(Jeremiah 23:5–6)

There’s a particular kind of disappointment that comes from being misled by someone you trusted. Not betrayed by an enemy but misled by someone who was supposed to tell you the truth and didn’t.

Jeremiah 23 opens with God looking out over his people, and what he sees is devastating. The shepherds, the leaders responsible for the spiritual welfare of the nation, have failed. They’ve scattered the flock instead of gathering it. They spoke comforting words when honest ones were needed. And the people followed willingly, because the truth was harder to hear.

We do the same thing, if we’re honest. We find teachers who soften the hard edges, leaders who offer peace without calling us to repentance. It’s not a new problem. And it runs right through us.

What I don’t want you to miss is what comes next. After all the false shepherds had done, God still would not abandon his flock.

“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.” (Jeremiah 23:5)

The shepherds have failed. The nation is crumbling. Exile is close. And into that wreckage God speaks a promise: The Lord is our righteousness. Not something Judah could produce on its own. Not something they could earn or manufacture. Something God himself would provide, in a person, in the fullness of time.

That promise did not remain a distant word. It came to us in history.

We’re on the other side of that promise now. We know who the Branch is. We’ve seen how he shepherded, and it wasn’t by telling people what they wanted to hear. He told the truth, gently but completely. He called out hypocrisy and sat with sinners in the same afternoon. He went to a cross without offering one word of false comfort, because real hope has never worked that way. Real hope costs something, and the Branch paid it all.

Here’s the question to carry into this week: Are the voices we’re listening to actually telling us the truth? Not merely what soothes us or confirms what we already believe, but what is true and honest. What does the true Shepherd actually say?

The good shepherd doesn’t scatter the flock. He leads it home. And he’s still doing exactly that.