THE LORD JESUS CHRIST IS OUR GOOD SHEPHERD

THE LORD JESUS CHRIST IS OUR GOOD SHEPHERD Psalm 23 is a Psalm that addresses all the needs and lack in our lives, and Jesus is the One Who can meet all that “lack.” Let’s look at Psalm 23 and see how Jesus is the Good Shepherd who fills full all of our “lack.” Psalm 23:1 shows us how our Good Shepherd will feed, guide, and shield us – if we follow Him we shall have no lack. In verse 2 & 3 He leads us to a place of peace, tranquility and rest after being depleted by our own waywardness, He will refresh and restore us and lead us back into the paths of righteousness (not for our earning it but) for His name’s sake –His name is Jehovah- Tsidkenue (our righteousness), what love and grace! In verse four the Good Shepherd is portrayed as the One Who continually walks with us, even through the shadows of death. We don’t have to be afraid of any evil because He is with us, and remember: “Greater is He that is within us than He that is in the world” (I Jn.4:4). He is with us even in the shadows of “death” to a dream; death of a loved one; death to a job that supplies our livelihood; death to a friendship; or our actual death, or anything that brings us into a place of shadows, depression or fear. Remember that our enemy, Satan, has come to steal, kill and destroy us, but Jesus has come to give us life and life more abundantly (Jn.10:10)! He has, and uses His rod of protection for anything Satan would devise to hurt or destroy us. He has His staff to guide us in the way we should go, the path of righteousness. He is The Light of the World, and if we look to that Light and walk in that Light, He will eventually bring us through and out of the “shadow of death,” and into His glorious Light, which will be a place of joy, peace and comfort. Verse 5 & 6 tells us that when we are His child, and one of His “sheep,” the Father prepares a banqueting table for us with wonderful plenty, while the enemy, who has been warring against us, spirit, soul, and body, will stand and watch us feasting on the goodness of God. “You anoint my head with oil.” In the Bible “oil” was used for the act of dedication to God; to mix with sacrificial items; marking God’s anointed; signifying richness, fruitfulness; putting on the face to make it shine to appear healthy. It was a symbol of the Holy Spirit Who comes into our lives when we give ourselves to God. He brings richness and fruitfulness into our lives, and brings a shining, joyful countenance to us. He enables us to be over-comers, and to do all things through His strength and ability. Our cup is running over with His grace, goodness, mercy and love! Surely all of these good things shall follow us all the days of our lives, and in His presence we will live! Everyone needs all of these things that are found in Jesus, so He is all we need. We need: Love – John 3:16. He is love. Love is character and He cannot be anything but loving. Just as Jesus is eternal, His love is eternal, it is unconditional! We cannot do more good things to make Him love us more; nor can we do any worse things to cause Him to love us less. He will always love us! We need a protector - He is our Protector - Ps.3:3! We need someone to lean on and sustain us - He is our Sustainer (the One we can lean on) – Ps.3:5! The whole world is crying for peace – peace in our world, heart and mind. He is our Peace – Isa.26:3! When we are weak and tired He is our Rest – Ps.16:8-9! When Satan with the circumstances of life have oppressed and depressed us -He is our Comforter – II Cor.1:3-4! When we are lost and wandering - He is our Seeker – Eze.34:16a; Luke 19:10! We are desperately in need of help - He is our Helper – Ps.33:20! We want and seek truth -He is The Truth – Jn.14:17! We want and need a true friend who will be there for us. Someone who knows us, yet loves us - He is our intimate Friend - Prov.18:24; Jn.15:14; Ps.139:1-18! When we are bound by addictive habits of the body and of the mind - He is our Deliverer – Ps.18:2! When we don’t know which decision to make or which path to follow - He is our Guide and Counselor – Jn.16:13; Isa.9:6! When we are in the “pigpen” of life and come to Him for cleansing, He will clean us up and give us His clean Robe of Righteous.” - He is our Righteousness – I Jn.1:9: Rom.3:21-24! What more, or who else could we want to satisfy our deepest needs and longings? Only the Lord Jesus Christ is our Good Shepherd! He is all we need or want!!

