Scripture: Ezekiel 34:16


“I will seek what was lost and bring back what was driven away, bind up the broken and strengthen what was sick”

Most of us are familiar with artistic depictions of Jesus as a Good Shepherd returning from the field with a smile on His face and a rescued lamb on His shoulders. When we see that image, we remember the parable of the shepherd who pursues the one wayward sheep who is missing from his fold of a hundred. The Lord loves His sheep and ministers to them with deep care and compassion.

• He seeks that which was lost. As the Shepherd of our souls, the Lord does not abandon us when we turn away from Him to go our own way. He pursues us with His love and calls us back to Himself. Even when the church expels us because of some wrong we have done, the Lord still has room for us in His Grace if we yield and return to Him.

• He binds up the broken. His healing hands can touch the place of our brokenness and restore us in strength. When all our confidence and self-esteem is gone and our lives appear like broken twigs on a shrub, He comes with a tender touch of compassion to fix us back together.

• He strengthens the sick. We may be sick in either our bodies or our minds and our souls. He has power over every sickness and infirmity and can even recreate our body parts. Wherever we hurt, He can minister strength to us.

Prayer: Touch me, O Lord, and make me whole again; restore me and fill me with Your joy. Scriptural Reading: Ezekiel 34:11-16