The Lord as our Shepherd gathers us, His sheep, and brings us back to Himself as our allotted portion of the good land, so that we may enjoy the resurrected and ascended Christ, drink of the Spirit as the flowing river, and enjoy His all-inclusive, tender care.
As we enjoy His shepherding, we are brought under the throne of God, and we take Him as our King; His shepherding issues in our obeying Him as our King and having Him enthroned in our being. Hallelujah!
In Jeremiah we see the Lord’s word through His prophet that He will give His people shepherds according to His heart, those who take care of the people of God according to God; the Shepherd that is according to God’s heart is Christ Himself.
Both the Old Testament and the New Testament reveal to us that Christ is the Shepherd according to God’s heart; He shepherds His people to waters of rest, He takes tender care of each one of His sheep, and He is interested and seeks after each one of His people.
In Isaiah 40, for example, we see that Christ is the mighty One, the ruling and judging One; as such a One, He cares for His flock by ruling and correcting His sheep and also by feeding His flock, by gathering His lambs in His arm and carrying them in His bosom, and by leading those who are nursing the young.
He is interested in each and every one of us as His sheep; His care is tender, He is all-inclusive in His shepherding, and He cherishes us and nourishes us according to the stage we are in, so that we may enter into the enjoyment of Himself and have Him as our unique Lord and King.
His care is also manifested by His inward ruling and correcting; many times we can sense the Lord within us ruling, adjusting, and correcting us, and this is His tender care for us.
In Ezekiel 34 we see that the Lord Himself will come as the Shepherd to search for His sheep and seek them out; He Himself will come to find us, each one of us, wherever we are – and He will bring us back to Himself as our pasture, back to Him as our Shepherd and our good land.
We may know of so many who used to enjoy the Lord but are now lost or backslidden; the Lord as the Shepherd is seeking these ones out and, in His time and in His way, He will bring all His sheep back to the enjoyment of Himself.
We can all testify that the Lord sought us out, He lit the lamp of the word in us, He swept in our inner being to remove the dirt and bring us into His light, and He has tenderly placed us on His shoulders when He found us, and He brought us to the flock.
How we thank and praise the Lord for His care for us.
Even though we didn’t seek for Him, we didn’t respond positively to Him every single time He came to us, He still came to us, cherished us and nourished us, and brought us into the church life to enjoy Him as our God-allotted portion.
Thank You, Lord, for Your shepherding!
The Lord Shepherds us into the Enjoyment of Christ by taking All-inclusive, Tender Care of us
In Ezek. 34:13 we see that the Lord promises to bring His people back to their own land; we were in captivity in the land of Babylon, but the Lord brings us back to our own land, our own country, which is Christ Himself.
Our good land is Christ; He is the reality of the good land, for He is the all-inclusive Christ to be the God-allotted portion to all the saints for their enjoyment.
Before we were saved, we were separated from Christ; so Christ came to shepherd us by taking all-inclusive, tender care of us, and He brought us into the enjoyment of Himself as our good land.
And when we backslide or draw back, when we become cold toward Him and stop enjoying Him, He still comes to shepherd us into the enjoyment of Himself.
The Lord as our Shepherd brought us into the church life, where we can enjoy our God-allotted portion of the good land together with the saints.
In the church life we have the riches of Christ and the enjoyment of the good land together with all the saints.
The Lord shepherds us daily into the enjoyment of Christ by taking all-inclusive, tender care of us. He brings us back to the streams (Ezek. 34:13); these streams or rivers signify the life-giving Spirit who flows today as living water.
Christ passed through death and entered into resurrection and ascension; now in resurrection and ascension, Christ flows as the life-giving Spirit for us to enjoy Him.
How we thank the Lord that, as our Shepherd, He not only brought us to Himself to enjoy Him as our portion but also to drink of Him as the rivers, the streams of water of life!
He shepherds us into the transcendent position of His ascension, and He brings us to drink of the Spirit as the living water.
As Psalm 23 says, He leads us to waters of rest, He gives us to drink, and He shepherds us in every way.
The Lord Jesus as our Shepherd takes care of us; He takes care of all our problems and responsibilities.
He shepherds us not only in spiritual things but also in all things related to our human needs. The Lord as our Shepherd takes care of us in every aspect of our living; we as His sheep shouldn’t worry about anything but just enjoy His shepherding.
Especially these days with the coronavirus pandemic spreading and the lockdowns all over the earth in city after city and country after country, we should simply come to the Lord as our Shepherd and enjoy His shepherding.
We should simply learn to put our trust in Him, for He takes all-inclusive, tender care of us, His sheep; there’s nothing we should worry about, for He as our Shepherd knows our need, He knows what we are going through, and He takes care of us.
As we come to the Lord, we should simply open to Him and enjoy Him; we should not trust in ourselves or seek to do things by ourselves but trust in Him and cast all our cares upon Him, for it matters to Him concerning us.
Also, we shouldn’t be religious with Him or ask Him to do this or that for us; we should simply open to Him and trust in His all-inclusive, tender care.
If we exercise our spirit and turn our heart to the Lord, we will realize that we are under His constant shepherding; He is our Shepherd, He cares for us, and in all things, He tenderly cherishes and nourishes us.
He makes us lie down in green pastures, and He leads us beside waters of rest. With regards to our soul, He restores our soul, and He guides us on the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.
