Neil Armstrong became the first person to step foot on the moon…It used to be a given that people remember the day that man first walked on the moon on July 20, 1969, watching black-and-white images on television. But now most Americans don’t know where they were because the 61% of Americans hadn’t been born yet.
The prophet Micah closes his book with a prayer that is both simple and deeply moving: “Shepherd your people with your staff, the flock of your inheritance, that dwells apart in a woodland, in the midst of Carmel. Let them feed in Bashan and Gilead, as in the days of old.”(Micah 7:14)
At first glance, these ancient place names Carmel, Bashan, and Gilead may seem like little more than points on a map. But to the people of Israel they stirred the imagination. Carmel was known for its beauty and fertile slopes. Bashan was famous for its rich pasturelands where flocks could graze in abundance. Gilead was remembered for its healing balm and its lush countryside. Together they formed a picture of life as God intended it: a flock that was safe, well-fed, and flourishing under the care of its shepherd.
What is remarkable is that Micah prays these words after a long book filled with warnings, injustice, and the consequences of Israel’s unfaithfulness. After exposing the people’s failures, the prophet does not end with condemnation. He ends with hope. His prayer is not, “Lord, punish your people.” It is, “Lord, shepherd your people.” That difference tells us something profound about the heart of God.
Throughout Scripture, the image of the shepherd is one of God’s favorite ways of revealing himself. The shepherd does not simply own the sheep; he knows them, protects them, searches for them when they wander, and leads them to places where they can flourish. God’s deepest desire has never been merely to correct his people, but to guide them into the fullness of life.
As Christians, we cannot hear Micah’s words without thinking of Jesus, who called himself the Good Shepherd. He came not only to rescue the lost sheep but also to lead them into abundant life. He knows the paths that lead to peace, even when we insist on wandering into places that leave us weary and hungry.
Perhaps that is why this ancient prayer still speaks so powerfully today. Many people feel as though they are wandering through a woodland—surrounded by uncertainty, noise, loneliness, or fear. We long for solid ground, for green pastures, for a place where our souls can rest.
Micah reminds us that God’s answer is not first a place but a person. The answer is the Shepherd.
The Christian life is not simply about finding our own way through the forest. It is about learning to recognize the Shepherd’s voice and trusting him to lead us. When we do, he brings us to places of nourishment we could never have found on our own. Not only the rich pastures of Bashan or the beauty of Carmel, but the deeper pastures of faith, hope, mercy, and peace.
In the end, Micah’s prayer becomes our own: “Shepherd your people.” It is a prayer our world still needs. It is a prayer our families need. It is a prayer each of us can whisper every morning. And it is a prayer the Good Shepherd delights to answer.
Image credit: iStock | BogdanV | photo ID:1651309580 | downloaded July 20-2026
This coming Sunday is the 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time. “The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure buried in a field, which a person finds and hides again, and out of joy goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.” Buried treasure is the stuff of popular stories in every age and while out “pirates” no longer sail the Seven Seas we seem content with stories of lottery winners. Given Israel’s location at the crossroads of major powers to the north and east and to the south (Egypt) there is a long history of wars and rumors of war playing out upon the promised land.
“Buried treasure” was a realistic possibility. Before banking was generally established, to hide wealth in the form of coins, metals or jewels in a jar or box in the ground was a recognized way of securing it, especially in times of crisis; the famous Copper Scroll from Qumran Cave 3 lists the locations of huge caches of precious metals and other buried treasure. But consider Mt 25:25, where a talent of gold is buried. The “talent” was equivalent to almost 20 years of daily wages and would have been a “treasure” worth finding.
In the face of a rumor of war or war itself, a family might well bury their valuables. If no one survived the battles or sieges, there was indeed buried treasure to find. There were also rabbinic guidelines for what one did when finding such treasures. Even if you were the rightful owner of the land, you were obligated to make a reasonable search for the rightful owner of the buried valuables. Failing to find the original owners, the land owner could rightfully take possession of the treasure.
Presumably in this story the current owner of the field was unaware of it. The finder (presumably a worker employed by the land-owner) really has no immediate rights to the treasure even after he legally purchased the land. But he understands what is at stake and sells all that he may obtain the treasure. Many commentators have noted that it is the same with humanity – we have no right to salvation – it is an unmerited gift from God – so when it comes, grab it without hesitation or qualm.
It seems that the man’s action is dictated by pure self-interest, as would be the person who opts for the kingdom of heaven. The “sacrifice” of all that is sold is no hardship: it is done out of “delight,” not out of a sense of obligation. Once the kingdom of heaven is truly understood, nothing else can compare with it in value. One should also noted the OT theme of wisdom as being like hidden treasure (Prov 2:4; Job 28; cf. with a rather different twist, Sir 20:30). [France, 2007, 541]
Image credit: The Pearl of Great Price, by Domenico Fetti, 17th century |Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien, Bilddatenbank | Public Domain
friarmusings 