Zeke is still kicking my butt...chapter 34 got me this morning.
Here's a snippet of Chapter 34: "Woe to the shepherds of Israel who only take care of themselves! Should not shepherds take care of the flock? ...You have not strengthened the weak or healed the sick or bound up the injured. You have not brought back the strays or searched for the lost. ...So they were scattered because there was no shepherd, and when they were scattered they became food for all the wild animals."
I was driving to my favorite "hiding place" where I sometimes go to get work done on mornings when I don't have too many meetings, and this small (sometimes annoyingly persistent) voice kept saying "Africa". It's been whispering the name of that distant continent for a few years now. It also consistently whispers "Price Hill"... And, it consistently whispers "religion". Why these three? One is a distant continent, one is a close, but unfamiliar neighborhood, and one is an all-too familiar place I "lived" for many years. Pathetically, I keep (mostly) ignoring these specific words from the "voice"...mostly out of a long list of fears that I won't get into today, and, perhaps a busy-ness of tending to other whispers from that same voice (or maybe I'm a little clinically insane) that seem to be giving me other really important things to do.
However, a few of those fears are starting to evaporate...quickly...then, Zeke comes along and convicts me again, just as it has been since I started reading a week or two ago.
So anyway...I'm a pretty logical gal...If I am called to be a shepherd (isn't that just another word for leader?); and God is whispering to me about a field of sheep; then...(yes, I know the answer, friends...) And, the promise later in the book seems to provide some insight into the bigger picture...God appoints David to replace the lazy shepherds so that "(the people) will know that I am the Lord, when I break the bars of their yoke and rescue them from the hands of those that enslave them." That sounds like some pretty awesome freedom to me! ;-)
Once again...CRAP! God, tell me which flock to go tend and when...isn't the flock I'm trying to shepherd here and now important...I'm sure there's a connection here...order my steps...here I am...send me...
What is God whispering to you? Is there a flock of sheep somewhere that you are supposed to shepherd? Let's pray for each other!
3 comments:
Sounds like Holy Discontent. Love the fact that your being ruined by Zeke. This seems to be a common question amongst the Former Religious at VWS. I love the passage (You have not strengthened the weak or healed the sick or bound up the injured. You have not brought back the strays or searched for the lost. ...So they were scattered because there was no shepherd, and when they were scattered they became food for all the wild animals.")
If you look at those we have been called to...without leadership, things look pretty dark. Could this be what God wants us to see? Hmmmmm?
Definitely praying with you.
For me, God is whispering (maybe a little louder than a whisper, ...more like a grabbing me by the shoulders and shaking the snot out of me ...) to engage the Westside community.
Our new church is moving two blocks from where I tended bar for many years, and I certainly know lots of people who need to plug into God there.
I'm not too sure how to go about this though. I don't want to come off like a typical church person trying to get people to come to church (even though that's what I'm trying to do, right?)
I hope you don't mind but I am going to follow this blog.
Hi Michael! Glad to have you along for the journey! I'm a regular at VWS, too! Hope to meet you in person sometime soon!
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