A Wise Shepherd
I’m blessed to drive by this view each day while taking my daughter to school. At first glance, it seems like your expected every day view of the Kansas plains, but it reminds me of something much greater.
During my grandfather’s final days, my grandmother would continually ask me to read Psalm 23 to him at his bedside as it was his favorite chapter in Bible. I read this to him probably 10 times a day for a week straight. Each time I read it, I felt like he could hear the words. It seemed as though he would find peace and comfort even though he was unresponsive.
Over 20 years later I heard a true story that instantly brought me back to these final moments with my grandfather. Two decades later, I was shook to my core and instantly came to tears. I didn’t come to tears because of my grandfather’s death, but by the incredible beauty in the Truth of God’s word.
A sheep farmer approached a Pastor friend of mine after a service he preached about the 23rd Psalm. I’m paraphrasing this a little as I didn’t lock into every word, but the sheep farmer essentially said this to my friend. “You preached a great message, but if you knew a little more about sheep, it could be better.”
The farmer asked this question.
“When you see a herd of sheep, do you ever notice that each sheep is always standing up?”
The sheep farmer continued…
“You see, a sheep is a rather finicky creature. It’s nervous and flighty so it never lies down unless all of its needs are met. Its belly has to be full, its thirst must be quenched, and it has to feel 100 percent safe in his or her surroundings. It’s only when all of these needs are met, that it will be comfortable enough to lie down.”
That’s all I had to hear for this chapter to hit me like a ton of bricks. With that knowledge now in mind, look at the incredible Truth of verse 2.
Psalm 23:2 “He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul.”
Regardless of how good or bad our surroundings are, the Lord our Shepherd is the only One who can fulfill our needs. He’s the only One that can make us content enough to be still and lie down, to be still and trust in our safety and provision, to be still and know that He is God and the only One in control.
I’ve read this chapter countless times over the last two decades. I’ve heard at least a dozen sermons on this chapter… Yet, it was the wisdom of an actual shepherd that opened my eyes to the true meaning behind this passage.
Every morning I get to see these sheep. All of them standing. All of them looking for contentment in the grass they’re eating. All of them looking for safety in their surroundings… And it reminds me of myself. It reminds me of this world we live in where we fall into the trap of looking everywhere else but to Jesus for our needs and for our satisfaction. I’m blessed to be reminded of this every single morning. I love these little sheep and how they remind me of my Shepherd that makes me lie down in green pastures.
~Drew
Thanksgiving
This morning I grabbed a cup of coffee, and yes, I turned on Christmas music. I absolutely love Christmas and I begin the season far too early for most folks’ liking.
It’s an easy morning for me, I don’t have to do anything other than reflect on my blessings as my wonderful mother and father in-law are handling the daunting task of preparing our Thanksgiving feast. I would have recorded a video, but I still have bed hair. Additionally, my wife and I worked until 10pm last night so while my heart is praising the Lord this morning, I probably look physically disheveled.
Anyhow, since I have this extra time, I’d like to spend it in sharing this quick blog post with you about a Biblical giving of thanks. In chapter 12, Isaiah shares a prophecy about future songs of praise that the people of God will sing. These are not only songs of praise, but they are also songs of thanksgiving. Isaiah is taking about a day that the entire Jewish community was longing for. He was pointing to a day that couldn’t come soon enough for his people.
He says “I will praise you Lord. Although you were angry with me, your anger has turned away and you have comforted me.” He goes on to write, “Give praise to the Lord, proclaim his name; make known among the nations what he has done, and proclaim that His name is exalted.”
This entire chapter is a wonderful song of a future giving of thanks and praise. It’s a future that we are living in right now, today, this very moment. If you have a spare 3 minutes today, I’d highly suggest reading and reflecting on this very short chapter which I’ll post below.
If we fast-forward from the time of Isaiah to the days of Paul I feel like we find a great place where Isaiah’s words plug right into the words of Paul in 2 Corinthians chapter 9. In chapter 9 we find that Paul is putting together a gathering for the Lord’s people whom are poor. After he writes about the ethics behind Godly giving, he writes this; “You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.”
