Wednesday, May 31, 2006

The Good Shepherd...Psalms 23...



This is my interpretation of this 'famous' chapter from the Book of Psalms. I wrote this a few years ago when I was going through some difficult times on a personal level. It is a message I shared at the street church when I felt that I needed to share my inner emotions and thoughts with others that are also going through tough situations on a daily basis.

The Lord is My Shepherd Psalm 23

How often do we feel abandoned, forgotten and sometimes rejected by others around us? Sometimes it seems like we have no where to turn, no one we can reach out to, no one who cares about us.

I remember when I went through my divorce, I felt like I was going to die, it was something I didn’t want, but it was something I couldn’t do anything about. I had some support but it wasn’t the kind of support I needed at the time…the last thing I wanted was to get involved with another woman.

What I needed was someone to listen to my feelings and concerns that were racing through me. I felt a lot of anger and at the same time I was wanting some pity, my emotions were all mixed up…I felt like I was going up and down like a roller coaster…having super highs then crashing down with unbearable lows.

I’m sure all of us have had experiences where we feel totally out of control and nobody seems to notice or care and we just keep spinning around going nowhere, usually in a tailspin to nowhere. I have shared with a few of the guys how I was really got carried away with the carousing (carrying on) for a couple of years (drinking, women, weed)… trying to find happiness in the world, thinking that parties, vacations, fancy life style would solve my emptiness.

As my life was self-destructing at that time, I also had some good experiences that eventually worked its way into my life and life style. I had different people reach out in friendly ways and offer some good advice, (which I sometimes listened to), they would ask me to join them golfing or boating, but without the party. I was invited to different events that were offering an alternative to the ‘trying to solve all your problems by yourself’ scenario. Good people were planting seeds (or ideas) about living a different life style. I was being introduced to what Christ had to offer. I was a little slow to catch on but eventually I started to get the picture, that there was people who really cared about me. I started to settle down because I knew I was going nowhere the way I was heading. It was one particularly rough period of my life and I survived. For this I Thank God!

In my home church we are going through the book of Psalms and I came upon a chapter that was important to me when I first started trying to figure out if this church thing was for me. It is some verses I’m sure many of you have heard at sometime in your lives, as it is as well known as 'The Good Shepherd'. This chapter was written by King David, who had gone through a lot of issues in his own life that were not acceptable to God but he did learn from his mistakes, he was up front and honest about his wrong doings, admitted them and asked God to forgive him. With this choice to follow God, he was blessed by God as a great king and an ancestor of Jesus Christ. Before I get into the book of Psalms (23) listen to what David says of our loving God in 2 Samuel 7:28,29

28 For you are God, O Sovereign LORD. Your words are truth, and you have promised these good things to me, your servant. 29 And now, may it please you to bless me and my family so that our dynasty may continue forever before you. For when you grant a blessing to your servant, O Sovereign LORD, it is an eternal blessing!”

God blessed King David and so David wrote this Psalm of comfort for us about following God and His commands. This is from the book of Psalms, chapter 23. I’m going to read from the King James Version of the Bible, which I think most of you would be more familiar with remembering how it went…

Psalm 23
A Psalm of David.

1 The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
2He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.
3He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. 4Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
5Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
6Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.

Isn’t that comforting, He, our Lord, is our shepherd. All we have to do is follow Him.
I’d like to share with you, verse by verse, what God, through His son Jesus Christ is offering to us. The comfort of knowing the Lord.

1 The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.

Followers of God are often looked upon as sheep and sheep as we know, are followers of the shepherd. They put all their trust in the shepherd to lead them, provide for them and to protect them from any danger that may happen. Several places in the New Testament, Jesus is referred to as the Good Shepherd, Great Shepherd or the Head Shepherd. So as Jesus is the Good shepherd leading us in the right way and to the right places, we are to be obedient followers, doing as Jesus shows us (demonstrates). The word ‘want’ here means that we will not be ‘in want’. That is, that we can trust God for the necessities of life.

2He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.
3He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.


This is telling us that God will provide for us spiritually and emotionally. His loving care, like the shepherd, puts us at ease so we can be resting peacefully so we can be refreshed and strengthened to do His will. If we follow Him, we will develop a close, dependant relationship with God, doing the things that He wants us to do as we discover His will for us. We are to be obedient resisting the temptation of going our own way.

4Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

We can struggle and deal with pain, suffering, disease and other obstacles but with death we are helpless. Only our shepherd, Jesus, can walk us through the valley of death and see us to the other side, as He is the God of life. The rod and staff are used to guide the sheep and used to set boundaries for their own good. They are also used to guide them to safe places while fighting off enemies that might try and harm them, so the rod and staff would be comforting for the sheep, giving them protection. The Bible and its teachings can be looked upon as a rod and staff, helping us get through what life brings us each day.

5Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.

This is a description of God’s protection for us, even while the enemy is all around us tempting us to go against Him, God will be the perfect host and Shepherd, guiding and protecting us throughout our lives.

6Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.

God has prepared the way for us, He has given us the instructions and the invitation. All we have to do is accept the patient love He has shown us, accept His goodness and mercy and then we can be with Him in the house of the Lord forever.


So often we see paintings of Jesus with children, the sick and poor, people lost in this world as I once was…now I see Him as a shepherd guiding me, protecting me and watching over me. All I have to do is stay with the flock.

Thankyou Lord Jesus for being the Good Shepherd.

Wednesday, May 10, 2006

Don't Give Up (Psalms 88)...


