2002-01-01
Good Morning Faithful Readers,
Today Jehovah Raah, the Lord my Shepherd, leads me to begin looking at four needs which He meets for His sheep (us). These are: 1) freedom from hunger; 2) freedom from fear; 3) freedom from friction [from one’s own kind]; 4) freedom from pests. Of course, these are physical needs that sheep have that their shepherd supplies. We are going to look at them from the point of view of spiritual counterparts that we as God’s “sheep” need. The idea for this presentation is not original with me, but comes from Phillip Keller’s “ A Shepherd Looks at Psalm Twenty-Three.” I choose to share this with you, because the citations here so beautifully reveal the attributes of our Jehovah Raah.
Let’s look at freedom from hunger first. 1 PET 2: 2, “Be like newborn babies, always thirsty for pure spiritual milk, so that by drinking it you may grow up and be saved.” Just as a newborn baby begins its life with nourishment from its mother’s milk or from formula to meet its needs, as believers in Christ, we needed this spiritual milk to get us started after our first awareness of the path to spiritual maturity that extends before us. Because we didn’t start out with the discernment that a more mature Christian might have, our Jehovah Raah had to see to it that we were given truth and were protected from the adversary’s effort to deter our way along this path. One way He does this is to give us access to faithful people who can encourage us to study the Scriptures, learn to make prayer a habit, and offer us emotional support. There are times when this task isn’t easy for our Shepherd. That is because some of us must find ways to get rid of prejudice, overcome brainwashing from prior exposure to cults, endure persecution from outside sources, and deal with families who stand in opposition to our decision to become faithful in Christ. Yet, He provides for our needs and has shown Himself over and over again to be supreme in His power to overcome the evil by which we are assailed.
We must remember though that this is a path upon which the Lord is taking us. That means that the expectation is there that we will not remain as “babies” in need of milk, but, instead, will eventually move on to greater spiritual maturity. God is not pleased when that process is stalled for an unreasonable amount of time. The book of Hebrews has a passage that deals with a warning against abandoning the faith in the face of blocks the adversary tries to place in a believer’s path. You will remember that back in 63-65 AD when this letter to the Jewish Christians was written, they were being persecuted by their own families who remained traditional Jews with loss of standing in the community, loss of careers, expulsion from their synagogues, exclusion from their own families, and even imprisonment. These challenges to their faith put them in a difficult position. HE 5: 11-14, “There is much we have to say about this matter, but it is hard to explain to you, because you are so slow to understand. There has been enough time for you to be teachers-yet you still need someone to teach you the first lessons of God’s message. Instead of eating solid food, you still have to drink milk. Anyone who has to drink milk is still a child, without any experience in the matter of right and wrong. Solid food, on the other hand, is for adults, who through practice are able to distinguish between good and evil.” Such a passage begs for each of us to examine where we fit into this construct. We must ask: Am I opening my heart to the Holy Spirit and allowing myself to deepen my faith and commitment to living “in Christ?”
In OT times when the Jews, God’s chosen people, were released from bondage in Egypt and were wandering in the desert, they were not wandering aimlessly. Instead, they were told to follow a pillar of cloud during the day and a pillar of fire at night [EX 13: 21]. Nor were the Jews being commanded to do this without food and water. They were given manna [EX 16: 31] and water from a rock [EX 17: 6]. Just as babies cry who have no idea of the long hours of hard work and sacrifices their parents put in to see to all their needs, the Jews grumbled and complained. Yet, Jehovah Raah remained on the job to guide and provide for them. The Jews wandering in the desert were helpless without the provision and guidance the Lord gave them. They were his first sheep. Throughout mankind’s history, the danger of the spiritual wolf in sheep’s clothing lurked to place stumbling blocks in their path to spiritual maturity. Jesus didn’t speak the words of MT 7: 15 without ample justification. “Be on your guard against false prophets; they come to you looking like sheep on the outside, gut on the inside they are really like wild wolves.” That is why Paul felt it was so important to remind his protégé, Timothy, who would soon take over leadership of the church at Ephesus to “guard the treasure entrusted” [referring to the Gospel in 2 TIM 1: 13-14]. In 2 TIM 3: 16-17, Paul delivers a crucial message for all of us. “All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching the truth, rebuking error, correcting faults, and giving instruction for right living, so that the person who serves God may be fully qualified and equipped to do every kind of good deed.” The word of God is our manna. DT 8: 3, “He [Jehovah Raah] made you go hungry, and then He gave you manna to eat, food that you and your ancestors had never eaten before. He did this to teach you that man must not depend on bread alone to sustain him, but on everything that the Lord says.”
PRAYER: O Lord, when we decided to repent and come to faith, we became Your sheep. At that time as newcomers in Your flock, we didn’t fully realize how much we needed to depend on You. You are our Jehovah Raah, the Shepherd who supplies us with all our needs. As time went on, You wanted us to recognize the poverty of our spirit and to open our spiritual vessels allowing Your Spirit to fill them. You recognized our hunger for salvation and spiritual nourishment long before we ever did. Because You love us and have such patience and compassion for us, You began supplying us with our every need. You feed us and made us hungry for more at the same time. What great wisdom there is in that! As we became more hungry for Your word and Your presence in our lives, You made us aware of our need to trust and be dependent on You. By doing that, You make it possible for our sanctification to advance and for eternal life with You to one day become a reality. You always knew that the adversary would be there to try to thwart Your efforts to keep us on the path of truth. So You told the Psalmist to remind us in PS 119: 106, “Your word is a lamp unto my feet, a light for my path.” What greater love can their be than the love You show us everyday of our lives? We humbly approach You with our adoration, worship, trust, obedience, loyalty, honor, glory, praise, and thanksgiving. In Christ’s name, amen.
Tomorrow, we continue with citations that demonstrate how Jehovah Raah, the Lord my Shepherd, grants us freedom from fear, friction, and pests in His quest to care for us, His sheep. I stand in awe of the many ways He is giving me to express His love for us to you. The glory for all of this belongs to our loving Abba, Who wants us to surround Him, follow Him, let Him protect and provide for us, and Who cares for us when we are wounded. I hope you feel as honored as I do to be one of His sheep. Peter and I send you our love too.
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn