Yahweh My Shepherd - February 15 Readings: Leviticus 1-2, Matthew 27:1–14, Psalms 23, Proverbs 4:24–25

Links to February 15 Readings: Leviticus 1-2, Matthew 27:1–14, Psalms 23, Proverbs 4:24–25

It is a pretty amazing array of promises given in Psalm 23. 

I will have everything I need. Sometimes I wish it said that God would give me everything I want, but that would leave God serving my wishes instead of me serving his will! But I can know that everything I need, truly need, will be provided by his hand of grace and power. 

In this harsh and difficult world, he will lead me to green pastures where my soul can be fed, to quiet waters that the river of living water may flow and nourish my parched spirit. He will renew me daily from the inside out that I may serve him regardless of what life throws at me. 

He will lead me on the right paths, the roads that he desires me to walk. These paths will not always be easy or fun, but they are his paths and he will be my guide every day. 

And even if one of those paths leads through a valley of deep darkness, I need fear no evil. Yes, death can touch me or my family; sickness, want, peril, hardship, all of these can be found in the valleys of life. But when I walk through those valleys, as painful as they may be, I need not fear because of the one promise God consistently gives to his people doing his will. "I will be with you!" His rod and staff will guide and comfort me as a sheep. 

When you walk on the path of God, enemies will surround you. That is the way it is. But in the middle of the attacks, smack dab in the center of the assaults of evil on your life, he will prepare a feast for you. A feast of joy and power and victory and hope and sustaining grace. Our cup will overflow with the goodness of God. 

And this does not have to stop as long as we live. When David talked about dwelling in the House of The Lord forever, he was not talking about heaven, though we often mistakenly apply it that way. He was talking about the joy of being in God's presence (at the Temple where God's Holy of Holies was) every day of his life. The joy of heaven will be that we will be with Jesus forever, in his presence face to face. But we need not wait for heaven to experience God's presence. He is with us, near us, in us daily and we can walk in joyful intimacy with him. 

All of that is ours!  But there is a condition that must be met for this psalm to be a promise. Psalm 23 is conditional. 

"The Lord is my shepherd."  

It is only those who walk through lives submissive to the Shepherd of our souls who can claim and experience these promises. Yes, God is still good even when we are rebellious - way better than we deserve. But if we wish the promises of this psalm to be ours, then we must not only have faith in Jesus Christ, but walk obediently as his sheep.

But remember, my friend. When The Lord is your shepherd, you SHALL NOT WANT!

Father, you are a better shepherd than I am a sheep. I wander and I am wayward. But I thank you for being a Good Shepherd to me every day. May I walk in obedience to you, in submission to your Lordship that I may experience every blessing that comes to your sheep!