Sickness…
Stroke…
Serious accident…
On life support…can’t pull plug (law) Have to sit and wait
…everything seems hopeless (situation)

A lot of us seem to get into these situations (hopelessness)…always this way…no change

We all have to face up to the fact that life is hard. And what is worse is that the hardness is not evenly distributed. Some people seem to get more than their share, and they don't seem to deserve it. Hopelessness is not an uncommon feeling.

My message on Psalm 88 showed that believers can get depressed, and depression can last a long time.
A believer named Heman (N.L.T. Tyndale Life Appl.Study Bible) wrote this Psalm in desperation.
He seems to be suffering from a severe illness…he figured he was ready to die…
He had no hospital. He had to tough it out… hardest thing to him was not the physical pain but the emotional trauma…he was feeling abandoned and forgotten…figuring he was getting punished as he thought he deserved…


Psalm verse 1-18… This is a prayer to God about Hemans’ troubles
1-8 complaining to God in his prayer about his circumstances
9-13 asks for Gods mercy (saying if he wasn’t alive, what good is he to God)
14-18 back to his complaining

1 O LORD, God of my salvation,
I cry out to you by day.
I come to you at night.
2 Now hear my prayer;
listen to my cry.
3 For my life is full of troubles,
and death* draws near.
4 I am as good as dead,
like a strong man with no strength left.
5 They have left me among the dead,
and I lie like a corpse in a grave.
I am forgotten,
cut off from your care.
6 You have thrown me into the lowest pit,
into the darkest depths.
7 Your anger weighs me down;
with wave after wave you have engulfed me. Interlude

8 You have driven my friends away
by making me repulsive to them.
I am in a trap with no way of escape.
9 My eyes are blinded by my tears.
Each day I beg for your help, O LORD;
I lift my hands to you for mercy.
10 Are your wonderful deeds of any use to the dead?
Do the dead rise up and praise you? Interlude

11 Can those in the grave declare your unfailing love?
Can they proclaim your faithfulness in the place of destruction?*
12 Can the darkness speak of your wonderful deeds?
Can anyone in the land of forgetfulness talk about your righteousness?
13 O LORD, I cry out to you.
I will keep on pleading day by day.
14 O LORD, why do you reject me?
Why do you turn your face from me?

15 I have been sick and close to death since my youth.
I stand helpless and desperate before your terrors.
16 Your fierce anger has overwhelmed me.
Your terrors have paralyzed me.
17 They swirl around me like floodwaters all day long.
They have engulfed me completely.
18 You have taken away my companions and loved ones.
Darkness is my closest friend.

Heman figured he was ready to die and he is blaming God…he thinks life is like a living hell.
Some people nowadays have the same idea, but with a bit of a twist. We'll all heard someone say that the only Hell we'll ever see is right here on earth. Sometimes hitting ‘bottom’ seems like hell.
God's final wrath will be lot's worse that what you go through here. This life we're in can get pretty bad. Life can have many of the elements of hell - loneliness and isolation. It’s not going to be a big party…
Both hell and life can have a feeling that everything is closing in and becoming dark. And both can be filled with tremendous pain.

We are told that in hell we would be separated from God, away from His presence…suffering eternal punishment… Revelations tells us 14:11 & 19:20…tormented with burning sulphur…not a nice place to be…


There are people on earth who think they are in hell, that things can't possibly get any worse. There may be someone in this church who feels the same way.

During his illness, the writer of this passage, Heman, had experienced, as well saying to God ‘what more can happen to me???’

When life gets lousy, we figure it's always going to be that way. We think the pain and suffering is never going to go away. God has a tendency to deliver us from unbearable situations. When you think there's no reason to hope, think again.

Just like the situation with the life support system…we think we are waiting for the eventual death of our loved one…then suddenly things can change…they could come out of a coma and may eventually regain some of their strength and be able to share their relationship with others again.

God may get angry with us but He will always love us …He created us and wants us to live in harmony with Him. Nothing is life is so terrible that it will never end. If you hang on, it's bound to get better. When a loved one dies, you never think you'll get through the initial shock. It's horrible. But God can heal it. You'll hurt, and you'll cry, and you'll get angry with God, but He will heal you in ‘His’ time… not ‘our’ time.

This is one of the greatest promises in the Bible. No matter how bad things get, God can pull us out. He not only heals what's bad, he also replaces it with happiness. Even if you thought you'd never be happy again.

We should always keep in mind that the healing and the joy comes from God…We do well (financially, personally or materialistically) and start to think it's our own accomplishment, not God's gift. Our material security soon becomes a false security…(having things)
All we have is from God, our Creator…we are just privileged to be using these gifts.

What's interesting in this scripture is that Heman is considering God's interests, not his own. The questions of verse 11 & 12 are good ones. Every Christian is going to have questions about why God does things like he does. Why does there have to be so much pain before the joy comes? Why does there have to be pain at all? The questions asked are saying ‘God, what will you have if I die…isn’t it better if I didn’t suffer?’

We have questions, but the answers belong to God. Even Jesus had questions…
In John 12:27 he asks ‘Now my soul is deeply troubled. Should I pray, ‘Father, save me from what lies ahead’? But that is the very reason I came.’

What lied ahead for Jesus was His eventual death.
He didn't want to suffer. But he knew his father (God) had a reason for it. So he committed himself to his Father.

Have you committed yourself to the Lord? Ask Jesus to be with you in whatever situation you are in. Just pray to Him in all sincerity your real pains and problems…he will be listening

Remember He will be available to hear the good stuff as well…don’t forget without Jesus we would have nothing…our hope for what the Bible promises us is with Jesus Christ…

This is a message I shared at our street church.