Verse 2 "Woe, shepherds of Israel who have been feeding themselves! Should not the shepherds feed the flock?"
Is my first concern my own reputation? My career? Am I making decisions on personnel, song-selection, stage presence, dress, for my own good or for the good of the church?

Verse 3 "You ear the fat and clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fat (sheep) without feeding the flock." Do I take the best personnel to myself to stock my band, to make myself look good, and neglect the building up of other bands? Do I hold someone down as my band musician rather than release them to start their own band?

Verse 4 "Those who are sickly you have not strengthened, the diseased you have not healed, the broken you have not bound up..." Do I concern myself only with using the healthy, ready-made musicians, and do nothing to help heal the wounded artists in the church?

Verse 4 "The scattered you have not brought back, nor have you sought for the lost;..." Do I look for the lost outside the church, or attempt to restore those that have wandered into sin within the church? Is the only way to get into a band to know someone? Or emotionally "bribe" someone? Do I attempt to raise up other leaders?

Verse 4 "...but with force and with severity you have dominated them." Do I lash out in anger at the sound techs? Do I leave a string of unnecessarily injured egos in my wake? Do I criticize more than I praise? Am I sensitive to the chronic insecurity of many musicians?

Verse 5 "And they were scattered for lack of a shepherd, and they became food for every beast of the field and were scattered." Do I care only for a select few in my group, and the remainder of the musicians and worship people are left to fend for themselves? Do they then get knocked out of ministry by discouragement or sin? Or get taken in by a "blind guide?"

Verse 10 "So the shepherds will not feed themselves anymore, but I shall deliver My flock from their mouth, that they may not be food for them." Will the Lord have to remove me to stop my ego-feeding on the church? Or career-feeding?

Is it too slight a thing for you that you should feed in the good pasture, that you must tread down with your feet the rest of your pastures? Or that you should drink of the clear waters, that you must foul the rest with you feet?"

Does my process of personnel selection leave the remainder unwilling to serve for any band leader? Does my process of song writing leave such a distaste in the mouth of the church that they are unwilling to try it themselves? Does my leadership inspire others to follow? Or make others turn away?

Verse 23, 30-31 "'Then I will set over them one shepherd, My servant David, and he will feed them...Then they will know that I, the Lord their God, am with them, and that they, the house of Israel, are My people,' declares the Lord God. 'As for you, My sheep, the sheep of My pasture, you are men, and I am your God," declares the Lord God.'"

Will I cooperate with God's desire to place over His people quality shepherds who will cause the flock to propsper? Will I say "Yes" to God's invitation to prosper along with the flock? Will I trust that in putting the well-being of the flock first, my future is secure?

Adapted from The Worship Update, Volume VII, Number 3 c/o Vineyard Music Group, PO Box 68025, Anaheim, CA 92817 (c)1994 Vineyard Music, All rights reserved. Used by permission.