You Are My Sheep

Thursday, July 23, 2015
Ezekiel 34:23-31 NIV 

23 I will place over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he will tend them; he will tend them and be their shepherd. 24 I the LORD will be their God, and my servant David will be prince among them. I the LORD have spoken. 25 " '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. 26 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. 27 The trees will yield their fruit and the ground will yield its crops; the people will be secure in their land. They will know that I am the LORD, when I break the bars of their yoke and rescue them from the hands of those who enslaved them. 28 They will no longer be plundered by the nations, nor will wild animals devour them. They will live in safety, and no one will make them afraid. 29 I will provide for them a land renowned for its crops, and they will no longer be victims of famine in the land or bear the scorn of the nations. 30 Then they will know that I, the LORD their God, am with them and that they, the Israelites, are my people, declares the Sovereign LORD. 31 You are my sheep, the sheep of my pasture, and I am your God, declares the Sovereign LORD.' "

OBSERVATION QUESTIONS
1) What did God say that He would do for His people who did not have good sheperds? (v.23-27)
2) How else would the Lord provide for His lost sheep (followers)? (v.28-29)
3) Why would the Lord do this for His people and what would He declare to them, as a result? (v.30-31)


APPLICATION QUESTIONS
4) Have you ever been led by abusive, or self-absorbed, spiritual leaders? If so, what has become of those leaders?

LIFE LESSONS
5) It is not the Lord's will that His people suffer, or be afflicted by, corrupt undershepherds. 
6) The Lord will always protect and preserve His oppressed followers.
7) The Lord Himself has, and will, shepherd His mistreated flock.