4.The Cloudy and Dark Day

My Heart's Desire
Maynard A. Force
Chapter 4

The Cloudy and Dark Day

I will seek out my sheep; and I will deliver them out of all places whither they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day. Ezekiel 34:12.

There have been many "cloudy and dark days'' on this earth. The first one came when Adam fell into sin. Since then they have come in rapid and quick succession. Whenever anyone turns away from God, it is a ''cloudy and dark day'' for him. The "cloudy day" is a time of threatening, one never knows how bad it may become. It may soon become a "dark day" when all visibility is gone. Then the night of hell with its eternal blackness follows quickly.

The sheep were ''scattered'' in "the cloudy and dark day." When visibility is poor it is easy to get lost. On cloudy days only those sheep who stay close to the shepherd remain with the flock. It is the sheep who follow "afar off" that get scattered. Being "afar off," they may in a moment of carelessness lose sight of the shepherd and go their own way.

For a while these wandering sheep find the going easy enough. Then comes the darkness and they realize they are "scattered." Once a sheep loses sight of the shepherd he is an easy victim for the wolf. Satan, the wolf that is always after God's sheep, has feasted on many a "scattered" one. Now he has nothing to fear for there is no shepherd to protect them. The sheep themselves have no strength to ward off such a beast.

The places where these sheep are scattered vary. Lost sheep run anywhere for they have lost their sense of direction and have no shepherd to guide them. Satan can drive such wanderers wherever he may desire. Many he has driven into despair, discouragement, selfishness, unhappiness, grief, and hopelessness. Some are even tempted to end their own lives because they see no reason for continuing to live. They remember the happy days while they were in the flock of God, but now everything is so different. Surely the cloudy day can become dark. Oftentimes it becomes dark at noontide when it should be brightest. Many lives become dark and purposeless when they should be bright and hopeful.

Our God does not forsake His sheep in the dark and cloudy day. We are still living in the day of grace. Therefore He offers to "deliver them out of all places whither they have been scattered.'' We are sometimes tempted to believe our God loves only the sheep He has in the flock and not those who have wandered away. But the very word of God we are now considering makes it clear that He is after the scattered sheep. Notice, He does not say He will deliver them out of most places, but out of all places. No sheep has wandered so far away, that He does not stand ready to deliver it. He does not chide His sheep for being scattered, but rather comes to deliver them. "Deliver" is the opposite of "scatter." The one spells hope; the other spells doom. Our Lord comes to give hope to the hopeless.

Our God has promised to go for the sheep Himself. "I will seek out my sheep and will deliver them out of all places whither they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day." The angels are not entrusted with this mission, for our God will Himself do the task. He will be the Good Shepherd. His all-seeing eye can locate all lost souls. He will seek them out individually. Surely no wandering sheep can long resist such love. Listen to Christ, the Sheep Finder, as He cries out "I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd layeth down his life for the sheep. . . .And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and they shall become one flock, one shepherd'' (John 10:11,16).