THIS IS OUR LIFE: WE ARE
SHEEP, SURROUNDED BY THE GOODNESS AND GRACE OF OUR OWN 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 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 learned to trust and rest in His care.
As we go through life, the
most important focus points for our peaceful trust are 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 lives. The psalmist says that he
is sure about this truth; he does not doubt at all what the Shepherd has done
for him. He has surrounded His beloved sheep with goodness and mercy. God
cannot be anything else but good.
God is always good to us,
even when He allows events that are hard to bear. He is good when, through
trials, He exposes to us the idols of our hearts, and our sins. He is good when,
through discipline, He brings us back to Himself. He is good when our enemies
drive us into His arms. He is good when He stretches our faith, allow us to
pray and wait for His provision. He is good when He surrounds us with fellow
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 can become blind, and
even callous, to the goodness of God. In our arrogance, we want to be the ones
who define what is good for us. We are prone to react positively when we get
what we want, but to complain when we don’t. We must remember that we are
incapable of defining what is good for us; we had 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 lives, totally submerged in
the guilt of our sin, and 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 who
will trust in Christ alone 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. Every breath we take is possible only by the
grace of God. Grace surrounds us. How could we ever demand or expect anything, when
we have received such grace from God? This grace should have a transforming
effect on every aspect of our life. Those who have understood grace do not make
any demands; instead, they marvel at the goodness of God. Grace-driven sheep
are also grace-givers to others. Stop for a moment to think about those people who
are causing you to lose peace, and realize that God expects you to extend grace
to them.
I have used the word ‘relentless’
to describe 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, for we are just the beneficiaries of our Shepherd, Who has
chosen to shower us with His goodness and grace.
This is our life: we are sheep,
surrounded by the goodness and grace of our 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
“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in
God; believe also in me. 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? 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.
That promised place is not
merely a possibility or a blind hope, but a certainty! We should live our days
in light of eternity.
2 Corinthians 5:6-8
So we are always of good courage. We know
that while we are at home in the body we are away from the
Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight. 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 a high note this psalm ends? It is with 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, as we are battling our sin. But we may claim two truths 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.
When my mother was
terminally ill, the whole family was with her and together we all sang the
hymns she had chosen for her funeral. One of those reminded us that Jesus has conquered
death by His victorious resurrection. Only those who know the Shepherd can sing
hymns of praise with tearful joy, even while they know that their loved one will
soon be absent from the family circle. Dear friends, it truly 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 blessed journey life
is for those who know the Shepherd. Don’t forget, we are not born as 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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