THE GOOD SHEPHERD
Dear Friends,
Psalm 23 is one of the most beloved of Psalms. It is the Psalm that begins, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.” When I run, I turn two parts of the 23rd psalm into a phrase I can repeat and meditate upon, “Jesus you’re my shepherd, I shall not want, Your rod and Your staff, shall comfort me.” In John 10:11, Jesus says, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.” (ESV) That is why I change Psalm 23 and turn it into a prayer to Jesus. He is the Christian’s Good Shepherd.
While it is always true that Jesus is the Christian’s Good Shepherd, it is especially important to remember this when we are in an extended season of difficulty. If I live with difficulty on my own, without seeking the Good Shepherd, then I will slip into attitudes and habits which keep the difficulty hard to bear and inclines my heart away from Jesus. Paul Miller in his great book on prayer, A Praying Life, has a list of contrasts based on whether or not we are engaging the Good Shepherd during our season of difficulty.
As I forget the Good Shepherd’s active presence and power in my time of difficulty, it is easy to slide into being: bitter, angry, aimless, cynical, controlling, hopeless, thankless, blaming.
As I remember the Good Shepherd’s active presence and power in my time of difficulty, then the following attitudes and habits of the heart can develop and grow in me: not bitter but waiting; not angry but watching; not aimless but wondering; not cynical but praying; not controlling but submitting; not hopeless but hoping; not thankless but thankful; not blaming but repenting.
Jesus is the Good Shepherd. He lay down His life for the sheep. He lay down His life for me, so that by repentance and trusting, I can have Him as my shepherd. He is my Good Shepherd every day. Even in the valley of the shadow of death, I need fear no evil, for Jesus is with me, even to the point of entering death. If He is your Good Shepherd as well, seek Him and cry out to Him at all times, but especially in a season of difficulty .
George +