Psalm 23 and 'Me'

The most popular of psalms made for all occasions is psalm 23. Books about it abound. Songs resonate through the airways. It is recited at weddings and funerals. This psalm continues to bless and amaze. Over the following blog times I’d like to share with you a type of devotional investigation into some of its verses. I’m sure there are insights you could share with me which I’d appreciate. May what follows be a joy to your heart.

‘The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want’ verse 1.

‘The’ emphasises the uniqueness, the only-ness of the person addressed, admired, adored. He is not one of many. He isn’t ‘a’ lord. He is ‘THE Lord!’

David is highlighting for us in his testimony a relationship of trust. As a shepherd boy he understood the faith sheep have in their shepherd. He knew their name and peculiarities. It is unknown (at least to me) when and how David and his Shepherd met. This is without doubt, David saw himself a one of the flock. The testimony he gave to King Saul in 1 Samuel 17:31-37 of The Lord’s protection highlighted this. Goliath was about to be added to The Lord’s victories through David. It is our honour to live in a similar fellowship of trust. It is our privilege to bear testimony, be it ever so mundane, to The Lord!

‘Lord’ is the translation usually applied to Yahweh. Such a wonderful imagery is here presented. The Creator who sustains the universe is the one who takes David under His care. This is David psalm. Have we the right to claim it as ours or is it wishful thinking? By the grace of The Lord we have His invitation to make this psalm our own. To make that real and personal requires a relocation of our heart, mind and allegiance. We are not automatically in His fold. His invitation must be accepted and, as it were, we must join His sheepfold. In the Gospel of John 10:16 we have the confidence to claim we are of ‘the other sheep’ The Lord has. David knew His Lord’s name. We know Him as Jesus, the Christ, The Son of God! He is The Lord!

‘Is’ expresses the assurance David had in whom he believed, trusted, obeyed. There isn’t a maybe or ‘I wish’ about it. David would be a silly sheep on numerous occasions but the ‘is’ remained. For what this word highlights is a covenant commitment between The Lord and His sheep, David. Such a covenant relationship is ours also because of Calvary’s cross and the empty tomb. When you, when I realised the meaning of the cross and believed what Jesus did was for us personally, we gave our life and destiny into His keeping. That is why we can say with gratitude ‘The Lord is.’

‘My’ is the personal aspect which should always astound. Why would the Creator choose to associate with me, let alone claim me as His own? John Newton’s hymn ‘Amazing Grace’ sums it up so well. I was a worthless sheep, scabby, wasted and infected with sin, at the mercy of life’s brigands. The Lord rescued me. I had nothing of merit, nothing of appeal yet in mercy He claimed me, as He did you! I am still a silly sheep from time to time, but The Lord keeps me in His fold. Why? Because He keeps His covenant. He will discipline but He will not remove my name from His book.

‘Shepherd’ is for us a warm and meaningful term. As we work through the psalm we will realise some of the ways He cares. However, strange as it may sound, a shepherd was not always held in high regard. The Egyptians in the days of Joseph saw them as beneath their dignity. In the days of Jesus a shepherd was considered a ‘low-life’ whose word couldn’t be trusted. In the spiritual realm of today this animosity still exists. It may or may not be stated, but its atmosphere prevails. Therefore, when you and I say “Jesus, The Lord is my Shepherd” we could be given the cold shoulder. This is why we must know the reality, personally and unquestionably, that The Lord [Jesus] is my shepherd and I am a sheep in His fold. Can you say “Amen” to that?

To be continued.

Ray Hawkins Feb 1^st 2016.

Dynamic Aging

Why the Bible is Important to me #7.

Where Dynamic Aging Begins

 

My mother-in-law with siblings (the Telfers of South Australia)

Dynamic aging is about meaning not muscle. It can be possessed by the weak and the invalid yet missed by the strong and healthy. Dynamic aging requires living in a spiritual dimension rather than being hypnotized by the secular. The dynamics for all of this begins on a battlefield.

In the Bible book of Amos we read about God’s ultimatum to Israel. The nation was intent on doing its own thing even in the face of the Lord God’s discipline. His words to the nation are applicable to everyone at a certain point in time. Amos 4:12: ‘Therefore thus I will do to you, O Israel; because I will do this to you, prepare to meet your God, O Israel’.

God called upon the people to engage in an act of war. A contest of strength, will and therefore control. Who will be Sovereign? Such a contest appears uneven and stupid. However within the spiritual realm it is fought out everyday by some one, somewhere. Can you remember when you thought about taking God on when He asked you to let Him be your Sovereign?

The weapons at our disposal to defeat His right to our lives are the following.

A) Personal righteousness,

b) all religions lead to Heaven and

c) the pleading of ignorance.

What is the weapon the Lord raises against us? His word! Hebrews 4:12-13: ‘Indeed, the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing until it divides soul from spirit, joints from marrow; it is able to judge the thoughts and intents of the heart. And before him no creature is hidden, but all are naked and laid bare to the eyes of the one to whom we must render an account’.

We know our goodness will not stand before the holiness required by the Lord. Everyone fall short of their own standard, what hope when measured by God’s? One strike and you are out. How many strikes do you imagine are against you?

A) is answered. We may not like what Jesus said in John 14:6 but it is either true or false. Who would dare make Jesus out to be a liar when He said ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me’.

B) is answered.  Pleading ignorance is never an excuse. It is a person’s responsibility to seek out the truth and accept it. Jeremiah 29:13: ‘When you search for me, you will find me; if you seek me with all your heart’.

C) is answered. We break His word, we win the fight.

The trouble is the Bible remains unbreakable. More than that our moral and religious armour melts at the mere waving of the Scriptures across them!  We realise our nakedness. We are defenceless. What are our options?

Run! But where can we hide?

Surrender! Dynamic aging can begin at that point of time.

We kneel in submission. Our Lord and Sovereign, Jesus, lifts us up and calls us conquerors. 2 Chronicles 30:8  ‘Do not be stiffed-necked as your ancestors were, but yield yourselves to the Lord and come to his sanctuary, which he has sanctified for ever, and serve the Lord your God, so that his fierce anger may turn away from you’.

We engage in a self justifying war without any possible victory when we take up our weapons against God and His word. Remember, God has the last word. Will it be ‘Depart into outer darkness’? Or will it be ‘Come into the joy of the Lord’?  

The victory comes when by faith we make Jesus Christ as our sovereign Lord and Saviour. A new, dynamic, eternal and challenging life begins.

This is  a chapter out of my  future devotional called  'Dynamic Aging.'

Ray (growing old with Christ) Hawkins