For Day 3 of our 2019 Wrapped plan, we asked our website geniuses to discover our most talked about day within the SRT community. It was from our digital reading plan, Psalms of Rest. Today’s reading is a psalm of David, reminding us of the Lord’s provision and care for His people.
Psalms of Rest Day 1 | The Lord Is My Shepherd
Psalm 23 speaks to my heart—green pastures, quiet waters, right paths. I am an outdoorsy person by nature. I’d much rather get lost in the woods, alone with my thoughts, the trees, and the breeze, than be in any city. So, as I read these familiar verses, I want to go outside, to be witness to the goodness and beauty of the natural world. It also occurs to me that I have something in common with sheep—we can both get lost without hardly trying.
Some years ago, I read about a Merino sheep in New Zealand named Shrek. He had wandered away from his flock and his shepherd and gotten lost. For six years, he lived in nearby caves, eating what he could find and avoiding the shearer’s blade. When Shrek was finally found, his wool weighed sixty pounds, and the raw weight of twenty men’s suits on his back was threatening his life. He had trouble walking, and his breathing was labored. He needed his shepherd. So do we.
Shepherds take care of sheep—plural—but in this psalm, the relationship is between one sheep and his Shepherd. It’s personal, much more intimate. “The LORD is my shepherd” (v.1, emphasis mine). These words are from David, but I can’t help but read them as my own. I think we were meant to, each one of us. The Lord is my Shepherd. He guides me, provides for me, protects me from my enemies.
I don’t need to worry. “I have what I need” (v.1). I don’t need to struggle or strive. “He lets me lie down in green pastures” (v.2). Weariness does not have the final say. “He renews my life.” And I won’t ever get lost. (Not really, anyway.) “He leads me along the right paths for his name’s sake” (v.3). It is only because the Shepherd is so good that I can be still and rest, that I can have true peace.
I could be happy for eternity being a beloved lamb of the Good Shepherd, but Psalm 23 doesn’t leave us as sheep. A shift occurs in verse 5. David begins to address God directly—the song becomes a prayer of thanksgiving. Not only that, but the pastoral imagery is replaced by a banquet scene. You and I have become honored guests of the King.
The table is set, and though my enemies might rage just outside, none of that matters (v.5). I am in the house of my Maker, the One who knows me and loves me better than anyone else. But the best part? I’m not just a guest. I get to stay in His presence forever—”as long as I live” (v.6), though the Hebrew phrase that’s been translated doesn’t limit this time to my natural lifespan. It has all come full circle—”I have what I need,” because I have the One I was created to know and love.
As the content director for She Reads Truth, He Reads Truth, and Kids Read Truth, John Greco has the best job in the world. He wakes up every morning hardly believing he actually gets paid to study Scripture and write about it. He is the author of three books, Gospel Here and Now: Your Life in the Story of God, Manger King: Meditations on Christmas and the Gospel of Hope, and Broken Vows: Divorce and the Goodness of God. John and his wife, Laurin, live south of Nashville, where they daily wrangle their three small boys and dream of someday being the ones who get to take all the naps.
This is exactly what I needed this morning! “He leads me along the right paths for his name’s sake.” These verses are such a comfort to me! Such a good promise to remind myself as we start the new year!
Happy new year ladies!
2019 was a rough year for my family. I leaned on these verses throughout the year. I’m sure 2020 will have it’s on challenges and heartaches and we will need these verses again. I’m glad to begin the year with them.
Happy is that people, that is in such a case: yea, happy is that people , whose God is the LORD. PSALM 144:15 The Lord is my Shepherd , therefore my every need is met. To be happy is to have Him as your Shepherd , providing, protecting and leading us in the year to come.
Ashley P. – When I think about your work friend, I am reminded of a situation where someone I love knowingly entered into a relationship with someone he knew did not have the same type of relationship with God. We talked honestly, and he set some boundaries. It ended painfully. His words were, “You were right.” My response was, “I didn’t want to be right.” But, God’s Word is truth. He doesn’t set boundaries or put rules before us to control us, it is because He loves us and knows what is best. I pray, in God ordained opportunities, you will be a presence of Jesus’ love towards your friend. Jesus loves her. May she come to him.