Waiting Takes Some Serious Doing

“Even youths shall faint and be weary, and selected young men shall feebly stumble and fall exhausted; but those who wait for the Lord (who expect, look for, and hope in Him) shall change and renew their strength and power; they shall lift their wings and mount up (close to God) as eagles mount up to the sun; they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint or become tired.” (Isaiah 40:30-31 Amp.) This kind of waiting is not sitting down and folding our hands and being inactive but waiting on God to answer our prayers involves some “serious doing” on our part. Sounds like an oxymoron? The Hebrew word for “wait” in our text is “qavah,” a prime root which means, “To bind together by twisting; (fig.) to expect – gather together, look, patiently wait (for, on, upon).” This definition of “wait” spells out the “serious doings” of waiting upon the Lord. So, what are they? First to wait and expect Him to act on our prayers, we must to come into His presence with clean hands and a pure heart (Ps.24:4). He will not hear our prayers if we come to Him soiled with sin (Ps.66:18). We must confess our sins, and know that He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (IJn.1:9). Coming into His presence with clean hands and a pure hear is our first “serious doing” to be ready to wait on Him. After becoming clean we should praise God. Having a grateful heart moves the heart of God. Thank Him “in” everything (I Thess.5:18). Right in the middle of your problem give Him thanks for being your problem solver; thanks for being with you in your problem, thanks that He knows the answer, He is in control and in His time He will make everything beautiful (Eccl.3:11). Also thank Him “for” the problem (Eph.5:20). Thank Him for how He is teaching you with your problem - that you are learning to trust Him for a successful solution, and how your faith could not grow without problems. Andrae’ Crouch’s song, “Through It All,” says it all: I've had many tears and sorrows, I've had questions for tomorrow, There've been times I didn't know right from wrong; But in every situation God gave blessed consolation that my trials Come to only make me strong. I thank God for the mountains, And I thank Him for the valleys, I thank Him for the storms He brought me through; For if I'd never had a problem I wouldn't know that He could solve them, I'd never know what fait in God could do. Chorus: Through it all, Through it all, I've learned to trust in Jesus, I've learned to trust in God. Through it all, Through it all, I've learned to depend upon His Word! Next, we must “gather together” all of our desires, dreams, aspirations, and all we are, and commit our all to the One Who thoroughly knows us, Who knows what is best for us, Who knows every circumstance that must take place before we are ready to “mount up with wings; to run and not be weary and to walk and not faint.” Committing our all to Him is hard, because it means committing our will and our self-centeredness to God in exchange for His wisdom, His will and His Righteousness. (This is part of the Great Exchange I wrote about in another blog, December 26, 2008). More “serious doing” while waiting on the Lord is faith-filled praying. Not just presenting our petitions and going our way and hoping God heard us and will answer just the way we want it answered. But this is the part of “binding together” by twisting our will and our way of doing it to the One Who knows what is best and has the power to answer our prayers. When we have faith in, and trust our prayers to Him and His promises, we shall become bonded together with Him “Who is able to do abundantly, above all we could ask, hope or imagine” (Eph.3:20). His will becomes our will, and we can patiently wait for His answers. To come near to Him We trust our all to Him, and “We must know that God exists, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. Without faith it is impossible to please God” (Heb.11:6). Having rewarding faith is being able to “Cast all of our care, your anxieties, all your worries and all your concerns on Him, for He cares for you affectionately and cares about you watchfully” (I Pet.5:7 Amp.). Until we come to this position of faith, we are not truly waiting on Him to answer our prayers. God is not as man that He should, or would lie, but what He says, He will do. All his promises are true – “Yes and Amen in Jesus” (II Cor.1:20). So when we come with clean hands and a pure heart, submitting our all to Him and fitting into His plan, and pray in faith believing He is God and will reward our faith with a “yes and amen” to His promises (Heb.12:1-3), then our waiting is rewarded by our prayers being answered, our strength being renewed, and we will be “lifted on wings as eagles; we will run and not be weary; and we shall walk and not faint or become tired.”

