And here we go. Another week, another span of time filled with opportunities.
Thought jumping into this: Consistent compounding actions will eventually lead to something. It’s scriptural. Let’s not grow weary in doing good, the Bible says, for in due time we shall reap the rewards.
‘Doing good’ – Good is what does not bring death. Good is what leads to life. Good is what God works for us. Good is consistent and compounding. Or, well, most of the time, anyway.
‘Rewards’ – Not necessarily limited to a clarified mind, to a capable (not necessarily, but ideally also chiselled) physique, and capital. Just as we clarify that the ‘fruits’ we bear aren’t (severely) limited to money, power, influence and health, so we also say ‘rewards’ are in the spiritual: Vindication, and, really, love also, peace also, patience also, joy also, etc.
And here we go, again. 23rd day of the Month, and we’re jumping into a classic of classics… Psalm 23.
Thank You, Lord, for the reading of Your Word.
Really, I am aware that we’ve touched base on this countless times before, but, well, let’s take in what the Lord wants us to take in from this wonderful set of verses, in this season, and in this moment in time.
Are we going to be brute-forcing this Psalm, verse per verse? Maybe. Let’s see.
Psalm 23
The LORD Is My Shepherd
A PSALM OF DAVID.
1 The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
Yes, I remember good old Pastor Oscar saying that we can already come up with a full sermon coming from those 5 words: The. Lord. Is. My. Shepherd.
And, really quick: ‘The’: Not ‘A’, but ‘The’. Exclusive. Nobody else, just Him.
‘Lord’: Not merely God, but our ‘Lord’; Adonai. Not just a King in general, or not just a Leader by broad definition, but a Lord: That is, King and Leader we acknowledge who is over us specifically.
‘Is’: Not ‘was’, not ‘will be’. Present tense. He is Lord here and now. He was, will be, and IS THE Lord.
‘My’: Not ‘the’ in general, specifying He is OURS. We acknowledge that He is Lord, meaning we are His, but we can also call Him OURS, and He is specifically, among other titles, our
‘Shepherd’: With one job – to take care of the flock, as David, once a shepherd himself, would go into detail in the rest of the verses.
Boom. Quick and dirty. Effective. The LORD IS my Shepherd, and because of all that this statement implies, indeed, we shall not find ourselves wanting.
And it’s one thing for us to say that we have all that we need in Christ, but here we remember that we also want for nothing. It’s a whole new thing for us to declare and proclaim that we are not only given what we need, but what we want as well.
As we discussed yesterday at church, our salvation entails that we have been made new, righteous, Spirit-led creations, and this also means that we have new, righteous, Spirit-led desires… or, ‘wants’, if you will.
It’s not a reprogramming of our thoughts, more than it is as was mentioned by Paul to the Corinthians: The old ‘wants’ have passed away, behold, all things, including our ‘wants’ have been made new.
Not a cop-out for church leaders to sneakily encourage congregations to just settle; No, that’s different from the contentment that we have primarily in Jesus Christ. Yep, there it is. We have all we need, and all we want in Christ Jesus.
And see, we’re putting our ‘wants’ and ‘desires’ up there with ‘rewards’ and ‘fruits’; Not (severely) limited to temporal improvement and development in our circumstances; We want, and we desire, love, peace, patience, joy, faithfulness, kindness, goodness, gentleness and self-control.
You’ve heard me repeating those ‘fruits’ but, well, I’m treating it as a good starting point until we find other ‘fruits’ in Scripture.
Quite the rabbit hole here, and we’re just in verse 1. But I suppose it does merit more exploration, because it gives us solid ground, a foothold on where to start when it comes to our determining what we really want as new creations, versus what’s oft being discussed – who we were and what’s died in us as old creations. We’ve talked in detail on the works of the flesh a bit much… I think it’s good that we call (again) love, peace, patience, joy, faithfulness, goodness, kindness, gentleness and self-control not only fruits that we bear, but rewards we reap, and, oh, just all that we want, and all that we need.
And, of course, all freely poured out to us, by the grace of God, the finished work of Christ, and the power of the Holy Spirit.
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters.
3 He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
So while we struggle with what the world insists is what we want and what we need, here we have our Good Shepherd, who, through the writer of the Hebrews, would remind us – if we are to labor, we would do well to labor to enter in His rest.
And we rest where there is fertile land with green pastures. Consequently, we are brought to peace in still waters. As such, we are constantly restored, constantly renewed.
There’s life. That’s good. We really shouldn’t just tell the dearly departed to rest in peace; That’s our constant, compounding stance here and now. We are constantly at rest, constantly at peace. This doesn’t mean we’re always sleeping, nor are we lazy; No, even in turbulent times that demand the most out of our bodies and our minds, Christ paid a great price for us to move in power, through rest, and through peace.
