Pastor Bell's Words To Live By

The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness
for his name’s sake (Psalm 23:1-3 ESV).

As we come to the end of June let us reflect on the nature of the encouragement we have received from the psalmist and meditate on the ultimate goal. Once our motives are right then we will be led down the paths of righteousness. When the psalmist declares that the Lord is his shepherd he is taking a very important stand. Unlike the shepherds in the west who drive their flock and round them up with dogs, the Eastern shepherd who is the one being described here, leads his flock. Not only does he lead the flock, he sleeps with them, eats in their vicinity and knows them with all their inadequacies.

the good shepherd

The job of the shepherd then is to protect his sheep and guide or lead them to places of plenty where they can be refreshed with good green grass and have their thirsts quenched. This metaphor of God as the Eastern shepherd is exemplified by Jesus who is God and showed us by example how we as the thankful sheep should live.  The writer of Hebrews (2:17) declares that in all things he was like us, but like the shepherd he is, he went ahead of us showing us how to live a life in and guided by the Spirit. Jesus is the good shepherd because he leads by example. So he would get us early in the morning to spend time in prayer (mark 1:35); he would speak directly to spirits who were keeping his followers bound (Luke 8:43) and so on.

If Jesus is our shepherd then let us follow him even if it means going to the cross. We know that neither the cross nor the grave could contain him!

Read Psalm 23