What a journey for those who know the Shepherd.
Don’t forget, we are not born sheep of the Shepherd
but we must become one by faith in Christ Jesus!
May our lives reflect the privilege of our journey with the Good Shepherd!
PSALM 23
1
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
2 He
makes me lie down in green pastures.
He leads
me beside still waters.
3 He restores
my soul.
He leads
me in paths of righteousness
for
his name's sake.
4 Even
though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I
will fear no evil,
for you
are with me;
your rod
and your staff,
they
comfort me.
5 You prepare
a table before me
in the
presence of my enemies;
you anoint
my head with oil;
my cup
overflows.
6 Surely goodness and
mercy shall follow me
all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the
house of the Lord forever.
The journey began with
becoming a sheep of the Good Shepherd, knowing that He will provide, the
necessary nourishment in the right environment, the right care for our broken
lives, the right control and protection in the trials of life even if we face
death, and the careful provision in the presence of all enemies. We now arrive at
the wonderful exclamation of the peaceful sheep.
David knew the Shepherd
and had leaned to trust and rest in His care.
When we go through life,
the most important aspect for our peaceful trust is rooted in the character and
the promises of the Shepherd. We cannot forget that, as sheep, we were loved when
we were unlovable, we were called when we were rebellious; we were given life
when we were dead, and we were given grace when we deserved eternal punishment.
David reminds us that
goodness and mercy follow us every day of our life. We need to stop and reflect
on the incredible truth included in these words. The psalmist says that he is
sure; he does not doubt at all what the Shepherd has done for him. He has
surrounded the loved sheep with goodness and mercy. God cannot do anything else
but be good.
God is good even when He
allows events that are hard. He is good when through trials He exposes our
idols of the heart and our sins. He is good when through discipline He brings
us back to himself. He is good when our enemies drive us in His arms. He is good
when He stretches us and allows us to pray and wait for His provision. He is
good when He surrounds us of wonderful believers. He is good because He has
given us His Word. He is good because he provides our daily bread. He is good
and His goodness follows us relentlessly. There is never a day where God’s
goodness has not followed us!
We become so blind and
even callous to the goodness of God. In our arrogance we want to substitute
ourselves in defining what is good for us. We are so prone at reacting positively
when we get what we want and to complain when we don’t. We must remember that
we are incapable of defining what is good for us, we better trust the Shepherd.
We begin our journey with
the Lord by grace. We came to him recognizing our total inability to do
anything good, incapable of changing our sin driven life, totally submerged by
the guilt of our sin, headed for eternal punishment. We receive, by faith,
unmerited grace in the person of Jesus Christ Who lived a sinless life and died
under the wrath of God to provide the free gift of salvation to all those that
trust only Christ for their salvation.
Every moment of our life
is a gift. God’s immense relentless grace that follows us every day, every
minute of our life is proof of it. There is not a breath we take that is not by
the grace of God. Grace surrounds us. How could we ever demand or expect
anything when we have received the grace of God. This grace should have a
transforming effect on every aspect of our life. Those who have understood grace
do not have any demands, they marvel at the goodness of God. Grace driven sheep
are also grace givers to others. Just stop and think about those people that
are causing you to loose peace and realize that God expects you to extend grace
to them.
I have used the word
relentless for goodness and grace because that is the meaning associated with
“follow” in the original language. We cannot deter it, we cannot avoid it, we
cannot deserve it, we are just the beneficiaries of our Shepherd Who has chosen
to shower us with His goodness and grace.
This is our life. Sheep
surrounded by the goodness and grace of their own Shepherd. All this culminates
in the overwhelming truth of our eternity in heaven with God. Our eternity in
heaven is certain. We will live in the house of the Lord forever. Forever!
Jesus said:
John 14:1-3
1“Let not your hearts be
troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. 2 In my
Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you
that I go to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare
a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself,
that where I am you may be also.
It is not a possibility or
a blind hope, but a certainty! We should live our days in light of eternity.
2 Corinthians 5:6-8
6 So we are always of good
courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from
the Lord, 7 for we walk by faith, not by sight. 8 Yes,
we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at
home with the Lord.
Dear friends do you see on
what high note this psalm ends? It is an explosion of grace and goodness:
eternity with the Shepherd we love and desire to see.
Our life on earth is
short, we live in a fallen world, and we are trapped, for a time, in bodies
that are decaying, battling our sin. We have two things that provide much peace
and hope, the assurance that God’s goodness and grace are relentlessly
surrounding us and the amazing promise that we will spend eternity with God.
It was a few weeks ago
that, as a family, we were singing with my mom the hymns that she wants us to
sing at her funeral. It was an amazing time as all the children and their
spouses sang with mom and dad a hymn that reminds us that Jesus conquered death
as He resurrected victorious. Only those who know the Shepherd can sing with
tearful joy hymns of praise when they know that their loved one has terminal
leukemia. Dear friends it makes a difference when you know the Shepherd!
1 Corinthians 15:53-58
When the perishable puts
on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to
pass the saying that is written:
“Death is swallowed up in
victory.”
“O death, where is your
victory?
O death, where is your
sting?”
The sting of death is sin,
and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives
us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Therefore, my beloved
brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the
Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.
What a journey for those who
know the Shepherd. Don’t forget, we are not born sheep of the Shepherd but we
must become one by faith in Christ Jesus! May our lives reflect the privilege
of our journey with the Good Shepherd!
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