Jeremiah 13:20 Lift up your eyes, and behold them that come from the north: where is the flock that was given you, your beautiful flock? Here is a flock that is being inquired about, not a flock only, but a beautiful flock. 1. The question comes into our family life, and asks us where all the children are, those lovely children, that banished the silence of the house and made it ring with music. They were fair, they were charming, they were affectionate; what a sweet, merry little fellowship they made! — where are they? Have they been spoiled into evil, flattered into self-idolatry, neglected into atheism? Have they been over-instructed, over-disciplined, wholly overborne, so that the will has not been only broken but shattered? He is no shepherd, but a tyrant, who does not cooperate with his children, lure them, fascinate them, and give them sacred instruction without appearing to do so, and who when offering religious privileges offers them as if offering coronation, yea, and all heaven. 2. The question enters also into our Church life, saying to every pastor, "Where is the flock that was given thee, thy beautiful flock?" — not large, perhaps, but so expectant, so sympathetic, so cooperative. What the flock wants is pastoral preaching. The difficulty is to overcome the temptation to preach to somebody who is not there. The preacher must always know himself to be set for the healing and nurture of men. In every congregation there am the broken-hearted, those who are shattered in fortune, feeble in health, spiritually-minded; women who have great home cares; souls that cannot thrive on criticism; lives that need all nourishment and comfort and loving sympathy. (J. Parker, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: Lift up your eyes, and behold them that come from the north: where is the flock that was given thee, thy beautiful flock? |
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