Following Together
Ezekiel 34:5-6 (NIV)
So they were scattered because there was no shepherd, and when they were scattered they became food for all the wild animals. My sheep wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill. They were scattered over the whole earth, and no one searched or looked for them.
We don’t have to look far in society to see the dangers of division. Take the ethnic and cultural divides that are very much alive: they continue to cause endless pain, hurt, destruction and disunity. Even within the same neighbourhoods, workplaces or churches, we see damage to God’s flock over divisions about race. Make no mistake, God’s Church is diminished every day these divisions come between us.
Without a shepherd, a flock of sheep is easily scattered, exposed to the dangers of predators and the elements. Ezekiel uses the analogy of flock and shepherd to depict what has happened to Israel. It wasn’t that they had no shepherd: it was more that there wasn’t one single shepherd. The people were being influenced by different things: the monarchy, their own ideologies - or Yahweh.
The crucial point is that because of mixed influences, Israel had become scattered and disunited. The people were heading in different directions, not physically but, more importantly, spiritually, emotionally and morally. This lack of unity, Ezekiel warns, left them vulnerable to attack – food for their predators.
Like the Israelites, we are prone to becoming ‘scattered prey’. Every time we take a step, however small, away from Kingdom principles towards the ways of the world, we become more isolated. And isolation kills faith. We are better together. Community strengthens us. People protect us. Friends support us. Crucially, we need to be a community of people that are clear about who our One True Shepherd is. We are following Jesus, and we follow him together.
Are you conscious of wandering from God's flock? Is there disunity that you must help reconcile? Are you in regular fellowship and community with other Christians? Do you need to share more of your life with a trusted Christian friend?
Prayer — Reveal to me, Holy Spirit, where I’m living in disunity or isolation. Help me, Lord, to take steps to get back in line with You and your flock.