Shepherd’s Care

Endless clamor in our political realm, threats of violence, a world that changes in moments rather than years – all of these things, and more, conspire to create unrelenting anxiety in millions of people today. That emotion, by the way, does not just show up as worry or fear. It can morph into a sense of worthlessness and/or hopelessness.  In those times a lie can take over the mind – “You are just a helpless pawn, caught in the flow of events that will overwhelm, possibly even destroy, you!” 

Must those who are anxious just try desperately to endure the inner tumult? Is there a way to change the perception of the world around us?  YES! The mind can be re-directed, thought patterns changed, if we choose to listen to the voice of the Lord, soaking in the counsel of His word, He will lead us out of our fears and into joyful abundance. Faith is both a gift of God and a choice to be made by us.

In the Scripture, God’s people are sometimes called His flock, sheep. Christians are derisively referred to by some as ‘dumb sheep,’ the implication being that they are easily led and manipulated.  It is true that sheep are not among the world’s more intelligent creatures! Eons of being domesticated has made those wooly creatures entirely dependent on their shepherd. They are defenseless, dependent, and content to be led from pen to pasture. Thus, the comparison of people to sheep can be a genuine insult.

God is not insulting us when He calls us His flock! He is reminding us of His great care.  Jesus taught about His Shepherding care for us. "The sheep recognize his voice and come to him. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. ... Those who come in through me will be saved. They will come and go freely and will find good pastures. ... My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life." (John 10:3, 9-10, NLT) 

Sheep with a good shepherd are not restless, milling about in anxiety.   David says "The Lord is my shepherd; I have everything I need. He lets me rest in green meadows; he leads me beside peaceful streams. He renews my strength. He guides me along right paths, bringing honor to his name. Even when I walk through the dark valley of death, I will not be afraid, for you are close beside me. Your rod and your staff protect and comfort me." (Psalm 23:1-4, NLT)

Are you struggling with anxiety at some level today?  Do feelings of fear or hopelessness stalk you, perhaps even overwhelm you?  Meditate on those words from the Shepherd’s Psalm. Personalize it by inserting your own name as you read it aloud.  Thank the Lord that He has taken you into His flock, made you one of the sheep of His pasture.  

Disciple, are you listening to the Shepherd’s voice?
Are you letting Him lead you to abundant life of His choosing as one of His sheep, or are you more like that independent creature that resists all boundaries, the goat? Jesus says that when "My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand." (John 10:27-28, NIV)

This word from the Word comes from Ezekiel. He heard the voice of the Lord in a time when the spiritual leaders of the nations were not caring for the people.  It is a lengthy passage which I encourage you to read slowing, perhaps even aloud, letting the promise settle your soul in the Shepherd’s care.

“For this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I myself will search and find my sheep. I will be like a shepherd looking for his scattered flock. I will find my sheep and rescue them from all the places to which they were scattered on that dark and cloudy day. I will bring them back home to their own land of Israel from among the peoples and nations. I will feed them on the mountains of Israel and by the rivers in all the places where people live.

Yes, I will give them good pastureland on the high hills of Israel. There they will lie down in pleasant places and feed in lush mountain pastures. I myself will tend my sheep and cause them to lie down in peace, says the Sovereign Lord. I will search for my lost ones who strayed away, and I will bring them safely home again. I will bind up the injured and strengthen the weak. But I will destroy those who are fat and powerful. I will feed them, yes—feed them justice!" (Ezekiel 34:11-16, NLT)
_________

He Leadeth Me

He leadeth me O blessed thought

O words with heavenly comfort fraught

Whate'er I do where'er I be

Still 'tis God's hand that leadeth me

He leadeth me He leadeth me

By His own hand He leadeth me

His faithful follower I would be

For by His hand He leadeth me

Sometimes 'mid scenes of deepest gloom

Sometimes where Eden's bowers bloom

By water's calm o'er troubled sea

Still 'tis God's hand that leadeth me

Lord I would clasp Thy hand in mine

Nor ever murmur nor repine

Content whatever lot I see

Since 'tis my God that leadeth me

And when my task on earth is done

When by Thy grace the victory's won

E'en death's cold waves I would not flee

Since Thou through Jordan leadeth me

Joseph Henry Gilmore | William Batchelder Bradbury

© Words: Public Domain

He’s at work

Inside your body there is a tireless muscle that contracts around 60 times per minute, night and day, when you're awake or asleep. In your lifetime your heart will pump life-sustaining, oxygen rich blood throughout your body.  It works- very hard – keeping us alive.  We do not think much about it unless someone we love or know dies of a heart attack. Then, for a few days, we are aware of the beating heart in our chest.

