"Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel; prophesy and say to them: 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Woe to you shepherds of Israel who only take care of yourselves! Should not shepherds take care of the flock? – Ezekiel 34:2

Today's Scripture Reading (July 6, 2020): Ezekiel 34

Roy T. Bennett, in "The Light of the Heart," writes that, "Success is not how high you have climbed, but how you make a positive difference to the world." We often seem to measure success using some wrong metrics. Success cannot be measured by how much money you have or don't have in your bank accounts. And leadership is not measured that way either. Voting by the person who has the most money to lead you is one of the stupidest things that you can do. The presence of excessive money might be proof of a lack of leadership rather than the presence of leadership.

Neither is attaining a high position proof of leadership. Some of the best leaders that I have known have not held a corporate or ecclesiastical title. And those who are busy climbing the corporate ladder, often are too preoccupied with status to lead. They seem to be more concerned with the title on the letterhead and exercising authority than about walking with those around them. Bennett is right. Real leadership is about making a positive difference in the world around you, even if that difference is only visible to a few people. Some of the people that the world seems to hold up to us as shining examples of leadership are barely leaders at all.

Ezekiel receives a message from God. The shepherds of the flock are not fulfilling their responsibility to the flock. In Ezekiel's time, the term shepherd was often used to describe the princes of the nations, but here it is expanded to include the spiritual leaders as well. The leaders aren't leading; they were simply taking care of themselves and their own interests. They were making decisions that advance their positions rather than enhance the nation as a whole.

And Ezekiel's question, "Should not shepherds take care of the flock," is an important one. Each one of these "shepherds" valued their position as a leader while doing absolutely nothing to lead. And if Israel was ever going to become a nation again, that had to end. The shepherds, the princes, and priests of the land needed to take the idea of leadership seriously. It was time that each one of them decided to make a positive difference in their world, even if their world currently happened to be in Babylon.

Our political leaders have not been placed in their positions to feather their beds. They are not there to continually run for the next election. They are in their positions to make a positive difference in the lives of the nation. And sometimes that means that they are there to make hard decisions, ones that the rest of us might hesitate to make. And if they can't do that, if all they want to do is better themselves, then maybe they should step aside and let someone else lead; perhaps it is times that we reached out to the shepherds who have the needs of the nation at heart.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Ezekiel 35