Issue: Sheep without the Shepherd?

Connection to Today: In my years I cannot recall a time where our nation has been more divided and more filled with hostility. Relationships are being destroyed because people are oftentimes at an emotional breaking point. Just over recent days I have witnessed tempers flare over the causes of hurricanes, over how we don’t have money to pay our own nation’s military, but we somehow have billions for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion indoctrination, and of course billions more for Ukraine, and still more for wars in the Middle East. It’s all fun and games, some think, until it comes to your door and affects your pocketbook. Then, it suddenly is real and not just a talking point. People are looking for leadership. And when it comes to character—wise and godly character—may I suggest that it is in short supply? It’s stunning when you look at the quality of the people who are ostensibly in charge of representing us, truly stunning. We are sheep with the wrong shepherds.

In Matthew 9, Christ was continuing to demonstrate that He was and is the true King, the true Shepherd, the Good Shepherd: “When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest” (Matthew 9:36-38 ESV).

Folks, we are to recognize a true shepherd when we see him walk with the sheep, warning them, feeding them, leading, and guiding them in wisdom, and with demonstrable love. But this calls for a discerning people. I do not know how much more vapid many so-called leaders can become. The bar is so low now that we find ourselves in a culture that is more concerned with skin pigment and pronouns than we do with rendering aid to western NC as people are buried under the mud. We need wise, discerning, and courageous shepherds—not giggles and bromides. But to have wisdom, we must know the fountain of all wisdom, and that is God, the ultimate Good Shepherd.