By Pastor William Y. K. Brown Ph.D
(Resident Pastor)
Seventh-day Adventist Church
Osu-Bethel.
Tel: 0244165628/0243310773.
wykbrown@gmail.com
THURSDAY
THEME: THE LORD IS MY SHEPHERD: A TRUSTED RELATIONSHIP”
SCRIPTURE: Psalms 23:6
“Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me All the days of my life; And I will dwell in the house of the Lord Forever.”
REFLECTIONS
A life of trust, faith, and obedience is vital to maintaining the Shepherd – sheep relationship.
Scripture establishes the concept of Jesus as our Shepherd and we as His sheep. In John 10:11, Jesus stressed, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep.” Likewise, 1 Peter 2:25 states, “For you were like sheep going astray, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.” Then Isaiah 40:11 confirms, “He will feed His flock like a shepherd; He will gather the lambs with His arm, And carry them in His bosom. . .” Paul calls Jesus “the great shepherd of the sheep” (Hebrews 13:20).
With this background, “The Lord is my Shepherd” means a lot, including reposing our faith in Him as our Lord and Savior. Anyone who has tasted His love can testify that no other shepherd is like Him. Rightly, Isaiah 53:6 attests: “All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, everyone, to his own way; And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” When we sinned, the good Shepherd bore our sins to the cross and paid the penalty for us – indeed, “The Lord is my Shepherd.” Any true Shepherd lays down their life for the sheep.
David said because the Lord is my shepherd, “I shall not want.” What will you need that is more important than life? And what is life without God’s provision? What good thing will God not supply if He died to save us? So, Romans 8:32 contends, “He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?” Indeed, in our desperation and need, we have the assurance in Philippians 4:19, “And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” “All,” not some. Trust the Shepherd to provide because it is supreme on His agenda. The shepherd is way ahead of us with His plans, and since He has taken up the responsibility of fending for us, why should we worry?
As Jesus explains, worrying is a symptom of a lack of faith and trust in God. Matthew 6:25,31 explains: [25]“Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? [31]“Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’” Thus, we stand to declare with the psalmist in Psalms 79:13 – “So we, Your people and sheep of Your pasture, Will give You thanks forever; We will show forth Your praise to all generations.”
MY SONG OF COMMITMENT
SDAH 334 – “Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing”
LET US PRAY
– Praise and thank God for His thoughts about you; thank God for salvation and restoration; pray to abide in Him and trust His leading;
– Pray for family and loved ones to lean on Jesus as their Shepherd, wavering Christians in your congregation to wait on Christ, and for every believer to experience His love;
– Pray for people who are not well, friends you have not prayed for over quite some time; pray for any benefactor in your life, employer, and well-wishers;
– Pray for the success of evangelism and the well-being of Bible teachers, ministers, missionaries, and youth on mission for Christ; pray for the nation’s peace and proper stewardship of the environment.
