«　WEEK 11　DAY 2　»

　　Ezek. 34:13-14 And I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries and bring them into their own land, and I will feed them upon the mountains of Israel by the streams and in all the inhabited places of the land. I will feed them with good pasture, and their dwelling place will be upon the mountains of the heights of Israel…

　　In Ezekiel 34:13b the Lord [said] that He would bring His people back to their own land. They were in captivity in heathen countries, but the Lord promised to bring them back to their own country, to the good land of Canaan. Our good land is Christ. Before we were saved or after we backslid, we were separated from Christ. But the Lord sought us out and brought us back to Himself and even into Himself as our good land. Today we are in Christ as the good land. The good land today is also in the church life. Thus, when we were brought back to Christ, we were also brought to the church life, where we have the riches and the enjoyment of the good land. (Life-study of Ezekiel, p. 177)

　　The Lord also said that He would bring His people back to the streams (Ezek. 34:13). These streams or rivers signify the life-giving Spirit, the living water of the Spirit. From the mountains, the resurrected and ascended Christ, the living water of the Spirit flows. The Spirit of life flows forth from Christ in His resurrection and ascension. After the Lord sought us out and brought us back to Himself, we not only returned to Christ in the transcendent position of His ascension, but we also began to drink of the Spirit as the living water.

　　As our Shepherd Christ takes care of us, including all our problems and responsibilities. He takes care of us not only in spiritual things but in all things related to our human needs. This means that, according to Psalm 23, He takes care of us in every aspect of our living. Since the Lord Jesus is our Shepherd taking care of us, we should not worry about our problems or about our living. Instead, we need to learn to put our trust in Him. At the end of the day, it is very good to pray to the Lord as our Shepherd. There is no need to pray at length in a formal, religious way. Simply say, “Lord Jesus, I thank You that I am under Your care. Now I am going to sleep, and I ask You to come and take care of me.” Such a simple prayer is good enough. When you wake up in the morning, you say, “Lord, I thank You that I am still under Your care.” There is no need to be religious, asking the Lord to protect you and do many other things for you. If you pray in a religious way, the Lord might say, “Child, I know what you need. Do not waste your time and do not burden Me with this kind of prayer. Simply enjoy My care.” The Lord Jesus truly is our Shepherd….Wherever I have gone and wherever I have worked, I have been under His shepherding care….In His recovery we, as His flock, are under His constant shepherding. As He cares for us, He feeds us, and we have the real experience of Psalm 23: The Lord is our Shepherd, and we have no want. May we all learn to experience Christ as our Shepherd.

　　When the Lord Jesus comes as the Shepherd, He comes also as the King. The issue of the Lord’s caring for us as our Shepherd is that we obey Him as our King and come under His kingship. The Lord is our Shepherd to be our King, and He is our King to be our Shepherd. On the one hand He shepherds us; on the other hand, He governs us. As we receive the Lord’s shepherding, we understand the Lord’s throne, kingdom, and authority. He is shepherding us with His care and supply so that we may be subject to His kingship and that He may set up His throne and His kingdom within us. (Life-study of Ezekiel, pp. 177, 180-181)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of Jeremiah, msgs. 6-7, 11, 19, 27; CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 3, “The God-man Living,” ch. 2; Truth Lessons—Level Three, vol. 2, lsn. 30