The theme I would like to focus on this week is that the Good Shepherd.

In the Old Testament, God himself identifies himself as a Shepherd.  God says, “I myself will pasture my sheep; I myself will give them rest. . .  The lost I will seek out, the strayed I will bring back, the injured I will bind up, the sick I will heal” (Ezekiel 34:15-16). At the same time David in Psalm 23 proclaims: “The LORD is my shepherd, there is nothing I lack. In green pastures he makes me lie down; to still waters he leads me”. But there is the reality that God chastised those who should have shepherd his people but failed to so according to God’s plan.

Is God truly the One I follow? Do I allow him to shepherd me? Have I strayed and wandered and become lost? Have I experienced the mercy of God who sought me and brought me back to the fold? The relationship between the shepherd and the sheep is one of trust. Do I trust God to care for me, protect me and to guide me to good pastures? Reflect on your relationship with God with this image of the Good Shepherd. What comes to mind?