The sheep have been scattered. I think this is true of sheep today. I know of many “out of church” Christians. I was one of them for several years. The churches I had been in were the reason I was out of church. We left the first because of their doctrine. The second closed down on us. The third felt like it pushed us out. We had been scattered. We certainly didn’t feel “attended to,” which is what the Lord accuses those shepherds of.

The Lord, though, has a plan for His scattered sheep. He is going to be the Shepherd. What a good deal!

He is going to gather them. He brings them back to their fold. We’re supposed to be in a fold. We’re not supposed to be scattered about. No matter what you think of the church, it is what God has chosen for His people. He wants us gathered, not scattered.

The promise, before Jesus comes to shepherd us, is that God “will set shepherds over them who will care for them.” Do you ever feel like you just want someone to love you? Did you ever feel like your church lacked love? God’s shepherds love their flocks. The sheep will no longer fear or be dismayed. No sheep will go missing.

There is more to the promise. The sheep will be fruitful and multiply. That’s what the church is after. It should be going after it by loving and caring for the sheep instead of adapting church to attract the goats by their flesh. Yes, there are more goats, than sheep, and appealing to the flesh is easier than doing the work of loving, but the result of the one is a surface multiplication of the church without growing the Church, the Body of Christ. The other results in true growth, growth that starts on the inside and then shows on the outside.

We’re told the name of our righteous, wise shepherd, Yahweh Tsidqenu, the Lord is our righteousness.