JUNE 19, 2014
Meet
Shrek
Read: Ezekiel
34:11-16
I Myself will search for My sheep and seek them out. —Ezekiel 34:11
Shrek was a renegade
sheep. He went missing from his flock and remained lost for 6 years. The person
who found him living in a cave on a high and rugged place in New Zealand didn’t
recognize him as a sheep. “He looked like some biblical creature,” he said. In
a way, he was. Shrek was a picture of what happens to sheep who become
separated from their shepherd.
Shrek had to be
carried down the mountain because his fleece was so heavy (60 lbs or 27 kg)
that he couldn’t walk down on his own. To relieve Shrek of the weight of his
waywardness, he was turned upside down so that he would remain still and not be
harmed when the shearer removed his heavy fleece.
Shrek’s story
illustrates the metaphor Jesus used when He called Himself the Good Shepherd
(John 10:11), and when God referred to His people as His flock (Ezek. 34:31).
Like Shrek, we do not make good choices when we’re on our own, and we become
weighed down with the consequences (Ezek. 33:10). To relieve us of the weight,
we may have to be on our backs for a time. When we end up in this position, it
is good to remain still and trust the Good Shepherd to do His work without
hurting us.
The King of love my
Shepherd is,
Whose goodness faileth
never;
I nothing lack if I am
His,
And He is mine
forever. —Baker
God’s training is
designed to grow us in faith.
Insight
Today’s reading uses
the metaphor of God as one who cares for His people as a shepherd cares for his
sheep: “I will seek what was lost and bring back what was driven away, bind up
the broken and strengthen what was sick” (v.16). When God became a man in the
Person of Christ, similar language was used about Him: “But when He saw the
multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and
scattered, like sheep having no shepherd” (Matt. 9:36). As our Good Shepherd,
Jesus said, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me” (John
10:27).
Source:
Our Daily Bread 2012
