Page 43 - Living light - The Psalms

Monday July 15 - What do you want? ...I lack nothing. Psalm 23:1
It is possible to be a Christian and yet feel a desperate need in your life. It may be in your health or finances, or may be a bereavement or mental health challenge. Where in these situations is the Good Shepherd and the ability to say, “I lack nothing”?
I’ve met hundreds of people who rejected God because ‘he took a loved one’ or ‘he didn’t answer my prayer’. Such experiences are very real and the associated thinking and feelings are incredibly powerful. What should we do when feeling abandoned?
The difficult thing we must accept is that we cannot always find reason or purpose in suffering. Some religions say God sends calamity to test us, but you won’t find that in Jesus, the Good Shepherd, who instead ‘lays down his life for the sheep’ (John 10:11). Yet, neither does he give us everything we want, or when we want it. The question then becomes, “What do you want?”
What the Good Shepherd offers is that ‘he makes me lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside quiet waters’ (Psalm 23:2). In the darkest and most painful moments it’s difficult to make sense of it, but Jesus offers a pathway towards the green pastures of rest and the quiet waters of refreshing. Walking hand in hand with God will bring the healing that makes you declare, “I lack nothing.”
Father, I put my hurts and challenges in your hands today. I will walk with you into rest and recovery, in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Tuesday July 16 - Refreshing He refreshes my soul. Psalm 23:3
I really wanted to avoid dwelling on death this week, and to offer a different perspective on this well known passage. However, I cannot escape the profound value of having the Good Shepherd lead us through the most difficult of experiences, that of bereavement.
On the day my Dad died, I started thinking that I hadn’t prayed enough or that perhaps I was being punished. A card dropped through the letterbox, saying on the front: ‘Lord, grant me the serenity to accept what I cannot change.’ In that moment, I felt God saying, “You can torment yourself for five years, or you can allow me to do something within you today.” I accepted the latter and for the next hour I read scripture, sang, and wept deeply. I emerged changed, still having a wound, but one the Holy Spirit had cleaned and stitched to heal properly.
You don’t need to ‘move on’ from your lost loved one, but you do need to ‘move forward’ in your life. It is the Good Shepherd’s plan for you to do so. You can’t change the fact of your loss, but the Good Shepherd wants to inwardly illuminate you, thus refreshing your soul with his healing presence. Rest today in his pasture and drink from the spring.
Father, I don’t want to move on in a way that leaves my lost loved one behind, but I do want to move forward. Please shepherd me to this place and illuminate me with love and peace, in Jesus’ name. Amen.
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PRAYER FOR TODAY
PRAYER FOR TODAY