2006-03-31
Good Morning Cherished of God,
We continue to take the constructive time necessary on that first index sentence of the Lord's Prayer [MT 6: 9-13], "Our Father Who art in heaven, hallowed by Thy name..." Those of you who have been reading these weekly messages know we have been looking at the names of God to develop a more profound understanding of why the Lord's Prayer begins and ends with worship and how it is that God alone deserves our worship, adoration, thanks, and praise. These names are a window for us into God's soul. We've looked at El Elyon, "God is Sovereign," Eloheim, "Creator and Everlasting God," El Shaddai, "Almighty, All Sufficient One," Jehovah, "I AM WHO I AM," El Roi, "God Who Sees All," J-Jirah, "God Who Provides," J-Nissi, "The Lord Who Is My Banner," Adonai, "Lord of All," J-Tsidkenu, "God Is Righteous," and J-Rapha, "God Who Heals." The next name we will see used in the Bible is Jehovah Raah, "The Lord is My Shepherd."
The Psalmist captures the essence of J-Raah in PS 138: 2, "I face Your holy temple, bow down, and praise Your name because of Your constant love and faithfulness, because You have shown that Your name and Your commands are supreme." A real Shepherd is always faithful to His charges. It is because the Lord is our Shepherd that we shall not want [PS 23: 1]. We are short-changing our Lord when we put man in the center of things with notions like, "Believe in yourself and you can do it." It is He, and not we, Who belongs in the center of our lives. The job description for a good human shepherd is given in JN 10: 11,14-15 when Jesus describes Himself as "I am the Good Shepherd, Who is willing to die for my sheep...As the Father knows Me and I know the Father, in the same way I know My sheep and they know Me. And I am willing to die for them." He compares that to the hired man who sees a wolf comes and leaves the sheep pen to escape the wolf; so the wolf comes and scatters them. The idea of a Good Shepard is not first introduced in the NT. Instead, we find it in EZK 34: 1-2, 4b, & 5, "The Lord spoke to me, 'Mortal man,' He said, 'denounce the rulers of Israel. Prophesy to them, and tell them what I, the Sovereign Lord say to them: you are doomed, you shepherds of Israel. You take care of yourselves but never tend the sheep...you treated them cruelly. Because the sheep had no shepherd, they were scattered., and wild animals killed and ate them." To put this in context, you'll remember that Ezekiel was God's prophet while the Jews were in exile in Babylonia.
Repeatedly God refers to us as sheep in the Scriptures. One of the most poignant usages of this epithet comes in IS 53: 6, "All of us were like sheep who had gone astray, each one going his own way; and the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all." This, of course, is a reference to the suffering Servant, Jesus Christ. I find it hard not to see the analogy between a loving set of parents and their little helpless child. The child must be totally dependant on his parents for every need. So, are we, as children of God, dependant on the Good Shepherd for every need we have. We are created this way in the hope that we will see our absolute poverty of spirit, our inability to live righteously without the intervention and direction of our Good Shepherd, Jesus Christ. That is why Christ said in MT 5: 3, "Blessed are the poor in spirit: for their's is the Kingdom of heaven." It should come as no surprise that Christ spoke to Peter, whom He knew would lead the church from Jerusalem, and said in JN 21: 17, "Feed My sheep."
I simply cannot complete what I have to say on this subject without giving you my personal testimony that Christ really is the Good Shepherd of my own life. Most of you know my life wasn't a happy one for the first thirty-three years. In the first part of this, I was born into a traditionally Jewish home and made to believe that my Good Shepherd was a hoax. All the while Christ knew every bit of what I went through, and as with everyone else, measured my suffering so it would force spiritual growth without breaking the strong spirit He gave me. He was preparing me for ministry, only at the time I had no clue of it. The striking contrast between my life before He made His presence known to me and afterward is enough to clarify my need to share my faith. But there is ever so much more. He brought me into the presence of believers who continually teach me the need for humility over arrogance, the need for using the talents He gave me for constructive and not destructive means, and the value of peace in my life which can only come from Him. And then, He taught me how to be a friend, a giver and not a taker, and how to love those around me as He loves us [JN 13: 34-35]. After a disastrous first marriage, He brought me a husband who shares my faith, my values, and my hopes. The almost thirty years that Peter Johnson and I have been married have been the best years of my life. The Holy Spirit keeps opening my mind and heart in ways beyond my wildest dreams. Yes, Dear Readers, my Good Shepherd has given me so much that transcends the grave and still keeps heaping it on! He does that for all who believe in and are true to Him.
PRAYER: O Lord, Your goodness and faithfulness to those who have faith in Him cannot be even estimated. As far back as 400 BC in the time of Malachi, You inspired Ezra to write in 2 CH 16: 9, "The eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to Him." By the Holy Spirit, You open our eyes and ears to Your holy presence in our lives, to Your unparalleled attributes, and to Your marvelous deeds. Our ability to perceive Your goodness and compassion, Your generosity and Your love is limited by our own strength of faith. We must ask ourselves: how willing to look for God's goodness and blessings are we? My heart was deeply touched by the story in Thomas Kinkade's [the "Painter of Light"] book, Lamp Posts for Living, that he tells about himself and his wife, Nanette, when they were first engaged. Thomas was on the west coast, and Nanette was going to school back east. He came up with the idea that they should each fill out what he called a "glow book." All during the day each was to look for examples of God's good and beauty around him and inscribe them in his book. At the end of the day, they would phone each other and share them. Dearest Lord, in the beginning, this was hard. But as they practiced, it got easier and easier. That is how it is for us. If we are willing to look for Your goodness and blessings, we will get better and better as we practice at finding them. Your love for us is profound and lasting. These verses come to mind. HO 14: 9, "The Lord says, 'Bring My people back to me. I will love them with all my heart; no longer am I angry with them.'" IS 64: 4, "No one has ever seen or heard of a God like You, Who does such deeds for those who put their hope in Him." LAM 3: 22-24, "The Lord's unfailing love and mercy still continue, fresh as the morning, as sure as the sunrise. The Lord is all I have, and so in Him I put my hope." To You, Dear Lord, I offer my adoration, worship, praise, love, and heartfelt thanks. In Christ, we pray. Amen.
Next week, the Holy Spirit leads me to continue on the names of God, this time looking at Jehovah Shammah, "God is Always Present" and Jehovah Shabaoth, "God Rules Over the Hosts of Heaven." How can we miss God's right to be worshipped and adored when we read His word, understand the meaning of His names, and allow Him to reveal Himself to us? The greatest gift of all involved God's most painful sacrifice, that of His only begotten Son on the cross, so that we who believe can be saved [JN 3: 16; RO 3: 23-25]. This was a painful sacrifice for the Father, because He had to watch His Son be scourged, mocked, and put to the most painful of all physical deaths. It was painful for the Son, because He had to endure a period of separation from the Father in order to take on the sins of the world. I am writing this devotion during Lent, which is observed to help us all remember what has been done for us. That is our Good Shepherd giving His life for His sheep and living up to His words in JN 15: 13, "The greatest love a person can have for his friends is to give his life for them." And that Dear Ones, is only the beginning of what He does for us.
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn