The Lord Is MY Shepherd

Praise God for his wonderful works … Thanks to heavy rains and snow  the Sea of Galilee is  higher than it has been in over 10 years. This is good for Israel and adjacent areas dependent on that water supply.  Don’t forget to pray for the Peace (coming Messiah) of Jerusalem. Psalm 122:6

"The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want!"  (Psalm 23:1)

Hey Gang: I have researched the archives of all 300 blogs and nearly 200 gmails and cannot find a single one titled ‘the Lord is My Shepherd!  To that I say”WOW”. I am ashamed of myself.  I wonder if there is a more common theme in the Bible than "Jesus as Shepherd".  I think not. Perhaps the reason is that it is such an overwhelming subject and one that I would be hard pressed to cover in a ‘gramps morning thoughts’ Jesus as Shepherd is of  tremendous importance of His role as Shepherd of the Kingdom.  But let me share a few thoughts.

David begins with what I have termed a "power phrase, "The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want."   I sense when folks read those words they begin to come up with a whole barn full of "wants" that God has not responded to.  But I believe He would have us look at the phrase in a more satisfied way, and not in a prosperous way.   How unfortunate it is when we judge  satisfaction and contentment on the world’s bangles and beads and how much we can accumulate.

 In the Lord's prayer we are told to pray "Give me today my daily bread".  Notice: the key word here is ‘daily’, not weekly or monthly, but enough to get us through this day.   In other words ask for today and have faith for tomorrow.   

In the wilderness God said they were to collect enough manna for today and a double portion to cover sabbath.  David said "The Lord is my Shepherd",  I can be satisfied. 

Het leads us to quiet waters. Think of refreshing and purifying.  Jesus said, "Whoever drinks of the waters that I give will never thirst again (John 4:13-14).     God knows what we need long before we know what we need.  We fall into the trap of thinking the water we find will be sufficient to quench our thirst and we settle into complacency.  Jeremiah wrote "My people have committed two evils, they have forsaken Me and they have hewn for themselves cisterns that can hold no water"  (2:13).

 "He guides me in the paths of righteousness". Why?  For His name's  sake!   We should think of this as the light on the road to his destination.  Solomon wrote "Many plans are in a man's heart, but the counsel of the Lord stands" (Pro. 19:21)

"For His name sake."  Think, I'm living with His story or it's not about me.  Jesus said, "The hour has come, Glorify Your Son so that the Son may glorify You" (John 17:1).  It is not about me, Lord,  but You in me - whose heart cries out to glorify You.

"Even though I walk through the valley" Life is a challenge, but God’s strength is sufficient.  "Though our outer man is decaying yet our inner man is being renewed day  by day.  For momentary slight affliction is producing in us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison" (2 Cor. 4:16-17)

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Soooo, my good buddies, I was right, there is no way one can begin to scratch the surface of the story of the Good Shepherd in a one page gramps message.  Soooo, I will close this epistle with a David word for this day "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me".  Can you say "Praise God” for that promise?

Blessings,
Gramps