Stand and Feed!

(Micah 5:4) “He shall stand and feed in the strength of the Lord.”

This morning I wish to stop and pause reflecting on self. We can get lost with what is happening around us, I often tend to focus on others without focusing on myself. This is definitely one of my nagging traits. It is all very well to expose error but when we do we become judges, we are called to judge, and this is in accordance with God’s Word, especially when it comes to “sound doctrine”. However, we are never instructed to seek out self-justification as we consider ourselves better than someone else. We are all sinners and need a redeemer, and if we are born again, then we are justified by Christ’s sacrifice and not our own. I wonder why on-going sanctification seems to want to rob us of this if misconstrued. The pat on the back syndrome is never helpful, all it does is sets us up for the fall; “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall. It is better to be of a lowly spirit with the poor than to divide the spoil with the proud.” (Proverbs 16:18-19) 

Today is a day to sit back, catch my breath, focus and to listen. At present I need to look for the greatest nourishment a man can receive, the Lord Jesus our great shepherd leads us to green pastures, but will we stand and feed in the strength of the Lord? I pray we will all set aside time for reflection and even the more as we see that day approaching.

“Christ’s reign in his Church is that of a shepherd-king. He has supremacy, but it is the superiority of a wise and tender shepherd over his needy and loving flock; he commands and receives obedience, but it is the willing obedience of the well-cared-for sheep, rendered joyfully to their beloved Shepherd, whose voice they know so well. He rules by the force of love and the energy of goodness.

His reign is practical in its character. It is said, “He shall stand and feed.” The great Head of the Church is actively engaged in providing for his people. He does not sit down upon the throne in empty state, or hold a sceptre without wielding it in government. No, he stands and feeds. The expression “feed,” in the original, is like an analogous one in the Greek, which means to shepherdize, to do everything expected of a shepherd: to guide, to watch, to preserve, to restore, to tend, as well as to feed.

His reign is continual in its duration. It is said, “He shall stand and feed”; not “He shall feed now and then, and leave his position”; not, “He shall one day grant a revival, and then next day leave his Church to barrenness.” His eyes never slumber, and his hands never rest; his heart never ceases to beat with love, and his shoulders are never weary of carrying his people’s burdens.

His reign is effectually powerful in its action; “He shall feed in the strength of Jehovah.” Wherever Christ is, there is God; and whatever Christ does is the act of the Most High. Oh! it is a joyful truth to consider that he who stands to-day representing the interests of his people is very God of very God, to whom every knee shall bow. Happy are we who belong to such a shepherd, whose humanity communes with us, and whose divinity protects us. Let us worship and bow down before him as the people of his pasture.” (C.H.Spurgeon)

“He shall stand and feed in the strength of the Lord.” (Micah 5:4)

Let us therefore feed in the strength of the Lord, Amen!

Signing off

Tyrone