Walking with the Good Shepherd, pt 1

In recent weeks, ever since I saw a picture on my friends blog, the Spirit has given me encounters with the world famous 23rd Psalm. So, I decided to camp there for a couple weeks. There were no earth shattering truths that I learned, but rather gentle reminders of my God and His character and desires for me as His sheep. So, I thought I would record some things about which He reminded me.

Verse 1, "The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want." First off, I read that "the LORD" is my shepherd. ok, yeah that seems kind of a duh statement, but think about it. In our English translation, whenever you see LORD in all caps, that is literally the Hebrew, YHWH, or in Latin Jehovah. Big deal, so what? It is a big deal. That is God's covenant name; it is how God describes himself in Exodus when he identifies Himself to Moses at the burning bush- "I AM." Now, for you theologians, this may be old news for you, but I have tremendous comfort knowing that my shepherd is constant, never-changing, never affected by world markets or political changes. That is a ground I can built my house on! This is the God who ALWAYS keeps His promises. That is who is my Shepherd.

Second, another entry from Captain Obvious, but He is "MY" shepherd. God, the great I AM, is a personal God. Sorry to disappoint all you deists out there, but God wants to be our personal Shepherd!

Third, He is my SHEPHERD. Now, this may be weird language to us here in the 21st century, but written by a guy who hung out a lot with sheep, this is a very intentional word choice here as it best communicates who we are. Isaiah, describes our role in this, "All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way;..." (53:6) Our tendency is to go astray, and to go our own way. This tendency has done nothing for me but cause destruction in my life and hurt those around me. And yet, the Good Shepherd, who has my best in mind, is the one Who guides me.

"I shall not want..." It is out of the supply from the Good Shepherd, according to His riches in glory, we shall always have what we need. Don't misread this, it isn't saying we always get what we want, but rather, we will lack nothing. The next verse, describes what that is...

Today, meditate on this as I have the past couple weeks, it will refresh you! More later, maybe tomorrow if my schedule allows. Have a great day with the Good Shepherd.