that we all have to make: we choose Jesus and live with Him, for Him, and in Him or choose not to accept Him and die!! We have to pick a side eventually, so why not start today?? 

 

 

Ezekiel 34:15,16

“I myself will tend my sheep and have them lie down, declares the Sovereign LORD. 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.” 

 

Yesterday, we were blessed to be able to go to the Creation Museum in Kentucky, and if you haven’t gone yet, I would highly suggest it. There were so many awesome truths, but the thing that stuck out to me the most was a picture of Jesus healing someone – the kindness of Christ poured out on a world that would reject and crucify Him.

 

He had all the power, yet didn’t wield it as we would but rather used it in a way to glorify God and heal people physically, emotionally, and spiritually. If we had the power, I probably would have been looking at me! I healed this man! I did this great thing! But that’s not what Jesus did at all. He often told them not to tell others but rather just offer the sacrifices required by the Law or to go and show themselves to the priests only. So, in essence, He was saying, “Don’t honor what I did more than the One who made it possible. Honor the Giver above the gift.”

 

He made these healings more personal, more special, more intimate, and He wasn’t just healing their physical ailments but the brokenness that came with them too! Think about it like this: if you’re serving food at a homeless shelter, what do you think makes them feel more loved, you doing it with no one around, just loving on them and sharing your heart, or having a camera and an audience crowded around? Jesus didn’t need the spotlight because He was the Light, and if we serve Him, we should let His light shine in the darkness of this world, even when no one is watching!

 

Matthew 6:4 – “Give your gifts in private, and your Father, who sees everything, will reward you.”

 

Mark 8:23-26-23 - He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village. When He had spit on the man’s eyes and put His hands on him, Jesus asked, “Do you see anything?” He looked up and said, “I see people; they look like trees walking around.” Once more, Jesus put His hands on the man’s eyes. Then his eyes were opened, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly. Jesus sent him home, saying, “Don’t even go into the village.”

 

God bless! I love you all! Glory, Honor, and Praise now and forever to Papa God, Jesus Christ our Shepherd, and the Holy Spirit!

 

 

Ezekiel 34:24-26

“I the LORD will be their God, and my servant David will be prince among them. I the LORD have spoken. I will make a covenant of peace with them and rid the land of savage beasts so that they may live in the wilderness and sleep in the forests in safety. I will make them and the places surrounding my hill a blessing. I will send down showers in season; there will be showers of blessing.”

What a beautiful reminder of our God’s promise and plan for us in Christ Jesus! In this chapter, God is speaking out against the wicked shepherds, those who refuse to watch over and care for His flock. These shepherds are bent on evil, only taking and not giving to His flock. Not only does God pronounce that their time will come to an end but more importantly promises that He Himself will come to our rescue! It is a promise of Christ to come, the Great Shepherd and Overseer of our souls!

He is the faithful and righteous Shepherd, the One who does not defile the flock but died for it! God says this covenant He will make is one of peace and protection – peace between us and God and protection from the enemy! It is a promise we can hold onto, one we can rely on, for the One who made it is true above all else. Our God is not an empty promise maker but the Way, the Truth, and the Life. If He has proclaimed it, then you can be sure it will come to pass. This covenant He spoke of so long ago is a very real truth we must hold onto today. You and I can live in this promise today; will we?

1 Peter 2:24,25- “He Himself bore our sins” in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by His wounds you have been healed.” For “you were like sheep going astray,” but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

God bless! I love you all, but His love made the only way! Glory, honor, and praise now and forever to Papa God, Jesus Christ our King, and the Holy Spirit!

 

 

 

 

 

No comments:

Post a Comment