Psalm 23 (23:1-2)
The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
Do you really trust God? The psalmist declares that he lacks nothing and that the shepherd is offering us rest and time to recover from the hecticness of life. Yet we often struggle with our unholy and selfish desires. The last addiction is our selves.
One day I went with my daughter and granddaughters to watch sheep shearing. The shepherd helped the sheep to sit quietly as sheep normally do and began shearing the sheep. This particular sheep began fighting the shepherd and as a result the sheep was slightly injured, and a little bit of blood trickled from her flesh. Nothing serious but a wound, nonetheless. It is spring time, in Oklahoma it can get hot so getting that wool off will feel good. Yet, the sheep fought the shepherd. The shepherd was shearing the wool for mutual benefit. In this case the sheep gets a cooler summer and the shepherd gets to sell the wool. How great is it when a whole community can benefit from the generosity of the Good Shepherd!
I wonder how often that the heart of the Good Shepherd was for my good and I fought Him and accused him of only thinking of Himself. I deny God when I fight against Him.
Luke 9: 59-61
He said to another man, “Follow me.” But he replied, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” Still another said, “I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say goodbye to my family.” Jesus replied, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.”
If we trust Jesus, we will make Him a priority. If we really believe that He wants the best for us we will make Him first in our hearts and minds. Check out the passage above in Luke 9. None of the requests are evil nor sinful in themselves. In fact, we might even categorize the delay as justifiable and even honorable. None of them said, “Hey Jesus before I follow you let me get in one last look at pornography, one more bank robbery or one last bender.” These things like burying the father, saying good bye to your family etc are all good things. The problem is that in choosing those things they were not putting the Shepherd first.
The shepherd grabbed another sheep and sheared her with no incident. Once the work was completed the sheep bounced out into the pasture light and full of joy. My friends, even though the work of God in our lives might seem challenging sometimes it is worth sitting still and trusting in the Good Shepherd.