Even though we may walk through the valley of the shadow of death, we don’t fear evil, for the Lord as our Shepherd is with us; His rod and His staff comfort us. He spreads a table before us in the presence of our adversaries, He anoints our head with oil, and our cup runs over.
As His sheep, we simply enjoy His tender care, His all-inclusive and tender care, and surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow us all the days of our life, and we will dwell in the house of God for the length of our days (see Psa. 23).
He has shepherded us into the church life, He is the One shepherding us daily into the enjoyment and experience of Himself as our rich, all-inclusive land, and He guides us, cares for us, protects us, feeds us, anoints us, and keeps us in the enjoyment of Himself.
What a wonderful Shepherd is Jesus our Lord!
Thank You, Lord Jesus for gathering us, Your sheep, out of anything else and bringing us back into the enjoyment of the all-inclusive Christ as our good land. Dear Shepherd, we love You! Thank You for being under Your care. You take care of every aspect of our living, and we worry about nothing, for You are with us. We trust in You, Lord, that You know what we need. We simply open to Your all-inclusive, tender care. Keep us under Your constant shepherding enjoying Your feeding us, protecting us, caring for us, taking care of all things related to our human needs, loving us, and giving us to drink of the streams of life. Thank You, Lord, that we are still under Your care in the church life. We love You, dear Shepherd, and we open to Your shepherding!
The Lord as our Shepherd cares for us and brings us under His Kingship, under His Throne
No matter what happens around us, no matter the pandemic raging all over the earth and even in our own country and city, we can turn our eyes to our dear Shepherd, Lord Jesus, who takes all-inclusive, tender care of each and every one of His sheep!
When the Lord Jesus comes as the Shepherd to care for us, He comes also as the King to govern us (Ezek. 34:23-24).
On one hand, He cares for us, He cherishes and nourishes us in love, and His care is for every part of our being and for all our needs. On the other hand, He brings us under the throne of God, and He has a way to rule and reign in us.
The issue of the Lord’s caring for us as our Shepherd is that we obey Him as our King and we come under His kingship, His throne within us.
We can all testify that the more we enjoy the Lord’s shepherding, the more He sets His throne in our being.
He is not a Shepherd who spoils us by giving us all kinds of things that we ask Him to give us; rather, He ministers to us what we need, He knows the real situation of our soul, and His care is tender and all-inclusive – even though it may not seem that He gives us what we think we need.
Many times we tell the Lord to give us this or that, to stop this person or take us out of that situation, but He won’t give us what we ask for, and He would not move a finger to stop certain things or persons.
He knows what we need; we as His sheep have no idea what we need but rather, we are ready to go astray. But by His shepherding, He rules us inwardly and He brings us under His kingship and His throne within us.
He comes first to shepherd us, and then He rules in us; the more we are shepherded by Him, the more we are supplied, enlightened, and subdued, and we are glad to be under His throne.
The issue of the Lord’s caring for us as our Shepherd is that we obey Him as our King, we come under His throne, and He is the King and Ruler in our being.
On one hand, He shepherds us, and on the other, He governs in us.
His shepherding results in our understanding the Lord’s throne, His kingdom, and His authority; we spontaneously come under the throne of God.
In our rebellious being, we do not want to obey anyone except ourselves, and we don’t want to submit to anyone; but as a result of His shepherding, we open to the Lord, we receive His tender care, and we enthrone Him in the center of our being.
May we remain under the Lord’s shepherding day by day; may we open to Him as we come to fellowship with Him, touch Him, trust in Him, and enjoy His care, so that we may be brought under His rule within, and we would be subject to His kingship.
A mother rules over the children by ministering them food and caring for them in love; no matter how rebellious they may be, because she has a heart for them and dispenses the delicious food to them, they have to listen to her in love, and she has authority over them.
Similarly, the Lord as our Shepherd cares for us, feeds us, brings us to drink of the streams of life, and leads us to rest; the result of such a shepherding is that we gladly submit to His throne, and He becomes our King and Lord.
Lord Jesus, we open to your shepherding today; we open to Your all-inclusive, tender care for us. Come in as our Shepherd to care for us and bring us under Your kingship. Oh Lord, we just open to Your care, Your supply, Your enlightening, and Your cherishing and nourishing; may Your shepherding of us bring us under Your kingship so that You may have Your throne set up in our being. Thank You for shepherding us with Your care and supply so that we may be subject to Your kingship and authority. Amen, Lord, Your shepherding leads us to Your kingship; we enthrone You in our being and we submit to Your authority. You are our Shepherd; You are our King!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by Ron Kangas for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Ezekiel, pp. 177-181 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization Study of Jeremiah and Lamentations, week 11, Shepherds according to God’s Heart.
- Hymns on this topic:
– Dwell we here on a high mountain, / Wet with the morning-fresh dew, / Slaking our thirst at the fountain, / Water so living and new. / Christ is our rest and enjoyment, / Here we have nothing to fear; / Here all the sheep dwell securely, / Kept by His presence so dear. (Hymns #1221)
– My Shepherd Himself is my pasture, / My Shepherd, the waters of rest; / I eat of His riches in spirit, / I drink, and O how I am blest! / My Shepherd my soul is restoring, / My will, and emotion, and mind; / And though through the valley I’m walking, / O what a Companion I find! (Hymns #1170)
– And the kingship we must see / With divine authority— / To this rule we’ll all agree, / O glory be to God! / To the Spirit we’ll submit / For the church’s benefit— / This is His prerequisite / In the local churches now. (Hymns #1251)
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