Daily Prophets
Day 105
“Therefore, declares the Lord, God of Israel, about the shepherds who should tend My people: It is you who let My flock scatter and go astray. You gave no thought to them, but I am going to give thought to you for your wicked acts. And I Myself will gather the remnant of My flock…Judah shall be delivered and Israel shall dwell secure.”(Jeremiah 23:2,3,6).
Jeremiah is giving hell to the people in charge. He is also reminding us that power is not for personal gain, it is not for our ego, it is for upholding, teaching, and living God’s words, God’s desires and God’s ways. It is not the usual way of thinking for most of us today, nor was it then. The struggle between our egos/desires and our souls has been a constant battle forever and Jeremiah is calling on leaders to be 51% living their souls knowledge so that God is guiding them, not their egos/desires.
I hear Jeremiah’s call to all people in power, from parents to elected officials to monarchies: “you are but trusted servants and you are breaking the trust I placed in you.” I also hear the exile is the logical consequences of their poor shepherding, their poor stewardship of God’s people, of God’s ways. We have seen this throughout history; leaders get ‘fat’ and think that they can and should hold onto power forever and pass it down to their descendants, corruption begins and spreads from one generation to the next until this cancer takes over enough of the country to cause civil war and incivility to flourish. This path always ends in destruction and slavery.
Jeremiah is speaking God’s Truth and Israel was unable or unwilling to hear this Truth. It is so important to understand leadership as a gift, as service to the people one leads and to God. Yet, so many take leadership as a right and as something to hold on to at any costs, including using mendacity, obstructionism, lawyers, stacking the courts/boards/officers with ‘yes’ people, etc. God is holding those of us who engage in these practices accountable and there will be a day of reckoning. While this day may not come in Jeremiah’s lifetime, or ours, it will come according the verses above.
And, redemption will come also. Jeremiah, for all of his doom and gloom, keeps the light of redemption bright and shining. “My flock”, deliverance and security are ideas expressed above, words of love and connection. Jeremiah is reminding us, after everything that these shepherds did to the people, God will redeem them/us and we can and will return to our proper place in love and connection. This is my definition of unconditional love: redemption and reconnection is always available.
Rabbi Heschel teaches: “How much quiet tenderness, how much unsaid devotion is contained in the way in which the Lord of heaven and earth spoke of Israel. “The shepherds who care for My people… have scattered My flock and driven them away.”(The Prophets pg 110). I am always energized with hope and devotion when I read Rabbi Heschel’s description of the connection between God and Israel, between God and humanity. We don’t talk about the tenderness of God towards us often nor do we appreciate the devotion God shows us. This is how we make God vengeful, responsible for our bad acts and the bad acts of another(s). Yet, Rabbi Heschel is calling on us to appreciate the sorrow, anguish, love and tenderness God has concerning us and our straying. God always wants us to return, to return in love, hope and desire. We are “My people, My flock” and it is time we act in accordance of the esteem God has for us.
In recovery, we are both the shepherds who caused destruction and the people God sends to give the message to others who suffer a lack of connection with God. We are recovering a way of living that is compatible with being a shepherd of God, a trusted servant carrying Truth, hope, redemption and connection to anyone in need-regardless of race, color, religion or ethnicity. We are blessed to be able to show up and serve God and another(s) by spreading the hope and serenity we have experienced and grown in our recovery. We are secure in our living because we have given thought to and repaired our “wicked acts”, we know we have been “delivered” and we are continuing to grow spiritually and to live in accordance with God’s will, not our own puffed up egos.
I immerse myself in these verses and I am reminded of the times I led people astray, as a follower and a leader. I know that all of my recovery has not been perfect and there were times when I led others astray because I did not follow Jeremiah’s (and the other prophets’) words and warnings. I am also aware that these times were few and far between and grew fewer as I grew up in recovery. I also know that I took Jeremiah’s words to heart and was a trusted servant of God and another(s) more than 85% of the time. I am a survivor of my own destruction, my own bad shepherding and this has led me to realize new and better ways to shepherd me and another(s). I am heartbroken that the moments of bad shepherding by me have become the storyline for some people in power and they forget the 85%. These people may not realize they are ruling by fiat, not conversation and consensus, they may not realize they are trusted servants, not all-powerful. Yet, they are still ‘my people, my flock’ as I get to practice the tenderness and devotion God shows me with another(s). Stay safe and God Bless, Rabbi Mark