Sacredly Scarred

It’s the last verse in this well known Psalm.  But that was God’s sequence of stirring  my heart.

July 30, 2017

“Surely Your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life…” 

Psalm 23:6

It’s the middle of the night again, this verse keeps me up.  “The goodness of God.”  If I’m honest, I’ve thought maybe I have misinterpreted the word “good” and it’s biblical understanding and meaning.  None of this feels good.  i know i am wrong.  Last year I even brought this up with a well versed teacher of theology.  He reassured me that the translation of “good” is exactly that…good.  As I dozed off after reading it again, I was awakened by a gentle reproof.  

“Thomas doubted. Courtney, don’t doubt My goodness.”

He called me by name!  He called out my doubt.  He reminded me throughout these 13 1/2 weeks that He has indeed been good!  That His goodness does not wax and wane like the phases of the moon.  It is constant and it is real, it is expressed and it is experienced, it is His nature.  

So I went back to Psalm 23.  This time, with different lenses.  Instead of viewing it from what the sheep gains (me), i read it from the vantage of what the Shepherd does. 

The good shepherd goes before His flock and ensures that His sheep will find food , water, safety, and rest.  It does not mean that the path the sheep must travel will be easy. 

Ask any shepherd from the middle east and they will inform you of the treacherous trek that must be taken when the change in  seasons begins.  Mountaintop grazing no longer exists when the snow begins to fall and the sheep are guided into the valley by the shepherd.  A treacherous trek with constant hurdles to overcome.  

Ask any shepherd when a flock is inflicted with scab and the lengths the shepherd endures to lift each ewe and dip them into a mixture to rid them of this disease.  

Ask any shepherd what occurs when a sheep falls over on its back.  If it is not picked up and turned upright it dies from suffocation!  It can not turn over on its own, it is completely dependent on the shepherd. 

Watch a shepherd of old use his rod and you will see a skilled master as he wards off predators while also warning his wanderers.  

Watch a shepherd use his staff and realize the extension of his hand is used to guide his sheep with the best of intentions and benefits.

Psalm 23 highlights the work of the Good Shepherd…

HE makes

HE leads

HE refreshes

HE guides

HE is with me

HE comforts

HE prepares

HE anoints

HE follows….with goodness and mercy!

I could spend hours writing and reading about this verse.  I’d like to tell you that I always looked at it from this vantage point, but I didn’t.  I tend to have a bend toward self that I’m not proud of.  It can cause me to read a verse like this and make it all about me!  Don’t get me wrong, David was clear that the sheep/we benefit greatly with an abundance of life but not because we are intelligent enough to know where we should go to find nourishment for our souls; sheep will keep eating away at sprouts of grass and turn up the root leaving an entire pasture barren if the shepherd is not standing by to monitor their consumption (sound familiar to human behavior?). We are definitely not clever enough to find a quiet place or time to refresh our own souls.  According to Phillip Keller, a well known shepherd and follower of Christ,  sheep require 4 things before they will lie down to rest… 

-freedom from fear

-freedom from tension

-freedom from aggravation

-freedom from hunger

(Sound familiar to human behavior?)

Next come the right paths, surely we as humans have this one under control!  How often do you guide yourself into the right direction?  You know what path a sheep will take when left to themselves?  They follow along the same trail until it becomes a rut and they graze the same land until nothing is left!  (Sound familiar to human behavior?)

The dreaded valley of the shadow of death is next.  Are you inclined to remember that HE is with you.  He tasted that horrible death so that we only walk in its shadow.  It’s easy to fall under the assumption that you are walking it alone when pain and sorrow hit your heart.  (Sound familiar to human behavior?)

Oh how sheepish I appear when I stand on my own, walk the same path with my head down and turn up every root until I have nothing to nourish my heart.  I hear it all the time from self-help books, blogs, lectures, sermons, Christian and secular for that matter, the roar that you are a “woman,” you can do anything you want to do because you are “strong”, “independent”,  a “fighter”, a “dreamer”, a “doer.”

What a lie we can allow ourselves to be empowered by!!!  God certainly didn’t chose a sheep to remind me of how strong i am, how independent i am, or what a great fighter  i am!  It’s the most defenseless creature and has no fight in it when a predator approaches.  It is completely dependent on the work of a good shepherd.  The truth is, I’m as weak and timid as a sheep, but when i am near the Shepherd, i have the confidence of a lion!  God chose to compare me to a sheep to show me how strong HE is, to remind me that HE is the fighter and therefore victor and all glory belongs to HIM, not me!

There are numerous accounts and commentaries on this Psalm.  I happen to enjoy one written by a real shepherd or sheep rancher as he refers to himself.  It was published in 1970, by Phillip Keller, and its simple title, a shepherd looks at PSALM 23, is not only insightful and compelling but will make you fall even more in love with God!  I will leave you with his beautiful summation in hopes that your heart will be empowered by the work of Our Good Shepherd, Jesus…

“In looking back over my own life, in the light of my own love and care for my sheep, I can see again and again, similar compassion and concern for me in my Master’s management of my affairs.  There were events which at time seemed like utter calamities; there were paths down which He led me that appeared like blind allies…with my limited understanding as a finite human being I could not always comprehend His management executed in infinite wisdom.  There were times I was tempted to panic, to bolt, to leave His care.  Somehow, I had that strange stupid notion I could survive better on my own.  But despite this perverse behavior I am so glad He did not give me up.  I am so grateful he did follow me in goodness and mercy.  The only possible motivation was His own love, His care and concern for me as one of His sheep.”

“I AM the good shepherd.  The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.”

John 10:11