This Monday morning I want to remind you that God is at work in your life, much like your heart, all the time, night and day! Unlike your heart, He will not tear or wear out. He is sustaining us, pressing us towards His purposes and working for our good.  Paul was inspired to give us this truth to live by. "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers." (Romans 8:28-29, NIV)  Evil pushes back against His plan.  He gives humanity the freedom to work with Him or to resist Him to their own peril.  But, His work on our behalf is constant!

Joseph, that amazing man whose story is told at the end of Genesis, experienced the tireless working of the Lord. When we read his life story we have the advantage of seeing it all – beginning to end. We are amazed at the ‘coincidences’ that bring him from one critical encounter to the next. He had to live by faith through years of difficulty to reach the place God had planned for him.  God had made a promise to Abraham that his descendants would be a blessing to the whole earth. He also saw that a famine in the land would wipe them out and He prepared a deliverer – Joseph!  The teenage boy had visions of his future, glimpses of the power, but had no clue what those visions meant!

His jealous brothers sold him to slave traders who carried him to Egypt. Potiphar bought him and Joseph’s diligent efforts soon brought him to the management of the household. Potiphar’s wife took an unhealthy interest in him and when he rebuffed her advances, she falsely accused him and he landed in prison. After years there, he met 2 men from the Pharaoh’s service, who were imprisoned. They sought his interpretation of their dreams as he was respected as a man who knew God by that time. What he told them was true. One man was released back to Pharaoh’s service and promptly forgot all about Joe until … the king had a dream he could not understand.  Joe was called and wisely, by the Spirit of God, interpreted the dream.  He became the Prime Minister of Egypt, leading the country to prepare for the terrible famine God revealed in the dream.

Years later, his brothers stood before him in the court to get food for their starving families back in Canaan. After revealing to them that he was the brother they had sold into slavery decades before, Joseph told them this - “Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God? You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives." (Genesis 50:19-20, NIV)

Two questions for you today –

Will you trust God’s work that continues in your life, all the time?

Will you cooperate with His purposes so that you will be “conformed to the likeness of His Son?”  (become like Jesus!)

There is a place of spiritual rest in the center of the will of God. We find His will best when we choose daily obedience and faith, trusting that He is at work equally when the sun shines and when the storms rage. "We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”

Join Paul in this statement of faith today.  He was imprisoned for preaching the Gospel. But he was not whining, not condemning himself for some imagined failing, or even doubting the plan of God.  Make his faith your faith.  Here is the word from the Word. "I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day." (2 Timothy 1:12, NIV)

_________

Great Is Thy Faithfulness

(The hymn that celebrates God’s wonderful work for us)

Great is Thy faithfulness

O God my Father

There is no shadow

Of turning with Thee

Thou changest not

Thy compassions they fail not

As Thou hast been

Thou forever wilt be

Great is Thy faithfulness

Great is Thy faithfulness

Morning by morning

New mercies I see

All I have needed

Thy hand hath provided

Great is Thy faithfulness

Lord unto me

Summer and winter

And springtime and harvest

Sun moon and stars

In their courses above

Join with all nature

In manifold witness

To Thy great faithfulness

Mercy and love

Pardon for sin

And a peace that endureth

Thy own dear presence

To cheer and to guide

Strength for today

And bright hope for tomorrow

Blessings all mine

With ten thousand beside

Thomas Obediah Chisholm | William Marion Runyan

© Words: Public Domain

Just done with it?

Two recent conversations were hard and sad.  In one, a woman described how she decided to end her marriage of 20 years, not for infidelity, not for abuse, but because,  in her words, “I just needed more than he was willing to give me.”  Several years after the bitter divorce she was regretting that decision because of the high cost to herself, her friends, her family. Her now adult children are distant. Many mutual friends were lost. She wondered aloud what could have developed if she had pursued making it better instead of ending it. I listened with compassion because no one can answer her questions, painful as they are.  

Another person told me about his friend who suddenly took his own life when he was faced with some very difficult consequences for past actions. He left friends and family reeling with sorrow, full of questions, many angry that he had not called on them for help. Oh what sadness I feel for that man who decided he had no hope for tomorrow and for those left to deal with his actions.

