The Rancher Who Walked the Flood Line

In March 2019, when the Missouri River surged over its banks near Craig, Missouri, rancher Dave Hogeland lost track of forty-three head of cattle. Neighbors told him to file the insurance claim and move on. Instead, Dave spent eleven days wading through flooded timber and collapsed fencelines, calling out to animals stranded on shrinking patches of high ground. He carried salt blocks on his back to lure the frightened ones close. He treated gashed legs with veterinary wrap right there in the mud. One by one, he brought them home — even a lame heifer trapped in a ravine that bigger, stronger cattle had shoved aside in their panic to reach dry ground.

That is the heart of Ezekiel 34. The Lord declares, "I Myself will search for My sheep and look after them." This is not a God who delegates rescue. El Roi — the God Who Sees — wades into the wreckage personally. He binds the injured. He strengthens the weak. And He notices something else: the fat sheep that shoved the thin ones away from the water, the strong ones that trampled the pasture and muddied the stream for everyone else.

God does not simply rescue. He also judges between sheep and sheep, holding accountable those who used their strength to exploit rather than protect.

The good news of this passage is stubbornly personal. The Almighty does not send a memo. He comes Himself, calling your name across the floodwater.