The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not
want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the
still waters. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth 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 thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they
comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies:
thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy
shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the
Lord for ever. Psalm 23 KJV
Jim:
What a precious gem Psalm 23 is. How many times have we called out
and found comfort in these few but very powerful words? Personally, I am unable
to count the number of times I’ve spoken, prayed or cried the first line: The
Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. For me, the most precious word in
this line is “my”. Not our, not the whole world, not the church, but “my”
shepherd. Twenty-seven (almost 30%) of
the words used in Psalm 23 are personal/relational words: He, Thy, Thou, His, me, my, mine, I. If He is
a Shepherd to no one else, He is a Shepherd to me. Unworthy me.
Psalm 23, located in the middle of the shepherd’s Psalms, starts
with a line that is in stark contrast to the first line in Psalm 22, (known as
the psalm of the cross); “My God, my God why hast Thou forsaken me?” Why is
this? Because we all need to realise the value of the Great Shepherd’s blood,
freely shed for us, His helpless sheep; His lost sheep.
A few decades ago, I employed a wildlife biologist/shepherdess who
enlightened me on what shepherding sheep actually required and she certainly
turned around my vision of cuddly fluffy white sheep frolicking in a field. She
shared that sheep must be protected and cared for pretty much 24/7. They are
weak, panicky, defenceless and oftentimes helpless. Their wool is habitually
dirty, mud-caked, smelly, and contains burrs and bugs. They are susceptible to
a host of parasites. They will only drink from still water but can drown if it’s
too deep. Sheep need constant shepherding because they wander, follow the wrong
leader, overgraze the pasture or are attacked by predators. They may also have a tendency to cast, which
is defined as a sheep falling down or laying down and not being able to get
back up because its center of gravity is off. Sheep will die within hours if
not helped back up again. Oh Lord Jesus, how often have I been cast down and
needed help getting back up again? How often have You found that my center of
gravity (my relationship with you) is off?
Fortunately, we are blessed to have a Great Shepherd who not only
loves and cares for us but died for us, even though we are often wandering,
messy, undeserving and sometimes cast down sheep. Ultimately, only our Great
Shepherd knows what we need and provides for us lowly sheep now and eternally -
Praise You Lord God Emmanuel!
Pat:
Twenty-Three Revisited
is a piece I wrote in 2019, written from
the viewpoint of someone who has grappled with depression and anxiety, someone
who has struggled with living in a shadow. Two of the definitions for “shadow”
in the online Merriam-Webster dictionary are “an imperfect and faint
representation” and “a shaded or darker portion of a picture” which is very
representative of how living with depression can feel. It was also important to
me that the piece have the words “I art still” for I know how an anxious mind
can be so unstill, wound up, replaying, worrying, second guessing… The list can
go on and on. For myself, “be still and know that I am God” from Psalm 46:10
are words of utmost importance.
In writing this very personal piece, I took each of the 118 words from
Psalm 23 (KJV) - no more, no less -and rearranged them into Twenty-Three
Revisited. This piece embodies my daily need to “not lie in a shadow” but
instead seek and follow the Shepherd, the LORD of my life.
Twenty-Three
Revisited ©Patricia Poriz 2019
For my sake, I will lie not in a shadow; shall head through the
valley, runneth down the green paths and follow thy staff to the waters.
Goodness, He maketh me; Comfort, He restoreth me; Righteousness,
He anointest me.
Though they dwell, no rod of the enemies shall I fear, for surely
thou will walk in, over evil and death.
Before – beside - with me, in the pastures, thou my LORD, his
name’s Shepherd; I art still, for He is mine.
I want my soul ever with thou
presence!
Leadeth me in thy mercy; yea, all my
days leadeth me and preparest me,
LORD of the cup,
of the
oil,
of the table,
of the house,
of my life.
Our prayer
for you as you head down 2021’s pathways is this: Now may the God of peace, who
through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord
Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, equip you with everything good for
doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ,
to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen. (Hebrews 13: 20-21 NIV).
