The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. John 10:10 NKJV.

This was powerful from My Utmost For His Highest by Oswald Chambers: ““Seek, and you will find.” Luke 11:9. Seek if you have not found. “You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss” (James 4:3). If you ask for things from life instead of from God, “you ask amiss”; that is, you ask out of your desire for self-fulfillment. The more you fulfill yourself the less you will seek God. “Seek, and you will find.” Get to work – narrow your focus and interests to this one thing. Have you ever sought God with your whole heart, or have you simply given Him a feeble cry after some emotionally painful experience? “Seek, (focus), and you will find.” “Ho! Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters” (Isaiah 55:1). Are you thirsty, or complacent and indifferent – so satisfied with your own experience that you want nothing more of God? Experience is a doorway, not a final goal. Beware of building your faith on experience, or your life will not ring true and will only sound the note of a critical spirit. Remember that you can never give another person what you have found, but you can cause him to have a desire for it. “Knock, and it will be opened to you” (Luke 11:9). “Draw near to God” (James 4:8). Knock – the door is closed, and your heartbeat races as you knock. “Cleanse your hands” (4:8). Knock a bit louder – you begin to find that you are dirty. “Purify your hearts” (4:8). It is becoming even more personal – you are desperate and serious now – you will do anything. “Lament” (4:9). Have you ever lamented, expressing your sorrow before God for the condition of your inner life? There is no thread of self-pity left, only the heart-rending difficulty and amazement which comes from seeing what kind of person you really are. “Humble yourselves” (4:10). It is a humbling experience to knock at God’s door – you have to knock with the crucified thief. “To him who knocks it will be opened” (Luke 11:10).”

I read the above right after reading our chapter, Zechariah 11, which tore at my heart. The opening verses to set the stage…Open your doors, Lebanon, so that fire may devour your cedars! Wail, you juniper, for the cedar has fallen; the stately trees are ruined! Wail, oaks of Bashan; the dense forest has been cut down! Listen to the wail of the shepherds; their rich pastures are destroyed! Listen to the roar of the lions; the lush thicket of the Jordan is ruined! v. 1-3. And then the shepherds…This is what the Lord my God says: “Shepherd the flock marked for slaughter. Their buyers slaughter them and go unpunished. Those who sell them say, ‘Praise the Lord, I am rich!’ Their own shepherds do not spare them. For I will no longer have pity on the people of the land,” declares the Lord. “I will give everyone into the hands of their neighbors and their king. They will devastate the land, and I will not rescue anyone from their hands.” So I shepherded the flock marked for slaughter, particularly the oppressed of the flock. Then I took two staffs and called the one Favor and the other Union, and I shepherded the flock. In one month I got rid of the three shepherds. v. 4-9. And then…The flock deserted me, and I grew weary of them and said, “I will not be your shepherd. Let the dying die, and the perishing perish. Let those who are left eat one another’s flesh.” Then I took my staff called Favor and broke it, revoking the covenant I had made with all the nations. It was revoked on that day, and so the oppressed of the flock who were watching me knew it was the word of the Lord. I told them, “If you think it best, give me my pay; but if not, keep it.” So they paid me thirty pieces of silver. And the Lord said, “Throw it to the potter” – the handsome price at which they value Me! So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them to the potter at the house of the Lord. Then I broke my second staff called Union, breaking the family bond between Judah and Israel. Then the Lord said to me, “Take again the equipment of a foolish shepherd. For I am going to raise up a shepherd over the land who will not care for the lost, or seek the young, or heal the injured, or feed the healthy, but will eat the meat of the choice sheep, tearing off their hooves. “Woe to the worthless shepherd, who deserts the flock! May the sword strike his arm and his right eye! May his arm be completely withered, his right eye totally blinded!” v. 9-17. In the notes below: “11:12 To pay this shepherd 30 pieces of silver was an insult – this was the price paid to an owner for a slave gored by an ox (Exodus 21:32). This is also the amount Judas received for betraying Jesus (Matthew 27:3-10). The priceless Messiah was sold for the price of a slave. 11:13 Potters were in the lowest social class. The “handsome price” (a sarcastic comment) was so little that it could be thrown to the potter. It is significant that the 30 pieces of silver paid to Judas for betraying Jesus were returned to the temple and used to buy a potter’s field (Matthew 27:3-10). 11:14 Because the people had rejected the Messiah, God would reject them – symbolized by Zechariah breaking the staff called “Union.” Not long after Zechariah’s time, the Jews began to divide into numerous factions – Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes, Herodians, and Zealots. The discord among these groups was a key factor leading to the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70.”

What is Creator God – Father, Son, Spirit, worth to you? What are you worth to you? What are all the people worth to you? When I think of all of Creation…when I think of all people…when I consider what the Son, Jesus, did for us as our True Shepherd, there are no words adequate to describe what Creator God is worth to me. He is worth more than my life to me. So I humbly pray and ask Creator God to help us to love – and to receive love – because it is His love that brings the healing we are each of us so desperately in need of. He loves the lost and the suffering and it takes His help to understand fully, that “they” are all of us, His children dearly loved. Can you put a price on that?