Grace to you and
peace from God our Father and our Risen Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ. Amen
When I was in
grade school we went camping one summer in the Bighorn Mountains near
Meadowlark Lake, in Wyoming.
One morning we
awoke and looked out over the meadow next to our campground, a light dew had
covered everything, and it was a pastoral scene, if ever there was one. Interesting that the word “pastoral” means
both: “land used for or related to the keeping or grazing of sheep or cattle;”
and also refers to the work of a pastor, “concerning or appropriate to the
giving of spiritual guidance.”
As we were
getting our breakfast, the woods around the perimeter of the meadow came
alive. One by one, and then, in a giant
wave, a flock of sheep emerged from the woods, thousands of sheep, and then the
dogs, about four of them, doing their thing keeping the sheep together, each
one tending to its position around the flock.
Finally, mounted
on one horse, and followed by a pack horse, there came the shepherd.
As the sheep
began to graze across the meadow the shepherd took up his position at the
campsite next to ours, where he would remain throughout the day, keeping watch
over the flock, and occasionally whistling commands to the dogs. It was a magical thing to see, for a young
boy. Especially the marvel of how the
shepherd and the dogs worked together, the dogs immediately responding to each
and every command, making sure that none of the sheep strayed from the flock.
He was a grizzly
man, probably looked a lot older than his years. A bed roll, and provisions to supply his
needs. He slept under the stars with the
sheep. His sheep wagon was located some
distance away, where he would return when needed to gather more provisions.
Predators
abounded in the woods. A rifle was on
the one horse, ready when needed. And
yet, we were told, that over the course of the grazing season each summer, very
few sheep were lost, a testament to the skill of the shepherd and his dogs.
Finally,
after the meadow was thoroughly grazed, the thousands of sheep and the shepherd
disappeared back into the woods from which they came, seeking out other meadows
to graze in.
The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not be in
want.
The LORD makes me lie down in green pastures
and leads me beside still waters.
You restore my soul, O LORD, and guide me
along right pathways for your name’s sake.
Though I walk through the valley of the
shadow of death, I shall fear no evil; for you are with me; your rod and your
staff, they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me in the
presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil, and my cup is running
over.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.
The Lord’s my Shepherd.
This is for us a
profound statement of faith, and speaks very specifically to the fact that we
simply are not alone, left to fend for ourselves, throughout the course of this
life. God is with us. God watches over us.
Our very lives
depend on the watchful eyes of the Lord, for there is much in this world that
could and would destroy us, except for the pastoral care of the shepherd we
call “Lord”.
I shall not be in want.
We think we are
in want. We live in a time and a place
where our entire nation’s economy depends on cultivating “needs” for all manner
of goods, and we want it.
Remember when we
grew up, what a simpler time it was, and how we lived well, actually, with much
less?
One of the things
that strikes me is how technology has come to dominate our lives, at least
mine.
I recall the
disbelief that I experienced when we toured the computer lab at the University
of South Dakota during my school years.
Their computer filled a large room, and I was astonished to hear that
one day they envisioned that there would be a computer in every home. Not possible, I thought.
We have three,
not counting our cell phones that are far more powerful than that computer at
the University.
Another
technological advance.
A cell
phone. Common place today. Both Karla and I have one. Land lines are becoming a thing of the past.
This is the
amazing thing. A cell phone, a smart
phone, in your hand, anywhere in the world, has
more power to communicate, and provides greater access to information,
than Ronald Reagan had aboard Air Force One, not so many years ago.
All these things
our culture believes we need, we want.
But an iPhone 10
is not what the psalm refers to when it declares that we shall not be in want.
God will provide.
There have been
many times over the course of my life, that when I looked forward to the future
it was with fear in my heart. How would
we make it? How would we pay the bills,
and care for our needs? Would we lose our
home?
Fear looking
forward, yet gratitude looking back. We’ve
faced difficult times, a plenty, but we have never been in want. Two times I have experienced unexpected
unemployment, but you know what? Never
has a bill gone unpaid.
God provided.
This is what
David means when he writes “The LORD makes me lie down in green pastures and
leads me beside still waters.” We will
have what we need.
“You restore my soul, O LORD, and guide
me along right pathways for your name’s sake.”
I have had to
fight “my demons” over the course of my life.
Alcoholism was one of them.
Depression has been a recurring problem.
And though I am a
pastor, facing these struggles it would be easy to lose faith, and be
destroyed.
You restore my soul.
Note that here,
David is no longer addressing his comments to us, but to God.
David’s prayer to
God begins with the acknowledgment that God rights what was wrong, and guides
us into the future that we might do right.
We will have
enough battles to face in this world, without having to battle with ourselves.
Though I walk through the valley of the
shadow of death, I shall fear no evil; for you are with me; your rod and your
staff, they comfort me.
A shepherd’s rod
is actually a club of sorts used to protect the sheep from predators. The staff, with the distinctive hook on the
end, was used to protect the sheep from themselves.
Though I walk
through the valley. . .
I imagine those
sheep, wandering through the woods, with wolves, cougars, and bears lurking
around.
One of the harsh
realities of this life is we have enemies, like it or not, we have enemies.
But we also have
a protector. And the Lord will not
abandon us to those who would destroy us.
You prepare a table before me in the
presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil, and my cup is running
over.
The greatest
enemy we face is death itself.
I cannot read
this Psalm without thinking about all the times I’ve read it we people who were
dying, and preached on it at their funerals.
And then there is
this verse. “you prepare a table before
me. . .”
Two Christmas
Eves come to mind, one at the beginning of my ministry in Sandpoint, the other
near the end.
In the midst of
those holidays, I visited the home of two parishioners. Mr. Stagland was dying. That was the first Christmas in Sandpoint.
And then one of
the last was when my doctor Brad was dying.
And both times,
we gathered with the family, and heard the words, “This is my body, this is my
blood, given and shed for you.”
We have the
audacity to celebrate the victory that is ours in Christ Jesus, even while the
battle still rages around us. This meal
we share is a foretaste of the feast that is to come.
Faced with our
own deaths, we receive his body, we drink his blood, simple bread and the fruit
of the vine, and by so doing unite ourselves with Him, and our lives with his.
As he died, so
will we.
But as he lives,
we live also.
And this meal
that we will share is the foretaste of that victory over death itself.
And then finally,
the promise:
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.
Life is good.
Dare we say that?
I grew up in
farming communities where one of the unwritten rules was you never proclaimed “life
is good”, but rather always prepared yourself for the next shoe to drop, the
next crisis to come. A bumper crop in
the field could be destroyed in a moment by hail or fire.
Goodness. Gratitude.
Living in today, and letting God worry about tomorrow. This is the life of faith.
And understand
that when we face hardships, either because of our own actions or forces beyond
ourselves, God will respond with mercy.
Paul writes in
the 8th chapter of Romans that nothing in all of creation will be
able to separate us from the love of God
that is ours in Christ Jesus.
We will dwell in
the house of the Lord, forever.
Children of
God. Called. Redeemed.
And Restored.
That’s who we
are.
Sheep.
Gathered from all
the corners of the earth and led by the One Shepherd of us all.
There will never
come a day that God will not provide for us, care for us, guide us, and protect
us.
There will never
come a day that we will be lost and alone in this world, for we are his.
Forever is a long
time.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.
Amen
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