2026-08-01 | 🐑 God Confronts Selfish Leaders | Ezekiel 34 Devotional (7-Step QT)
7-Step QT Notes
1. 🙏 Quiet Time
Pause.
Take a deep breath.
Ask God to help you hear his Word, care for the people he has entrusted to you, and faithfully obey what he shows you today.
2. 📅 August 1, 2026
Today’s passage reminds us:
God holds leaders accountable for how they care for his people, and he personally rescues those who have been neglected and wounded.
3. ✝️ Ezekiel 34:1-10
God condemns Israel’s shepherds for feeding themselves instead of the flock. They neither strengthened the weak, healed the sick, bound up the injured, brought back the straying, nor sought the lost, but ruled harshly. Thus God’s sheep scattered and became prey. God will oppose the shepherds, hold them accountable, end their rule, and rescue his sheep from their mouths.
4. 📖 Key Verse
Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the LORD (vv. 7, 9).
5. 📝 Reflection
There is a Korean proverb that says, “It goes in one ear and out the other.” It describes the negative attitude of hearing something without taking it to heart or putting it into practice. It is often used to point out someone’s refusal to receive a speaker’s sincere message or deliberate choice to ignore it. For this reason, parents may use this proverb when disciplining their children, and teachers may use it when instructing their students.
I also remember frequently using this expression with employees when I was in a supervisory position at work. Now that I am a pastor, I sometimes wonder whether this proverb is also needed within the church community. Of course, the church is an entirely different community from a workplace. However, above all, I do not want anyone in the church to find themselves in a situation where God stands against them. Perhaps that is why I recognize the need for this proverb within the church.
Today’s word from God is directed to the shepherds of Israel. The shepherds appointed by God were not following his will or properly caring for his people. Instead of tending the flock, they placed their own interests first. Therefore, God declares that he is against these shepherds and will reclaim the flock entrusted to them. God himself will care for his sheep, and the disobedient shepherds will face the rightful consequences of their actions.
Beloved congregation, are you serving the church community as a shepherd? I urge you to hear and obey the word God gives us today. Are you part of the church community as a sheep receiving a shepherd’s care? Then please pray that your shepherd will hear God’s word and obey it. When shepherds and sheep hear God’s word and obey it together in their respective places, I believe that division, one of the greatest challenges facing immigrant churches, can also be healed.
6. 💬 What does this passage speak to you today?
- Is there any part of God’s Word that I have heard but have not yet put into practice?
- Am I caring for that person faithfully, or am I mainly protecting my own comfort and interests?
- Who around me may be weak, wounded, lonely, overlooked, or drifting away?
- What is one specific action I can take today to care for that person?
- How can I pray for and encourage my pastors and church leaders this week?
7. 🙏 Prayer
Our heavenly Father, thank You for knowing and caring for every person who belongs to You.
Forgive me for the times I have heard Your Word without putting it into practice.
Help me use every responsibility and influence You have given me to care for others rather than serve myself.
Give pastors and church leaders compassionate hearts to strengthen the weak, care for the wounded, and seek those who are drifting away.
May our church become a community where the neglected are seen, the wounded are cared for, and the lost are welcomed home.
Amen.
Scriptures
📖 (Ezekiel 34:1-10, ESV).
1 The word of the LORD came to me: 2 “Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel; prophesy, and say to them, even to the shepherds, Thus says the Lord GOD: Ah, shepherds of Israel who have been feeding yourselves! Should not shepherds feed the sheep? 3 You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fat ones, but you do not feed the sheep. 4 The weak you have not strengthened, the sick you have not healed, the injured you have not bound up, the strayed you have not brought back, the lost you have not sought, and with force and harshness you have ruled them. 5 So they were scattered, because there was no shepherd, and they became food for all the wild beasts. My sheep were scattered; 6 they wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill. My sheep were scattered over all the face of the earth, with none to search or seek for them.
7 “Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the LORD: 8 As I live, declares the Lord GOD, surely because my sheep have become a prey, and my sheep have become food for all the wild beasts, since there was no shepherd, and because my shepherds have not searched for my sheep, but the shepherds have fed themselves, and have not fed my sheep, 9 therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the LORD: 10 Thus says the Lord GOD, Behold, I am against the shepherds, and I will require my sheep at their hand and put a stop to their feeding the sheep. No longer shall the shepherds feed themselves. I will rescue my sheep from their mouths, that they may not be food for them.
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