“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside still waters.
He restores my soul.
He leads me in paths of righteousness
for his name's sake.
“Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will 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;
my cup overflows.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord
forever.” (Psalms 23:1-6 ESV)
If the Lord Jesus Christ is truly our Shepherd, what should that look like on our end? What do sheep do? They follow the shepherd. Yes, sometimes they wander, but the shepherd always brings them back. But what did Jesus say about his true sheep? He said they listen to him (not just with their ears but with their minds and hearts, in attentiveness and in adherence to his words), he knows them, and they follow (obey) him. They go where he leads them and they do what he says to do, and they no longer walk in deliberate sin.
[John 10:27-30; cf. Luke 9:23-26; Matthew 7:21-23; John 15:1-17]
So, we are his true sheep and he is our true Shepherd via us being crucified with him in death to sin and raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness, no longer as slaves to sin, but as slaves to God and to his righteousness. Therefore we are not to let sin continue to reign (be in control) in our mortal bodies to make us obey its desires. For if sin is what we obey, and not righteousness, and not obedience to our Lord, we don’t have eternal life with God.
[Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; Galatians 5:16-21; Ephesians 4:17-24]
So, if the Lord Jesus truly is our Shepherd, and if we are genuinely the sheep of his pasture who are listening to him and who are heeding his words and who are obeying them in his power, then we are not in want of anything that we truly need. And he leads us to put our trust solely in him, and not in man, and to rest in him, and to not be anxious about the things that are going on in the world all around us. Now we should care about what is going on, and we should pray, and he may have us speak out on some things relevant to our walks of faith, but we are not to walk in fear.
But we need to be people of God who are testing everything we are hearing and reading and think we are seeing, for liars and lies abound, and deception is everywhere you look, pretty much. So much is being altered and made to look like something else, and so much is faked and falsified and photoshopped for the whole purpose of deception. And so much that is truth is being compromised with lies and formed into willful misimpressions. So even our enemies may appear as the “good guys” while the true “good guys” are being portrayed as our enemies. So pray for much discernment!!
So, what we might think is the true “valley of the shadow of death” could be the exact opposite of that. And what we think of as evil could really be true good, while what we consider as good may be pure evil. For so much is being flip-flopped these days, on purpose, with the purpose to deceive and to lead people to believe the lies over the truth and to follow the lies and to reject the truth. So we can’t take everything at face value. We must be students of the Scriptures and people of discernment who test everything in prayer against the teachings of the Scriptures (New Covenant).
So, again, who we may regard as our enemies may really be our friends, and who we regard as our friends, on our side, may really be our enemies. And what we regard as evil may be true good while what we regard as good may be pure evil. So we need to know the Scriptures (in context), and we must be living the truth of the Scriptures in our daily lives, and walking in obedience to our Lord, or we are wide open for being deceived, especially if we are people who watch a lot of TV and who spend a lot of time on the internet on what is pure junk. We have to be following the Lord Jesus.
And if we are, and if we are listening to him, we won’t be followers of human beings, making them our gods. We won’t be looking to governments and military to save us and to protect us and to rescue us from the evils in this world. But we will be looking only to God/Christ. Then, when we go through dark times when the enemy is fiercely against us, and this being the true enemy of our souls, we will have nothing to fear, for we know that our Lord is with us, and he is helping us and encouraging us and exhorting us in the way that we should go. And then we must follow his leading.
Then, despite all those who are opposed to us, because they are opposed to Christ and to the truth of his word and of his gospel, we can be at peace in knowing that we are following the Lord in doing what he says, and that God is using our obedience to him to minister to other people, too, for their salvation from sin, and for their walks of faith and obedience to the Lord. But please make certain that what you are believing and practicing is what the Scriptures teach in context and not just what you are hearing from other humans or reading in social media memes, etc. And God will be with you.
I Will Call Upon the Lord
Words and music by Michael O'Shields
I will call upon the Lord
Who is worthy to be praised
So shall I be saved from my enemies
The Lord liveth and blessed be the Rock
And let the God of my salvation be exalted
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZIigMiXfuE
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