But as for me, I have not hurried away from being a shepherd after You, nor have I longed for the woeful day; You Yourself know that the utterance of my lips was in Your presence. – Jeremiah 17:16 (NASB)

Lead, follow, or get out of the way is a popular saying within military leadership circles.  The saying implies there is a mission to be done and you can either lead others to accomplish the mission, help someone complete the mission, or be someone that does not hinder mission accomplishment.

I had a commander one time who framed the saying in a slightly different manner – when in charge, take charge; when in command, take command.  By this he meant if given the responsibility to lead or command, don’t shy away from it, embrace it.  (Side note – while a great saying, the commander I referenced was one of, if not the worst, commander I ever had.  You’ve heard the saying of the blind squirrel and the acorn…?).

Our verse for this post’s lesson comes from the prophet Jeremiah.  Jeremiah is sometimes referred to as the “weeping prophet”.  While accurate in describing Jeremiah’s emotional state at times, I personally think the nickname does not do him justice.  On the contrary, I think Jeremiah was one of the boldest, compassionate, and courageous leaders in the history of God’s people.

We should gain a greater appreciation for his leadership when we consider he served as God’s prophet for 40 years (how many of us can say we’ve served God as long?).  He was never popular, always ridiculed, and beaten for delivering God’s messages of impending doom.  God forbade him to marry and commanded him to wear stocks as an example of Babylonian bondage, and he was imprisoned.

God told Jeremiah that he would preside over the moral and spiritual decline of his country despite God’s words and Jeremiah’s efforts.  Yet, as Jeremiah states in our lesson’s verse, he did not shy away (i.e. “hurry away”) from his God-given responsibility even in the face of adversity.  He did not shirk from his responsibility to hold God’s people accountable and warn them of impending judgment even when they would not listen.

On occasion I too feel that I am serving as a leader witnessing the spiritual demise of America and the Church.  Just as it pained Jeremiah to tears to know his country and countrymen, God’s chosen people, were destined for judgment, I too am pained when I see Christians being rebellious, sinful, and disobedient to God’s Will and ambivalent toward His judgment.   Sometimes we think it is a new phenomenon that Christians take the attitude of “don’t tell me what to do”, even if it is sinful.  However, Jeremiah’s fellow Jews were the same way 2500 years ago.

So what are the lessons for us shepherds today?  They are what I call “simply difficult” – at least for me.

First, while we may lose a popularity contest within the congregation, we must remember we have the majority with God on our side as long as we are still doing His will.  My nature is to avoid conflict.  I want to be liked by everyone, I want to be popular.  In times past I have lacked courage and compromised my beliefs in order to be liked (I thought).  Fortunately, God has blessed me with a career of Army leadership training and hard lessons learned to providentially prepare me to start serving as a shepherd.  Now, I still don’t like conflict, I don’t go looking for conflict, but I am not about to avoid conflict, especially where His Will and Word are concerned.

Second, let’s face it, leadership is lonely.  Just by being a shepherd people view and interact with you differently.  Maybe they forget shepherds are human with all the flaws of humanity.  Maybe they forget that while they should esteem and doubly honor shepherds, those same shepherds are not there to “lord over them” but to serve God by serving the members of His Church.  Maybe they view shepherds as strictly authority figures and will rebel against authority in any form.  Regardless, and in some cases whether they know it or not, people treat you differently.  Just ask an elder’s wife sometime after a member introduces her to a visitor (“I want you to meet Mrs. Firstname Lastname.  She is one of our elder’s wives…”).  Thank the Lord he instituted a plurality of shepherds so we don’t have to bear that burden alone.

Third, we must endure like Jeremiah as long as we are doing God’s will.  I have only served a little more than a year as a shepherd.  My respect grows for those that have served for more years than I can imagine after every spiritual challenge.  And yet, when you compare what we endure, it pales in comparison with what Jeremiah went through, much less what our Lord and Savior experienced during his relatively short ministry.  Maybe God knew what he was doing when He gave us examples like Jeremiah to draw encouragement from…

May your blessings exceed mine today and all your days. – DEM