I do not share those stories in judgment, but as examples of the more extreme choices that people can make when they lose hope, when life closes in.  ALL of us have moments when we wonder, “Can I do this for another day?” as we wrestle with difficult situations, don’t we?  

Please do not try to carry the weight of life by yourself. Isolated people tend to amplify the desperate thoughts. Share your thoughts with a friend, with a pastor, or with a counselor. “But, Jerry, why? I pray. Isn’t that enough?”  We ought to pray about our struggles. Nobody denies that, however, even prayer needs to be shared. I know it is said so often as to be almost clichéd but it remains true. We need one another. A burden shared is a burden halved. An old proverb reminds us that “Shared joy is a double joy; shared sorrow is half sorrow.”  Our friend may have no solution readily available, but if they are sensitive to our need, able to listen, and willing to care, we can find hope for a new day.  The Spirit teaches us to "Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ." (Galatians 6:2, NIV)

Here is a pointed question for us all.
What about the struggles with commitment to faith, to Christ Himself?

How can we deal with those temptations to walk away, to abandon His Church, even faith in Jesus, because of disappointment, disillusionment, or the failure of someone that we trusted?

Keep talking with others! You are not the first to think the things you do, to feel the way that you feel. You may not hear what you want to hear. Someone you love may reject you, or hand you platitudes. But, keep talking anyway.  Avoiding fellowship with other disciples is usually the first step to leaving the faith.

Keep doing the spiritual disciplines. Journal your prayers even if you feel like they are just echoing in the room when you say them. Open the Scripture, returning to familiar passages. Change up the way you read it, perhaps letting an app in your phone read the words to you, or using a different translation to renew the truth to you. Go to church, even if it just an act of obedience unmatched with enthusiasm. Present yourself to God in worship.

Acknowledge real emotions.  Avoiding what you are feeling because it is unpleasant or unacceptable in your worldview is like refusing to treat a festering wound by just covering it up.  Taking the cap off of the bottle of our emotions can be like putting the top off of a bottle of shaken soda!  Initially, they may explode messily – with tears, with anger, with words we did not think we were capable of saying.  But, when we are honest to God and ourselves, we can begin to work through those emotions and find new peace.  A good friend, a wise counselor, is invaluable to this process, especially if you are in a critical time of life.

Trust God with thanks for the things that are good and right.  Even when life is upside down in one area, there are other places where the sun still shines. Speaking words of true gratitude for those things helps to strengthen the overall foundation of faith.  The Psalmist found himself bitter at injustice, ready to turn from God. But, he made a choice and found renewal. "So I tried to understand why the wicked prosper. But what a difficult task it is! Then one day I went into your sanctuary, O God, and I thought ..." (Psalm 73:16-17, NLT)  "My health may fail, and my spirit may grow weak, but God remains the strength of my heart; he is mine forever." (Psalm 73:26, NLT)

Is your faith being tested? Are you ready to quit – on some important relationship, at work, on your church, or even on Jesus?  Hit the pause button and reach out today.  Take the counsel offered above.

Here is a word from the Word.  "So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised." (Hebrews 10:35-36, NIV)  You can stand on that!

________

Rescue Story

(Zach Williams sings this great song hope)

There I was empty handed

Crying out from the pit of my despair

There you were in the shadows

Holding out Your hand You met me there

And now where would I be without You

Where would I be Jesus

You were the voice in the desert

Calling me out in the dead of night

Fighting my battles for me

You are my rescue story

Lifted me up from the ashes

You carried my soul from death to life

Bringing me from glory to glory

You are my rescue story

You are You are

You are my rescue story

You are You are

You were writing the pages

Before I had a name

Before I needed grace oh

Singing songs of redemption

'Cause every time I ran away

You were louder than my shame

You never gave up on me

You never gave up on me

You are my testimony oh

You never give up on me

Oh You never give up on me

Oh this is my testimony oh

You are You are

Oh You never gave up on me

Never gave up on me

You are You are

Yeah You are my rescue story

Andrew Ripp | Ethan Hulse | Jonathan Smith | Zach Williams

© 2019 Anthems of Hope (Admin. by Essential Music Publishing LLC)

Be Essential Songs (Admin. by Essential Music Publishing LLC)

CCLI License # 810055