The Good Shepherd….

 The Good Shepherd….

Still reading through Ezekiel….caught by the the comparisons of the shepherd in these three passages….

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. 

He makes me lie down in green pastures. 

He leads me beside still waters. 

He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake. 

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. 

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Psalm 23:1-6

“For thus says the Lord God: Behold, I, I myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out. 

As a shepherd seeks out his flock when he is among his sheep that have been scattered, so will I seek out my sheep, and I will rescue them from all places where they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness. 

And I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land. 

And I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the ravines, and in all the inhabited places of the country. 

I will feed them with good pasture, and on the mountain heights of Israel shall be their grazing land. 

There they shall lie down in good grazing land, and on rich pasture they shall feed on the mountains of Israel. I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I myself will make them lie down, declares the Lord God. 

I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, and the fat and the strong I will destroy. 

I will feed them in justice. “As for you, my flock, thus says the Lord God: Behold, I judge between sheep and sheep, between rams and male goats. 

Is it not enough for you to feed on the good pasture, that you must tread down with your feet the rest of your pasture; and to drink of clear water, that you must muddy the rest of the water with your feet? 

And must my sheep eat what you have trodden with your feet, and drink what you have muddied with your feet? 

“Therefore, thus says the Lord God to them: Behold, I, I myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep. 

Because you push with side and shoulder, and thrust at all the weak with your horns, till you have scattered them abroad, I will rescue my flock; they shall no longer be a prey. 

And I will judge between sheep and sheep. And I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their shepherd.

 And I, the Lord, will be their God, and my servant David shall be prince among them. 

I am the Lord ; I have spoken. “I will make with them a covenant of peace and banish wild beasts from the land, so that they may dwell securely in the wilderness and sleep in the woods. 

And I will make them and the places all around my hill a blessing, and I will send down the showers in their season; they shall be showers of blessing. 

And the trees of the field shall yield their fruit, and the earth shall yield its increase, and they shall be secure in their land. 

And they shall know that I am the Lord, when I break the bars of their yoke, and deliver them from the hand of those who enslaved them. 

They shall no more be a prey to the nations, nor shall the beasts of the land devour them. 

They shall dwell securely, and none shall make them afraid. 

And I will provide for them renowned plantations so that they shall no more be consumed with hunger in the land, and no longer suffer the reproach of the nations. 

And they shall know that I am the Lord their God with them, and that they, the house of Israel, are my people, declares the Lord God. 

And you are my sheep, human sheep of my pasture, and I am your God, declares the Lord God.”

Ezekiel 34:11-31

4 “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? 

5 And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. 

6 And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’ 

7 Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.

Luke 15:4-7

From the pit to sight….

 From the pit to sight….

Am still in Jeremiah,  came across this verse on Jeremiah being lowered into the muddy cistern…I wonder what he was thinking as they lowered him, down…down …his feet touching the mud and then sinking further, mired in that muck…

“Gee, I was doing what God told me to do…I was saying what He told me to say…and this is what I get”…

“Are they going to let me out ?”….

Etc….

So they took Jeremiah and put him into the cistern of Malkijah, the king’s son, which was in the courtyard of the guard. They lowered Jeremiah by ropes into the cistern; it had no water in it, only mud, and Jeremiah sank down into the mud.

Jeremiah 38:6 

I had to look up other places that spoke of mud…it is sometimes associated with sinking to depression…as David was …followed by rejoicing from the deliverance…God’s Grace…love…mercy…rescue…

David…

He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear the Lord and put their trust in him.

Psalm 40:2-3

Rescue me from the mire, do not let me sink; deliver me from those who hate me, from the deep waters. Do not let the floodwaters engulf me or the depths swallow me up or the pit close its mouth over me. Answer me, Lord, out of the goodness of your love; in your great mercy turn to me. Do not hide your face from your servant; answer me quickly, for I am in trouble. Come near and rescue me; deliver me because of my foes.

Psalm 69:14-18

Then, this passage…another kind of deliverance using mud…Jesus used mud to heal the blind man’s eyes… divine spit, mixed with the dust from which we are made, pressed upon the man’s eyes, followed by washing in the Pool of Siloam…and sight was given…a gift that he had to defend and then a gift of belief…

Going back the the verses in Psalm 69…goodness of your love…mercy…Jesus showed himself to the man, not hiding …deliverance from blindness…

After saying this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man’s eyes. 

7 “Go,” he told him, “wash in the Pool of Siloam” (this word means “Sent”). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing. His neighbors and those who had formerly seen him begging asked, “Isn’t this the same man who used to sit and beg?” 

Some claimed that he was. 

Others said, “No, he only looks like him.” But he himself insisted, “I am the man.” “How then were your eyes opened?” they asked. 

He replied, “The man they call Jesus made some mud and put it on my eyes. He told me to go to Siloam and wash. So I went and washed, and then I could see.” Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and when he found him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” “Who is he, sir?” the man asked. “Tell me so that I may believe in him.” 

Jesus said, “You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you.” Then the man said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him. 

Jesus said,  “For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind.”

John 9:6-11,35-39

Thank YOU even for the mud, the mire…that you use  in our lives…help us to see ….Your face…

By the way, Jeremiah was lifted out of the cistern …Jeremiah 38… to be placed in the court of the guard…dealt well with by the king of Babylon…

windows...

Windows….

I was searching for a certain photo last night( I finally found it) when I came upon a file of photos that I have been saving for “something”…

 

One I have added to from various places in the world, various reasons, various shapes/sizes/uses, various ages….

 

I have included part of that file…so many…ones which are hundreds of years old, ones which are poured glass on uneven molds, ones which reflect the inside or outside, ones which give light to the darkness, ones which show colors, ones which tell stories, ones which show the outside or inside world, ways of escape, etc…

 

Reading through the prophets after reading through rest of the Old Testament, is like seeing windows in time, past, present and future…they give glimpses of so much to their contemporaries as well as some of the future. They give glimpses of their lives and what they are seeing and living as well as going to live as time goes on…

 

These writings also show the imperfections of people….they reflect on the times they are living/have lived/going to live…they look at the outside world as well as the inside world of people…they give light to the darkness…they tell stories…

 

Thank YOU for the timeless Word…windows to YOU through writing….reflections…scenes…light …

 

At the end of forty days Noah opened the window of the ark that he had made

Genesis 8:6

When he had been there a long time, Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out of a window and saw Isaac laughing with Rebekah his wife.

Genesis 26:8

Then she let them down by a rope through the window, for her house was built into the city wall, so that she lived in the wall.

Joshua 2:15

The unfolding of your words gives light; it imparts understanding to the simple.

Psalm 119:130

When Daniel knew that the document had been signed, he went to his house where he had windows in his upper chamber open toward Jerusalem. He got down on his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as he had done previously.

Daniel 6:10

Ezekiel 40,41

Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need.

Malachi 3:10

Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

John 8:12