Mensa Otabil - The Lord is Our Shepherd
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We started the week talking about a Lord, getting to know Him, becoming acquainted with Him. Although we know the Lord, serve Him, read the Bible, and pray, sometimes we forget who He is to us, and we need to remind ourselves constantly about who the Lord is. We began by saying the Lord is our shelter, strength, song, shield, and son. We are ending today with this week’s meditation and reflection on the one that is most popular for all of us: the Lord is our Shepherd. He is the one who guides, protects, and leads us along the way.
Psalm 23:1 states, «The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.» This is the most popular psalm of all, and we love it because it provides a very intimate view of who God is. The one that God used to write this psalm, inspired by the Holy Spirit, was David, who had been a shepherd. We read about him as a shepherd and how effective he was. Now, David looks at his relationship with his sheep and sees that in a broader context, he is not a shepherd; he is actually a sheep. So, he says, «The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.»
I want to focus on two things that God does for us as sheep. The first is that He supplies our needs; He takes care of us. The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. God wants us to trust Him with our needs. We all have needs: for some, it’s survival needs—food to eat, clothes to wear, money for essentials, school, and so forth. For others, the needs may be greater. Regardless of whether our needs are basic or more significant, the Lord is your Shepherd. In this season, as our world experiences turbulence and people face all kinds of dislocations in their lives, with jobs lost and businesses collapsing, surviving day to day can be a problem. I want to remind you: the Lord is your Shepherd; He will take care of you. He is your caretaker.
The second thing is that He shows us the way. He guides us, orders our steps, and directs us on where we should go. He enables us to make the right decisions. If you don’t know which way to go in this season, may the Lord order your steps. May He grant you instinctive guidance, even without you fully understanding it. May He just order your steps so that the paths you take from this point onward will be under the direction of the Holy Spirit. When the Lord is your Shepherd, you can trust Him to take care of your needs and to guide you. I pray that these two works of your Shepherd will be manifested in your life. May the Lord provide for you; may He take care of you, and may He guide you. May He order your steps and lead you to green pastures.
I am Pastor Mensa Otabil. Shalom, peace, and life to you.