By Jeremy Writebol
Somewhere along the line, this statement was made: “People always elect the government they deserve.” It certainly rings a bell of truth. If left to ourselves, we will always put leaders in place who match and affirm our own values. Even under the authority of God, there comes a point where He turns people over to their own desires and allows them their destructive autonomy.
The shepherds of Israel, her leaders, were taking advantage of the people for their own power and profit (Zechariah 11:5). Instead of leading the people to God, they exploited them to achieve their own wicked ends. So God invokes Zechariah to act the part of their shepherd with two staffs in hand—one to represent the covenant, and the other, the union between Judah and Israel (v.7).
In a display of stubbornness, the flock reveals that the problem wasn’t simply with their leadership. The people refused to be led by anyone or anything but their own wickedness. Bad shepherds were removed, and faithful shepherds labored, but the people wouldn’t have it. They wouldn’t have the Lord lead them. Zechariah shows God’s own frustration by breaking the staffs representing God’s favor and their unity as a people (vv.10,14). Even the wages that were given to Zechariah for pastoring the people were an insult; they paid him what they would have paid a slave. The leadership of God was cheap to His people. The result was clear: God would give Israel over to “a foolish shepherd… who will not care for those who are perishing, and he will not seek the lost or heal the broken. He will not sustain the healthy, but he will devour the flesh of the fat sheep and tear off their hooves” (vv.15–16).
This message should awaken us today; either we will humble ourselves to the voice of Jesus, the “Good Shepherd,” and follow Him, or we will refuse God’s mercy toward us and choose to follow whatever leader we want—one that will affirm and compound our waywardness. Make no mistake, there is no third way. It’s either embracing God’s grace for us in Christ and following Jesus, or rejecting God’s provision and facing the reality of being handed over to our destructive desires.
While it may ring true that people always elect the government they deserve, it is the sheer grace and mercy of God that He provides a better “government” for us in Christ. Jesus, the Good Shepherd, grants eternal life to all those who humble themselves and place their trust in Him. He gives the deepest security to those who rest in His hand (John 10:28). We certainly do not deserve the gracious leadership and care of Jesus, but by God’s mercy, we don’t have to experience the curse of abusive shepherds. We are free to enjoy the delightful leadership of the only Shepherd who will lead us to green pastures of eternal life.
Written by Jeremy Writebol
616 thoughts on "Israel’s Shepherds"
-
I don’t even understand how I ended up right here, however I thought this put up was good. I do not recognise who you’re but certainly you are going to a famous blogger in the event you aren’t already. Cheers!
-
Very rapidly this site will be famous amid all blogging people, due to it’s nice content
-
Hello to every body, it’s my first visit of this blog; this
website consists of awesome and in fact fine stuff designed for
visitors. -
라이브카지노 says:
Thank you so much for giving everyone remarkably terrific possiblity to check tips from this web site. xicxoiuhuh Thanks, quite nice post.
https://www.casinosite77.com/ -
pzxxlkl says:
I am trying to find issues to improve my website!I assume its good enough to make use of a few of your ideas! ppcjiijj Thanks, quite nice post.
https://www.hgame77.com/ -
xvndz says:
I am trying to find issues to improve my website!I assume its good enough to make use of a few of your ideas! xcjcioxx Thanks, quite nice post.
https://www.major77.com/ -
sidipi says:
I feel truly lucky to have come across your web blog and look forward to so many more fun times reading here. xpcijicji Thanks, quite nice post.
https://www.ccss77.com/ -
wzgyams says:
Thank you a lot for providing individuals with such a splendid possiblity to read articles and blog posts from this web blog. xcizivhud Thanks, quite nice post.
https://www.ccss79.com/ -
inqwc says:
I actually think this site needs far more attention. I’ll probably be back again to read through more, bnzozuhs Thanks, quite nice post.
https://www.woorigame7.com/ -
Why viewers still use to read news papers when in this technological world the whole thing is existing on web?
-
Thank you for some other informative blog. The place else may I am getting that kind of info written in such a perfect manner? I have a challenge that I’m simply now working on, and I’ve been at the look out for such info.
-
Great post. I was checking continuously this blog and I am impressed! Very useful info particularly the last part 🙂 I care for such information much. I was looking for this certain information for a very long time. Thank you and best of luck.
-
I’m really loving the theme/design of your blog. Do you ever run into any internet browser compatibility issues? A couple of my blog visitors have complained about my site not working correctly in Explorer but looks great in Chrome. Do you have any recommendations to help fix this problem?
-
Thank you for some other informative website. Where else may I get
that type of info written in such a perfect approach? I’ve
a challenge that I’m just now operating on, and I’ve been at the glance out for
such information. -
My coder is trying to convince me to move to .net from PHP. I have always disliked the idea because of the expenses. But he’s tryiong none the less. I’ve been using Movable-type on a number of websites for about a year and am worried about switching to another platform. I have heard fantastic things about blogengine.net. Is there a way I can transfer all my wordpress posts into it? Any help would be really appreciated!
-
I’ve read a few good stuff here. Certainly price bookmarking for revisiting. I surprise how so much attempt you set to make any such excellent informative web site.
-
Unquestionably believe that which you stated. Your favorite reason seemed to be on the web the simplest thing to be aware of. I say to you, I definitely get irked while people consider worries that they plainly don’t know about. You managed to hit the nail upon the top and also defined out the whole thing without having side-effects , people can take a signal. Will probably be back to get more. Thanks
-
You ought to be a part of a contest for one of the finest blogs online. I most certainly will recommend this blog!
-
Useful information. Fortunate me I discovered your site by chance, and I’m shocked why this accident did not took place in advance! I bookmarked it.
-
Your content is good and educational in my personal opinion. You have truly done plenty of research on this topic.Thanks for sharing it.
Comments are closed.
Post Comments (616)