Favor and Union Get Rid of Evil Shepherds

The Minor Prophets Speak To Today

Your Security May Not Be As Secure

 As You Think - Part 2

So I cared for the flock intended for slaughter—the flock that was oppressed. Then I took two shepherd’s staffs and named one Favor and the other Union. 
I got rid of their three evil shepherds in a single month. 
But I became impatient with these sheep, and they hated me, too.

Zechariah 11:7-8 NLT

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WHEN GOD CREATES A CRISIS IN LEADERSHIP

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GOD WORKS IN MYSTERIOUS WAYS.

SOMETIMES WE DON'T SEE IT.

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Called to Shepherd the Flock Intended for Slaughter!

How many read this and parallel passages in the prophets, look at the call of a shepherd to the church or flock about to die and think it is a good thing. It is not!

And notice, the man called was the cream of the crop. A man more in-tune with the direct voice of God than most of his fellow shepherds.

That man was simply God's best choice for this difficult duty. God does not send the weak or left-over ministers to the rebellious. He sends his best. Just like he sent the best, his son, to suffer for our salvation.

God did not send this quality shepherd because he had decided not to slaughter the flock. God did not send this shepherd to save the flock - though he would try to. This flock had hardened itself against God's movement among them many times before. This flock had driven off good shepherds even more times before. But ask them, ask some churches, ask some goats who try to shepherd the sheep themselves. Those shepherds were faulty. They were not perfect people. They got angry at sin or the stubborn hearts of people. They were not better than Christ, but then that flock's standard for a shepherd was many steps above the manners, actions, and words of Christ.

Have you met that flock before?

I have. Too many times. They do not accept the man or woman God calls to them or they refuse the invitation God sends through that person.

All too often they frustrate God's called shepherd. All too often they attack the shepherd, cast him out of the pasture. 

Did you ever stop to think what a difficult task it is for the shepherd to tend to people intended for destruction, for slaughter?

Did you stop to think how mean it seems for God to put a shepherd in such a no-win situation when God himself knows there will not be a win? 

But this is one of the mysterious ways of God. He creates a crisis in leadership to make a point, to clarify the coming truth or rightness of the pending slaughter. He sends his best and thereby shows the complete hopelessness he, God, feels toward the flock.

Success in the Face of Impending Slaughter!

Zechariah did not fail as the flock's shepherd. He brought two key conditions to the flock - Favor and Union.

He demonstrated favor, indeed enacted the proof of favor among the flock. Their other shepherds were devouring these sheep. They were selling them out to the culture and politics of slaughter. The price for their betrayal was already paid.

The flock did not miss this favorable treatment nor the peace it created. 

Zechariah also brought the flock back into unity with one another. That in itself is a tremendous task to accomplish with a flock that has been fighting each other, backbiting, judging negatively, and all the other disastrous conditions that happen in churches and among flocks - even flocks of God's sheep. 

And the results were through the roof. He got rid of their three evil shepherds (leaders) within a single month. 

Favor. Union. And relief from the evil shepherds that resided with them.

Wow!

But of course, our eyes skip forward to this and we think, "Praise the Lord!" We miss God's mysterious ways. We miss that the sheep are still intended for slaughter. This 'praise the Lord' is nothing. Certainly, it is not a spiritual victory for anyone. The called shepherd or the sheep.

"But I Became Impatient with These Sheep!"

Ahh! You say. Zechariah was a moral failure. A good shepherd, a called shepherd, would not get impatient. He would not let it show. This is his called ministry. How dare he sink to these low feelings unworthy of a godly shepherd.

If you feel that way, I need to introduce you to God. Your yardstick is cheap wood compared to God's plan. In fact, in you knowingness, you have placed yourself (albeit unknowingly) in judgment of God. Many sheep will go to hell or be slaughtered for this grievous sin. And certainly, the ones already marked for slaughter will be justifiably slaughtered and cast out.

Zechariah's impatience with the sheep simply mirrored God's thoughts and feelings. He developed the mind of God toward that flock of God's children. 

That was just what God intended for this man's calling. God intended to use this most excellent shepherd to be a visible sign, to put a human face on, God's own invisible thoughts and feelings.

"AND THEY HATED ME TOO!"

I told you God was presenting the rightness, the justice, of his condemnation of that flock to slaughter. The justice of that congregation being destroyed - if not in this life, then in the next.

They had godly ancestors. They were raised in the faith. They knew but yet were blind to the ways and requirements of God.

They hated all shepherds. The Good. The Bad. And the Ugly.

The Righteous. The Evil. And the Uncomely.

This flock had a leader called and sent by God. Their leader brought favor and union to them. This leader got rid of the evil shepherds the flock had experienced. But ask them.

This man was no man of God. This man was a mistake. This man was a moral failure. This man was not right for them.

God set a godly mirror in front of the flock and the flock hated him!

Such Are The Mysterious Ways Of Our God!

This Is Exactly What Is Happening Within

God's Flock Today.

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America, Europe, and Russian Beware!

Photo Credits: 

Anchor Chain - Alaska by JLS Photography-Alaska, some rights reserved @flickr.com
Bayram by Preston Rolls, all rights reserved @flickr.com