Shepherd Me

I bought it years ago for $2.25.  Not the sheep; a book.

I figured it would be a good read someday.  That day has come.

“A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23”… surely, a fellow could find something he’d previously missed in a book like that.  I mean, c’mon, there are hardly more famous passages of Scripture than Psalm 23.  What hasn’t been seen there before?
But I also mean, c’mon, I’ve never been anywhere near a shepherd.  In fact, aside from some petting zoos in my childhood, I’d have to plead total ignorance if “The Daily Lives of Sheep” ever popped up as a Jeopardy category.  Alex’s money would be safe for those five questions.

In the very first chapter of this book, the writer talks about the awesome thing that it is to declare that ours are lives shepherded by Yahweh.  Imagine the countless times that David must have looked out at his flock, fully aware of the consuming task that it was to care for them.  His entire days were about being guide, provider, planner, doctor, search-and-rescue worker, feeder, and more.  Then one day, it dawned on him: “Everything that I do for these sheep, everything that I am for them… Yahweh is that for me.” 

Thinking of God as my Shepherd in times of trouble, when I desperately need a Shepherd… that’s one thing.  We’re fairly quick to do that.  Choosing to be led by Him, fed by Him, and submitted to Him for every step along the path… now that would be the life we’re called to.

That would be living our days with Yahweh as the Shepherd of our lives.

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