Also, I read your post about 2019. I have a friend, now in her early 60s…I remember a time from about 35-40 where she really struggled. She is a wonderful lady. She would make a great wife and mother and her heart desired children of her own. She felt her clock ticking, and all of her friends were married with families, so she dated steadily a guy who was “okay.” She considered “settling.” I watched her battle, loved and prayed for her during the time. Finally she broke it off. She chose God. She is still single. She is a great lover of people. She has the time and stamina to reach out to others for Christ. I respect her tremendously and she is an amazing woman.
I work with a girl who just turned 30, she is a bridesmaid often as she has friends, but herself is not dating anyone. She experiences life differently than I do. She loves Jesus and follows Him, reaching people I cannot.
I also work with a godly man in his 30s who longs to be married.
I guess I would encourage you, like I encourage them. Jesus Christ loves you and has a plan for your life. You are his precious and beautiful creation, allowing Him to guide, listening, obeying, loving. You are a witness for Him.
Psalm 23…may the Lord be your shepherd, all you need. In His fullness, may your 2020 be covered, blessed and overflowing. May He hold your heart’s desires and guide you for His ways are good, merciful, and true. You are Christ’s! He loves you.
Thank you for your encouragement and for your kindness in sharing truth with me. I know you are right. I will keep loving her with the love of Jesus, even when it’s painful. He loves her so.
Also, I struggle with knowing how much to talk with others when I see them walking down a destructive path; there are a couple of sisters in Christ who have just within the last week told me about choices they’re making that are clearly outside of God’s boundaries. How do you determine what to say, how much to say? I fear them thinking I’m judging them and having them pull away, so I tend to speak very gently. With one friend, I was more open and shared how unwise it was, and she simply told me she’s going to make her own decisions. I backed down and continue to pray, but I don’t know whether I ought to bring it up again or let it be. I fear that my silence on the issue is perceived as my approval, when in reality I see huge red flags and am worried about them both.
Thank you also for sharing about those you know who are single and your encouragement. The Lord has really been doing a work in my heart over the past year, and it’s really just been in recent days that I’ve felt him revealing to me my tight-fistedness with my expectations and plans. He’s been strongly, lovingly calling me to surrender to his plans and is leading me beside cool waters and restoring my soul. I even deleted my online-dating profiles the other day once I realized I was clinging to them, thinking they gave me some control. I don’t want to be still single in my 60s, but if I am, I trust (and pray for more trust!) that it’s part of God’s plan and want to be a light for Jesus like your friend. ❤️
Ashley P and Angie you are both such an encouragement to me!!!! I don’t know where your original post is Ashley, to know more, but I can only assume you are a great friend, concerned for others and wanting to lower them thru the roof to meet Jesus! I simply want to say I know it’s hard AND worth it and you are seen and heard and appear to be doing life so gently. All that to say I am in the same boat on all fronts and watching my sister in a heartbreaking abusive marriage with a new baby and my heart is broken that God hasn’t seemed to intervene and I’m reminded all the more to stay single and not to settle because the consequences could be dire and my Shepherd loves us through all of this! Stay the course and Angie thank you for lifting us up a little closer to Him!
I mentioned this the other day, but my church did an 8 part series on Psalm 23. The pastor said his goal was for everyone to fall more in love with Jesus. Here is a link to the first message: https://livestream.com/accounts/15306138/events/8801324
If you want to hear the rest, just go to http://www.maog.org and hit the listen live. Then go down to archives. You can scroll to listen to the other messages. It was a good series. He also used a book written by a shepherd. The author shows how we are like sheep in so many ways and how we need The Shepherd.
On day 1 of this study I prayed back Psalm 23 to the Lord in my post. He draws me again.
“The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want.” (Not that He gives me everything) HE IS everything I need.
I do not want because I am with Him, and He full-fills my soul.
Because my deepest “want” is Him, and He is with me…
I am able to rest,
I am still,
restored,
and follow good paths with Him.
Darkness will come, as night follows day, because I am not alone, because He is with me, I will not be afraid.
I am safe and protected in Him.
I sit at His table.
He anoints my head with oil
I am full, I am overflowing.
His goodness, mercy, love infused
forever with Him, I will dwell.
Truth for 2020 – The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want.
Happy NEW Year SRT sisters! You have all been a blessing. Have a great year with the Lord forefront and center.