Our True Pasture

"In those days, at that time," declares the Lord, "the people of Israel and the people of Judah together will go in tears to seek the Lord their God. They will ask the way to Zion and turn their faces toward it. They will come and bind themselves to the Lord in an everlasting covenant that will not be forgotten. "My people have been lost sheep; their shepherds have led them astray and caused them to roam on the mountains. They wandered over mountain and hill and forgot their own resting place. Whoever found them devoured them; their enemies said, 'We are not guilty, for they sinned against the Lord, their true pasture, the Lord, the hope of their fathers.'" [Jeremiah 50:4-7 NIV]

Lord, in these days you are tearing down to oppressor that has exiled our souls. We have been held prisoner by our own pride and arrogance: institutional self-righteousness, doctrinal bragging, human kingdoms in the guise of religion. As these kingdoms fall, the hearts of your people are turning to you. They seek to know the where your mountian is so they may marry you and you alone. We have been lost and wandering in this dessert of our own making. Our leaders led us here and we've been aimless, without rest. We have been prey to every scammer, hustler, dominator, and exploiter. They proclaim their innocence and use our dysfunction as an excuse. But you are our homeland -- land of a thousand hills wide, rolling, and green. You have no boundary, but provide nurture for miles beyond our imagination. You have been the hope of the fathers of our faith for generations. The idea of seeing you face-to-face made them pilgrims and kept their feet upon the road.