"The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters. He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You have anointed my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever."
Sunday, March 30, 2008
A Psalm by David
I cannot share all that is in my heart tonight; much too personal this time. But this is what the Lord brought to mind and heart, knowing how much each word would mean to me. I expect each person reading this has heard it more times than they can count. Let me challenge you to meditate on it phrase by phrase, asking the Lord to show you something fresh. God bless you.
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"I fear no evil, for You are with me".
Honestly Tina, I have no ideas about a lot of the "hows" and "whys" of life in light of my human inability to grasp God's sovereignty.
Some people seems to be able to track every shut door and open window and be able to attribute such levers and strings being pulled to God as if he is manipulating our world around for each of our individual best interest.
But I honestly have no such confidence in my ability to know how God chooses to manipulate outward circumstances. I am not even sure this is what God in our lives ultimately means.
I love the the line in this Psalm about God being "with me". The ultimate expression of this is in the incarnation of Jesus Christ- Immanuel "God with us". and of course Jesus is our Shepherd.
Jesus' claim to be the "Good Shepherd" was a direct reference to the prophets rebuke in the OT of "the shepherds of Israel" who were failing to live up to what shepherds should be and were not acting justly to those they were charged to care for. These shepherds were not meeting the very real and human needs of their people and were actually abusing their power over them for their own gain.
The prophets tell us that God "fired" those shepherds and said the HE would be their shepherd. It is no wonder then that when Jesus came on the scene and claimed to be the "Good Shepherd" the Jews knew hew was referring to himself as GOD. The told him shortly after this claim of being the Good Shepherd that they were condemning him because he being a man was making himself out to be God.
How scandalous was it for a man to claim to be God as if God would take the shape of humanity; yet that is exactly the scandal of the incarnation.
"God with us", he meets us in humanity- leading us near quiet waters, restoring our soul, guiding us on the path of righteousness and justice toward others in the world we live in; all within the reality of living under the "shadow of death". Yes God meets us in our humanity, even the in the underside of it that includes the reality of sin and death. But Jesus met this head on too, he meets us in death and then turns it all upside down by making it a way to new life.
Tina, I have no idea what is going on in your life in this moment, and even if I did I could not even guess what purposes might be intended for your circumstances- if there are any at all. But I do know that God is with us, even in both the joy and trials of our own humanity and everyday lives.
Peace,
James
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