After reading 1 Samuel 16 yesterday and the choosing of David as Israel’s king, I started thinking about shepherds. The LORD often referred to Himself as shepherding His people Israel. David in his beautiful Psalm 23 gives us a glimpse of that.
“The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I lack. He lets me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters. He renews my life; He leads me along the right paths for His name’s sake.” [v 1-3 HCSB]
Right about now, in the second half of 2020, entering the sixth month of the world-wide virus-and-fear pandemic, I am longing for some green pastures and quiet waters. I need personal renewal. I need to know that I am on the “right path for His name’s sake” as a Christian and as a pastor.
The overabundance of problems and threats to our personal lives, personal freedoms, religious freedoms, alongside the social restrictions, and financial burdens wear down. We are assaulted on every side, told what we can or cannot do, whether we can meet, sing, work, or play. What resources we may have built up have probably long since dissipated. We are left weary, confused, and divided.
But the LORD is our Shepherd and our Shepherd knows when the sheep are weary, and He takes them to green pastures beside quiet streams to rest and renew. For us, beloved, as Christians that means we turn once again to the Scriptures to seek the promises of God. We allow God’s Spirit to lead us in prayer and meditation. We make room in our lives for some quiet time to just listen to the Voice of the LORD. We praise and worship with music, singing our thanksgiving to Him.
I need that. So, of course, I am going to take you along with me over the next couple weeks. Together, in God’s Word, in praise and worship with music, I invite you to those green pastures and quiet streams our Shepherd provides.