Psalm 23 ~ The Lord is my Shepherd: I shall not want.
Patricia Ann, Originally posted on Thursday, June 21, 2012
Psalm 23
A Psalm of David. The LORD is my shepherd;
I shall not want.
He makes me to lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside the still waters.
He restores my soul;
He leads me in the paths of righteousness
For His name’s sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil;
For You are with me;
Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
You anoint my head with oil;
My cup runs over.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
All the days of my life;
And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
How often do we find ourselves walking aimlessly through dark valleys looking this way and that for a solution
to our problems?
We seek a quick fix, wanting to get busy with our lives and get any little hindrance out of the way.
After all who has time for it?
We find ourselves in our own hand-made valley, as we seek to control our surroundings so much
that we blind ourselves to the one and only way out of our circumstances.
Sometimes, its a financial burden and instead of giving our offerings to God, we give money on get rich quick schemes or stay in the job that takes us nowhere because we are living in fear and do not trust in our Lord to lead us out of the valley into His great and glorious light.
Jeremiah 29:11, For I know the plans I have for you...
Sometimes we find ourselves in failing marriages or relationships filled with fighting and bickering.
It is a loveless rage that never calms down.
Fight or flight responses take over and we seek refuge in self help books, friends or on the Internet -- looking for solace.
We become blinded by our circumstances once again and keep ourselves in the valley of torment and hell.
We seek, but never find that which is already freely given by our Father in heaven.
He offers us release, love, satisfaction, joy, prosperity and so much more.
Continuing in our own efforts to control our own circumstances, we trudge along hating our lives, feeling trapped and refusing to let go of our pain.
God loves us - you and me.
He is always close to our side, waiting to hear our cry, waiting for us to come to Him.
He is waiting for each of us to give up our pride, selfishness and inner condemnation.
We live the lie of thinking, "I got myself into this mess so I have to get myself out. I cannot bother God with this."
How foolish can we be sometimes!
If we read God's word and truly believe what He tells us, our daily walk in life can be much different.
We can make the choice to walk out of the dark valley and shadows that haunt us and we can choose to walk into His light.
Picture yourself in the desolate valley for days, months or even years. You cannot find the solution to your problem.
You have searched behind every tree and under every rock.
Surely your solution is there somewhere! You will find a pot of gold or buried treasure... you will uncover the man or woman of your dreams Surely a new partner means no more having to get along because this new partner will agree with everything you seek -- all of your expectations will be met!
You look back one day and see your walk has been desolate.
Days and years have been wasted, all because you wanted to do it all under your own power.
You didn't see. You were blinded and failed to recognize that the solution to your problems - the treasures you seek are found in your Father in Heaven.
He tells us not to store up treasures on this earth, but to look unto Him!
Why can't we do that?
Why can't we relinquish control to our Father?
Why is it so hard to give it all to God?
It is about our attitudes and beliefs.
It is about the choices we make based on our life circumstances and our family connections growing up.
We form our ideas and belief systems from a young age and as adults we often end up confused - especially if we were not raised with a knowledge of Jesus as our Savior and God as our Father in Heaven.
It is really quite simple and easy - once we understand that God is our true Father.
It is God who created us, God who breathed life into us as newborn infants and it is God who continues to love us unconditionally as we grow into adulthood - often taking baby steps throughout life as we learn and grow both physically
and spiritually.
It is Our Father in Heaven who will never let us down, always waiting to hear our cry, our praise, our every
need or question.
It is our Father in Heaven who seeks to save us from the sins of the world and take us into His presence through His Son Jesus, whom He sent to take all of the burdens of mankind - sickness and disease, sorrow and grief, emotional pain.
Jesus took all of the problems that you and I face to the cross with Him as an act of pure love for all of mankind.
He died for each one of us, so that we may live our lives whole and complete, knowing that even when walking through the dark valleys and shadows that life brings, we are to fear no evil, for God is with us every step of the way.
All we need to do is call on Him, cry out to Jesus and allow Him to carry us, and strengthen us with His awesome and powerful love.
There is nothing like it on this earth!
The awesome and powerful love of Our Lord is unmatched in any human relationship.
And He wants us to know that - He desires for us to know Him as He tells us in Psalm 23 - ...He will restore your soul, leading you into paths of righteousness... and your cup will runneth over... all because of His great and awesome love for you and me - and for our love that we freely choose to give Him in return.
It is my prayer that our relationship with Our Father in Heaven is to be cherished and praised, a pure heartfelt desire to experience all He has to offer every day and to share the wonderful news of His love every day -
in our homes, with friends and family and on the streets with anyone we have the opportunity to meet.
God's Blessings to all His children, In Jesus Name, Amen
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