Daily Worship

Seeking the lost

Fyfe March 20, 2013 0 0

Ezekiel 34:11-16

​For this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I myself will search for my sheep and look after them. As a shepherd looks after his scattered flock when he is with them, so will I look after my sheep. I will rescue them from all the places where they were scattered on a day of clouds and darkness.  I will bring them out from the nations and gather them from the countries, and I will bring them into their own land. I will pasture them on the mountains of Israel, in the ravines and in all the settlements in the land.  I will tend them in a good pasture, and the mountain heights of Israel will be their grazing land. There they will lie down in good grazing land, and there they will feed in a rich pasture on the mountains of Israel.  I myself will tend my sheep and have them lie down, declares the Sovereign Lord.  I will search for the lost and bring back the strays. I will bind up the injured and strengthen the weak, but the sleek and the strong I will destroy. I will shepherd the flock with justice.

​It’s easy to give up and not bother.

to look after number one.

Give me an attentive heart and spirit to your holy Spirit.

This is not some cosy idea or notion about those lost,

this is a call to ‘search’, to do something.

I pray for those who shepherd your people as they search for the lost.

I pray that you teach me what it means to search for the lost.

By your Spirit help me to be attentive to the people I encounter and meet,

the conversations we share,

May I lead with your heart for those lost and wandering in life.

 

 

[pause and wait, hold these things in God’s presence ]

 

 

Renew us by your Holy Spirit,

that I may lay down my life for you and for my neighbour

and proclaim your love

through Jesus Christ, the good Shepherd. Amen.

-

written by Fyfe Blair