The Twenty Third Psalm (As I Enjoy It)

I imagine if you were to ask everyone who was familiar with the Bible, “What is your favorite Psalm” the large majority would say the 23rd Psalm. Whenever I stop to meditate on it, it thrills my heart to drink in the love of the Good Shepherd for those of us who love Him. It says to me: First verse: “Because the Lord is my Shepherd I shall not want or lack anything.” The Good shepherd provides perfectly everything His sheep would need (and I am one of His sheep). As one of His sheep, I need to know all of my needs will eternally be met. Because He is eternal, and He will never change, He will eternally meet my needs, if I trust Him. Love is something all of us want and need. As one of His sheep, God, the Father, loves us with an everlasting love (Ps.100:5), and John 15:13 tells us, “No one has greater love than to lay down His own life for His friends.” And John 3:16 tells us, “For God so dearly loved and prized the world that He even gave up His only begotten (unique) Son that whoever believes and trusts in, clings to, and relies on His shall not perish and be lost but have eternal life.” No matter what we do, nor how far away from Him we may run, His unconditional love will follow us – always wooing and drawing us back. If we are one of His sheep we cannot withstand His patient and pursuing love, but must fall at His feet for forgiveness, cleansing & complete restoration (I Jn.1:9) The Good Shepherd is our protector (spirit, soul and body), because we have made Him our refuge (Ps.91). He brings us into the fold and becomes the “door” so nothing that would hurt or destroy could come in or touch us. Jesus tells us in John 10:9, “I am the Door; anyone who enters in through Me will be saved (will live). He will come in and he will go out freely, and will find pasture.” He is our Sustainer (Ps.3:5), we can “lean on” Him, and when we are down He will “lift us up.” We all desire, and are looking for peace. The Psalmist tells us in Psalm 119:165, “Great peace have they who love your law; nothing shall offend them or make them stumble,” and in Psalm 3:1&2 David is instructing his son, “My Son, forget not my law or teaching, but let your heart keep my commandments; for length of days and years of a life worth living and tranquility (inward and outward and continuing to old age till death), these shall they add to you.” Peace is one of the fruits of the Spirit (Gal.5:22-23). When we become one of his sheep, the Holy Spirit comes to live within us, with all of His fruit: love, joy, peace, an even temper, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness (humility), and self-control). How do we as His sheep keep peace of mind and heart? Isaiah 26:3 has the answer: “You will guard him and keep him in perfect peace whose mind (both its inclination and its character) is stayed on You.” “Whatever is true, whatever is worthy reverence and is honorable and seemly, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely and lovable, whatever is kind and winsome and gracious, if there is any virtue and excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think on and fix your mind on them” (Phil.4:8). When we become so harried with life that our mind and body demands rest, the Good Shepherd makes us “lie down in fresh, tender, green pastures; He leads us beside the still and restful waters, He refreshes and restores our souls” (Ps.23:2-3a). At the end when time shall be no more, “the Lamb Who is in the midst of the throne will be their Shepherd, and he will guide them to the springs of the waters of life; and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes” (Rev.7:17). God gives us a promise of rest in Isaiah 30:15, “For thus says the Lord, the Holy One of Israel; ‘In returning to Me and resting in Me you shall be saved; in quietness and in trusting confidence shall be your strength.’” God gave another promise in Jeremiah 6:16, Thus says the Lord: Stand by the roads and look; and ask for the eternal paths, where the good, old way is; then walk in it and you will find rest for your souls.” We all need and want a comforter to come along-side and bring comfort to our minds and heart through His promises from His Word The Good Shepherd is the Wonderful Comforter to those who are “discomforted,” and seek His face. Second Corinthians 1:3-4 tells us that the Lord Jesus Christ and the Father of pity and mercy and the God Who is the Source of every comfort and encouragement, Who comforts us in every trouble (calamity or affliction), so that we may also be able to comfort those who are in any kind of trouble or distress, with the comfort with which we ourselves are consoled and encouraged by God. Before Jesus went back to heaven He promised believers another Comforter (Counselor, Helper, Intercessor, Advocate, Strengthener, Standby), the Holy Spirit, Whom the Father will send in My place, to represent Me and act on My behalf. He will teach you all things.” He is now ready