He goes on to write about how much of a true blessing these gifts are that he is gathering and then he makes a statement that is debated amongst Biblical scholars today. Paul uses a word that we won’t find anywhere else in the New Testament, but let me first paint the picture using Paul’s words.
Verse 13 to 15 reads like this; “Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, others will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the Gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else. And in their prayers for you their hearts will go out to you, because of the surpassing grace God has given you. Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!”
There are 3 thoughts here.
1. Some think Paul was giving thanks for the fundraising effort.
2. Others think he was giving thanks for the unity of the effort.
3. Since the gift is indescribable, many think Paul is talking about the gift of Jesus.
So which of these is accurate. I’m not a renowned scholar, but I think the answer is, “YES!” The gift of Jesus that we give thanks for is in ALL things and we see Him in ALL things in this chapter. Those receiving the gifts are blessed by the generosity of others. Those giving the gifts are blessed by the prayers lifted to God above from those that have received them. The word that Paul uses here for “indescribable” might be best translated as “unutterable.” This word that Paul uses is not found anywhere else in the New Testament which would, of course, point to the gift of Jesus which points right back to the story.
The way in which the blessings of God are given are indescribable. Words can’t even describe how this works. Maybe the best word is simply “beautiful”.
Regardless of where you’re at today and regardless of how you feel, remember to offer thanksgiving for the indescribable, unutterable, and beautiful gift we all share in Jesus.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Drew
Isaiah 12
Songs of Praise
1In that day you will say:
“I will praise you, Lord.
Although you were angry with me,
your anger has turned away
and you have comforted me.
2 Surely God is my salvation;
I will trust and not be afraid.
The Lord, the Lord himself, is my strength and my defense;
he has become my salvation.”
3 With joy you will draw water
from the wells of salvation.
4 In that day you will say:
“Give praise to the Lord, proclaim his name;
make known among the nations what he has done,
and proclaim that his name is exalted.
5 Sing to the Lord, for he has done glorious things;
let this be known to all the world.
6 Shout aloud and sing for joy, people of Zion,
for great is the Holy One of Israel among you.”
Fearing the Lord
We find dozens of references in both the Old and New Testament about fearing God. This has led me into one of my famous deep thinking tasks that consumes me for days. If you don’t know about these bouts that I get myself into, just ask my wife and she’ll be glad to tell you all about them.
I kept asking myself this question. If God is so loving and so kind, why is there such emphasis on fearing Him? We all know what fear is, but we all have a different response to fear. For some, fear is paralyzing. For others it results in a fight, and some choose to run and hide from fear. Does God want us to be paralyzed by His power? Does he want us to fight with Him? Does he want us to run and hide from Him?
We’ve all probably heard the saying that the Kingdom of God is upside down, meaning that oftentimes we find that things are opposite of what humanity thinks it should be. Frequently we find what I call surface meaning in scripture where what we read makes general sense upon skimming over it. However, when we let the Spirit take over and the Word itself, the Logos, becomes alive we find ourselves in awe of just how deep into our hearts the Living Word digs.
The fear of God opens up another door into our identity of whom we were meant to be. God knows that all of humanity experiences fear and that our response is more often than not a radical response. Look around at our culture today. Fear is taking over the world. Fear of failure. Fear of social status. Fear of missing out. Fear of losing what’s close to us. Fear itself has turned into a weapon within our world.
Perhaps what God is telling us is that the only rational fear we should have within humanity is that of losing our identity with God Himself. When we fear only God, he literally crushes all other irrational fear in our lives. God is so powerful, so just, and so full of love that when we focus all of our fear on Him alone, fear itself ceases to exist outside of the fear of God Himself.
What does this do for our identity in Christ?
It makes us dig deeper into multiple facets like love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. The fear of God extends and deepens our relationship with Him, it kicks open the door to our likeness with Christ and our faith in Him, and it reveals the Holy Spirit within us through the very fruits that we are called to live by.
I guess this is why we call it an upside down Kingdom. In the Kingdom of God, the same fear that paralyzes us makes us take action. The same fear that makes us fight, makes us love. And the same fear that makes us hide calls us out into the world to see Jesus and reflect His image to others.