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That's Cheating!

A recent news story caught my eye.  It was a story about some auditors who were caught cheating on an ethics exam.

The more I thought about it, the more absurd the whole situation seemed to be.  Just think about it, cheating is normally a violation of ethical standards and here the auditors were cheating on the exam that is supposed to measure their knowledge and understanding of ethics! 

On top of all that, when auditors do an audit, they are supposed to look for irregularities (cheating) in business and accounting practices.  Since they cheated on the exam, how in the world would they even know what to look for?  Maybe the old expression, “it takes one to know one” applies here!

But it also reminded me of how the Word of God describes some absurdities in regard to how some shepherds (leaders of people) were “shepherding” God’s people.  The descriptions reveal negligence at best and absurdities at worse.  Take a look at what these shepherds were actually doing:


  • Therefore thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning the shepherds who care for my people: “You have scattered my flock and have driven them away, and you have not attended to them.”  (Jer 23:2)

 

  • My people have been lost sheep. Their shepherds have led them astray, turning them away on the mountains. From mountain to hill they have gone. They have forgotten their fold.  (Jer 50:6)

 

  • As I live, declares the Lord God, surely because my sheep have become a prey, and my sheep have become food for all the wild beasts, since there was no shepherd, and because my shepherds have not searched for my sheep, but the shepherds have fed themselves, and have not fed my sheep,  (Ez 34:8)

 

These poor sheep (the people) were in desperate situations because the shepherds were basically doing the exact opposite of what was expected of them.  And God was not just going to stand for it.  Take a look at what He said He would do:

 

  • Behold, I will attend to you for your evil deeds, declares the Lord. Then I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their fold, and they shall be fruitful and multiply. I will set shepherds over them who will care for them, and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall any be missing, declares the Lord.  (Jer 23:2-4)

 

For us today, we know that the Chief Shepherd (Jesus), shepherds and cares for us like none other.  And, in an even more remarkable turn of events, the Chief Shepherd became a lamb for us.  But not just any lamb, He became the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world (John 1:29).

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