Inspired by Psalm 23
“The Lord is my
shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me
to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths
of righteousness for His name’s sake.”
Psalm 23:1-3 (New King James Version)
The Lord, our shepherd who guards us and guides us, knows
what it is to be tired, knows our need to be fed. The Lord feeds us and nourishes us, sustains
our bodies and our spirits, and makes us whole.
There is nothing we need that the Lord doesn’t provide, and the Lord
provides everything that we need.
Anything we feel we’re being denied is because we’re moving away from
the shepherd, trying to find our own way as helpless sheep in a fallen world,
and we get angry when the world doesn’t do what we want it to. But the shepherd does not leave us to go
astray, and is always nearby, ready to guide us back to where we should be,
back to the place where the dangers are not overwhelming, back to where we’re
safely under the careful and caring eye of the shepherd, who will see to all
our needs.
All this the shepherd does not because we’re exceptionally
valuable in and of ourselves, but because the Lord has declared us
valuable. And it’s for his own sake,
because he has chosen to love us and to care for us, that he continues to
nourish and sustain us, and guide us through this fallen and often dangerous
world. As John’s gospel tells us, Jesus
is the good shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep. He has chosen to make his life with his
flock, and because he cares for them so much, he knows them as his own, and
those who are his own know him. There is
danger in this fallen world, and Jesus is willing to put himself between us and
that danger to keep us safe.
Let us pray. Divine
Shepherd, you know better than we do what our needs are. Help us to follow you, that we may enjoy the
blessings you graciously give us, and not seek after those things that would
draw us away from you. Through Christ
our Lord, Amen.
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