Friday, October 15, 2010

The LORD Is My Shepherd

Photo: Annabeth bearing the wounds of AWANA game time on Wednesday night.

Thought for the Day
Psalm 23:1 The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.

So often we allow other people or things to become our satisfaction in life. This is not how we were wired by God to possess happiness. It is only when He is our all that we experience complete satisfaction.

This thought was brought out wonderfully by Ray Steadman,

"Because the Lord is my shepherd, I do not lack anything. He satisfies my needs. That is the place where God wants to bring us. He wants us to be independently dependent upon Him, to need Him alone. It struck me as I was studying this psalm that there are really only two options in life. If the Lord is my shepherd, then I shall not want; but if I am in want, then it is obvious that the Lord is not my shepherd. It is that simple. If emptiness, loneliness, despair, and frustration exist in our lives, then the Lord is not our shepherd. Or if anyone or anything else is shepherding us, we are never satisfied. If our vocation shepherds us, then there is restlessness and feverish activity and frustration. If education is our shepherd, then we are constantly being disillusioned. If another person is our shepherd, we are always disappointed, and ultimately we are left empty. If drug abuse is our shepherd, then 'we are wasted' as one rock artist said recently. But if the Lord is our shepherd, David says, we shall not want."