10 “Thus says the Lord, ‘Yet again there will be heard in this place, of which you say, “It is a waste, without man and without beast,” that is, in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem that are desolate, without man and without inhabitant and without beast, 11 the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the voice of those who say,
“Give thanks to the Lord of hosts,
For the Lord is good,
For His lovingkindness is everlasting”;and of those who bring a thank offering into the house of the Lord. For I will restore the [e]fortunes of the land as they were at first,’ says the Lord.
12 “Thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘There will again be in this place which is waste, without man or beast, and in all its cities, a [f]habitation of shepherds who rest their flocks. 13 In the cities of the hill country, in the cities of the lowland, in the cities of the Negev, in the land of Benjamin, in the environs of Jerusalem and in the cities of Judah, the flocks will again pass under the hands of the one who numbers them,’ says the Lord.
As we hear a similar refrain (continued from earlier in the chapter), that God will restore Judah and Israel, there are a few important nuggets here. The first comes in right away, as they said this place (Judah and Jerusalem) is desolate, uninhabited. But God says there will be joy and gladness, even bride and bridegroom, among others…
It reminds me of an old song that was based on the previous chapter, that says, “Nothing is too difficult for You (God)”. That is an important, and ironically difficult, thing for us to remember. Jesus said something similar (Matt. 19, Mark 10, Luke 18) about a rich man being saved, but truthfully it applies to everyone, “With people this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
Which leads into some more important things here. When God describes their restoration, He doesn’t emphasize that they will be filthy rich, or build huge houses and palaces, or anything like that. For some crazy reason, God focuses on the shepherds in vv. 12-13. Okay, it’s not crazy, and maybe He’s just looking at literal shepherds… But I rather think God was trying to remind us of something when He said, “the flocks will pass under the hands of the one who numbers them.”
More specifically, that He was their shepherd, and is our shepherd, and we are under His hand, or under His care and protection. These sheep in v. 12 aren’t running around trying to escape predators or searching desperately for water or food. No, they were resting under the protection and provision of the shepherd. And then we have one more thing that God is emphasizing by not describing their wealth.
The evidence of restoration is that the people give thanks. Maybe that seems small, but they could be walking around patting each other on the back and saying, “Wow, look what we did here, nothing is too big for us!” Instead, when the people are restored, they rightly recognize that God is their source, and they owe Him thanks. Sometimes, we might think we don’t have anything to be thankful for, but there is, at the very least (and not very small), one huge thing for which we give thanks.
That is, the most impossible thing of all, which Jesus said is indeed literally impossible for people, and that is our salvation. Only God could accomplish it, and only Jesus could pay the price, and He did. So give Him thanks, and start there, thank Him for the love and grace and faithfulness that compelled Him to take our place, to die our death, so that what was once impossible is now given freely by His grace. And thank Him for all the things we so easily take for granted, big or small, it all comes from our Father in Heaven.