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. Even when I go through the darkest valley, I fear no danger, for you are with me; your rod and your staff—they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Only goodness and faithful love will pursue me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord as long as I live. Psalm 18:6-9 CSB
A Good Shepherd
In the Bible we are compared to sheep. We have lost our way before and we will continue to lose our way every time we move away from our great shepherd. Thankfully we have a Good Shepherd that will bring us back into the fold every time, and we can always be thankful for that.
Sheep are not smart animals. They get into trouble easily and when that happens, they need help real fast. Sheep follow blindly, and we can get distracted by the world and take our focus off Jesus, following blindly anything that makes false promises to us. Like sheep, without a shepherd, we will walk right into trouble. We need the gentle voice of the good shepherd to call to us, lead us and guide us. We need the loving tug of His staff to pull us back to Him, to safety, where we belong. We need His love, grace, mercy, and protection.
The shepherd is the guardian of the flock and he watches each separate sheep. The Bible also talks about how the sheep know the voice of their shepherd in John 10:2b:…and the sheep recognize his voice and come to him. They listen for it and when they hear it, t hey come.
Jesus is our Good Shepherd and it is His desire to give us all good things, to take care of us, to give us comfort, peace, meet our needs, and to protect us. The things we think we want are sometimes not good for us. The good things that the shepherd gives are the right things for us. His word tells us not to worry about our needs - our basic provisions of what we will eat, wear, etc. He has it all under control. We just have to follow Him. The shepherd always guides the sheep, and our Shepherd is no different. He leads us, and when we stray, He will come for us like any good shepherd would. There is no place we can go that He won’t come after us. And no matter how big the flock is, He cares about every single one of us.
What qualifies God to help us through the trials and tribulations of this life?
The Lord is my shepherd; I have what I need…
God leads us into green pastures and beside still wters. Every time , we wander, He brings us back, over and over again. In His marvelous grace, He makes us alive in Him, and restores our soul.
Jusr as the sheep have done nothing to deserve the care and attention of the shepherd, we could never do enough to deserve the grace, mercy, and forgiveness of our Shepherd. It is a free gift for all.
Jesus restores our soul. When He restores us, he doesn’t just restore in part, He restores our whole being. The shepherd knows there must be a restoration for the journey and provides that opportunity. There must be peace and restoration.
When we wander from Jesus, who gives us everything we need, we will find nothing we need. We lack nothing in Him but without Him, we lack everything. When we stray from Him, we cannot find our way back without His grace. He comes after us when we don’t have the strength to rescue ourselves. When we can’t return to Him on our own, He rescues us. Every time we wander, He brings us back, over and over again. In His marvelous grace, He makes us alive in Him, and restores our soul.