for you to pour out your heart to Him with all your grief, pain, or anything causing discomfort. When we trust Him, He will bring wonderful comfort as He refreshes and restores our lives (our very selves); He leads us in the paths of righteousness (uprightness and right standing with Him - not for my earning it, but) for His name’s Sake (Ps.23:3). Sheep are very helpless creatures, just as we are (although we think we are very self-sufficient). We need help, and at times want help. When a sheep accidentally gets on his back he cannot right itself because of the rather square shape of his body if his fleece is thick. We can become affluent, strong, healthy and think we have need of nothing, when all the time we are spiritually neither cold or hot, we are wretched, poor, pitiable, blind and naked Therefore I counsel you to purchase from Me gold refined and tested by fire, that you may be truly wealthy, and white clothes to clothe you and to keep the shame of your nudity from being seen, and salve to put on your eyes, that you may see. (Rev.3:15-18). Good Shepherd, Help us! Sheep need to know the truth about their shepherd, their enemy and where the fold is. We also need to know the Truth about the Good Shepherd – “He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and no man comes to the Father but by Him” (John 14:6). The truth is there is no other way to be saved from our sins but by the blood of Jesus Christ. The Truth is He is our All in All – He is the Word (Jn.1:1); He is the Light of Life (Jn.1:4); He is the Living Bread of Life (Jn.6:51); He is the Living Water (Jn.4:37). The truth is that all the books in the world could not contain all the Truth about Jesus Christ, the Son of God and the Savior of the world (Jn.21:25). We, as sheep, will all someday “walk through the valley of the shadow of death, but if we know Him we have nothing to fear for He will be with us; His rod and His staff will comfort us. We know if we are His sheep He will protect us and guide us. His rod is to protect us, for Shepherd’s would carry a long, heavy, club-like stick to ward off predators. Satan is our predator waiting and enticing us to follow him in paths we should not go, where he can steal, kill and destroy us - our peace, joy, reputation, etc. and fellowship with the Good Shepherd. Sometimes God has to use the rod of hard discipline to bring us back. Sometimes it is a debilitating illness; sometimes a loss of friendship; sometimes a loss of income; or sometimes even alienation from loved ones. We should be thankful for the rod of suffering that our Good Shepherd used to rescue us from Satan’s snares. Our Good Shepherd also uses a staff, which was a long stick, sometimes with a crook at the end used to pull the wandering into wrongful paths so Satan can’t take advantage of our vulnerability. Thank You, Jesus, for your staff! (Ps.23:4). The Good Shepherd prepares a table (food, drink, & plenty) before us in the presence of our enemies (Ps.23:5). What an unusual picture this verse paints. I see it as the Good Shepherd has led us into a safe haven where our enemy cannot come, because He is the “door” and stands ever ready to protect us, and has us seated at His banqueting table, filled with plenty of good food and drink to nourish, encourage and strengthen us against the hardships of life. Once again, I see this banquet as our feasting on God’s Word (the Bread of Life), and being encouraged and strengthened by His fellowship with us, all the while, our “enemy” has to stand outside and cannot come in. How rich and good to feast on God’s Word. It shows us the way we should go – It is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path (Ps.119:105). Proverbs 4:20-22 tells us to,“attend to My words; consent and submit to My ways, let them not depart from your sight; keep them in the center of your heart. For they are life to those who find them and health to all their flesh.” Continuing in verse 5, “You anoint my head with oil.” My commentary tells me it was customary in hot climates (& without air conditioning) to anoint the body with oil to protect it from excessive perspiration and dehydration. When mixed with perfume, this oil imparted a delightfully refreshing and invigorating sensation. Athletes anointed their bodies as a manner of course before running a race. As the body, therefore, anointed with oil was refreshed, invigorated and better fitted for action, so the Lord would anoint His “sheep” with the Holy Spirit, Whom oil symbolizes, to fit them to engage more freely in his service and run in the way He directs – in heavenly fellowship with Him. Our “cup” runs over with joy and love for the Good Shepherd Who is so loving and attentive to our needs and wants. Only goodness, mercy and unfailing love shall follow me all the days of my life, and the length of my days the house of the Lord (His presence) shall be my dwelling place (Ps.23:6). If we have Jesus as our Good Shepherd what more could we want?