I said it before, and I’ll say it again: Power is peace in all circumstances. I believe we have true power, each and every one of us in the body of Christ. Now there’s something we really want, no?
We are led through paths of righteousness… but if we find ourselves walking through the valley of the shadow of death, even there, He is with us. I’ve claimed, in this season, that there is vindication in His presence; that in His presence, there is fullness of joy – Here, we also are reminded that there is comfort in His presence… and, speaking of presence, He is present with us even in the presence of our enemies, FEEDING us; Implying that He doesn’t merely hold us back to cower behind Him as enemies are nearby – No, the Shepherd and I can be so confident to enjoy a meal, and He would even anoint me, while those who would call themselves our enemies could only watch and, most likely, gnash their teeth.
I’m reading all of this, and I’m just brought to think, this is us bearing fruit. This is us receiving rewards. This is us getting what we want, and getting what we need, all from our Good Shepherd.
6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD forever.
We abide with the Vine. The Good Shepherd is with us through paths and valleys.
Better is one day in the courts of the Lord, than a thousand elsewhere; Rejoice! We dwell in the house of the Lord, forever.
God’s presence is our fruit, our reward, all we want, all we need.
And Christ paid the greatest price for us to be present with Him, Him present with us – as close as we could ever be, that we call Him our Father, who is for us and not against us.
Thank You, Lord. Thank You, Jesus. Thank You, Holy Spirit.
Though I stumble and mess up 1 day out of seven, though I lose my consistency streak, though I be discouraged by what feels like a loss of compounding gains; Though I give up and tell myself to do better tomorrow and eventually do a lackluster effort of it; Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, through all of this, I shall fear no evil; For through all of this my Good Shepherd is with me, and in His presence is rest, vindication, fullness of joy, comfort, and so much more; We shall always be in power, because our Father is always with us.
Yeah, sorry, that’s what came into mind while I did 10 minutes of sweat in between reflections.
We have power, therefore:
4 Do not toil to acquire wealth; be discerning enough to desist.Proverbs 23:4
I like saying that knowing everything isn’t as pleasant or even as manageable as it seems. I keep telling folks who even bother to listen to me, that the real best thing is to be known by the One who not only knows everything, but is wise enough to handle it.
Here we’re saying that power isn’t having everything, or being able to do everything; power is being in the presence of the One who not only has everything and can do anything, but is glorious and gracious, very willing and more than able to handle all of it.
He is our Creator, after all, and what’s even more awesome is that He loves us with a perfect, everlasting love – true love that only He could lavish us with.
(Taking all of this in now, and I’m loving it)
10 Do not move an ancient landmark or enter the fields of the fatherless,
11 for their Redeemer is strong; he will plead their cause against you.Proverbs 23:10-11
Mercy, mercy and goodness unto those who steal our lands, and those who steal our belongings; We not only have a Lord over us, a Shepherd who is with us, but also a strong Redeemer who fights for us.
17 Let not your heart envy sinners, but continue in the fear of the LORD all the day.
18 Surely there is a future, and your hope will not be cut off.Proverbs 23:17-18
Wow. I’m reminded here, not to envy just sinners… But just not to envy at all. I’ll admit here and now that I’m envious of certain folk whom I know aren’t sinners, as I believe they have been redeemed and renewed by Christ allowed in their lives.
Here we’re reminded that, again, we bear fruit from our Vine, we are under the authority and power of our strong Redeemer and Lord, we are led, comforted, directed, fed and anointed by our Shepherd; I’m led to consider that the fear of the LORD is our respect and reverence to Him.
I mean, I know I said somewhere that the fear of the LORD is merely our believing and agreeing that God is who He says He is, and this eventually leads us to considering His goodness and/or sorrow (that is, the humility to realize our sheer hopelessness leading to our seeking His goodness) bringing us to repentance unto salvation. Here, I’m saying that our taking in Christ and His finished work would eventually bring us to realizing and celebrating His presence in our lives.
And, apparently, the more we intentionally lavish in His presence, the more we know Him – and in this case, we’ve taken in how He is Redeemer, Lord, the Vine, our Shepherd, besides being King of Kings, Lord of Lords, Beginning and the End, and, oh, I could go on.
Just, thank You, Lord! Indeed, Your plans to give us a hope and a bright future have been, are, and will be fulfilled, all through Jesus Christ!
If you’ve made your way to this point, thank You. I speak blessings over you and your family; May you find rest in His presence, peace from His waters.
May you find comfort in Him in your valleys, and as you are led to His paths, may you look back and see goodness and mercy chasing you down.
All for the unity of the Body, for the expansion of His Kingdom, and to the glory of His name.
God bless us all.
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