Friday 18 May 2012

Friday Reading: Psalm 23:1-6

Key Verse: Psalm 23:1
1  The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

Devotion:
Read it out loud “The Lord is MY shepherd; I shall not want.” And if you don’t believe it the first time, read it out again. Jesus Christ IS our Lord and our Saviour. He alone is the gate to the sheep-fold. He alone is our gateway to heaven. But not only that, He is also the one who keeps a constant eye and ear out for each one of us. Whilst a human shepherd can only be in one place at one time, they become very attuned to the sounds around them and the actions and reactions of the animal life so that they understand when things are not as they should be.

But we have a Saviour who is all knowing and all seeing. We have a Saviour who is constantly watching, listening, caring for and loving each one of us. He is the one that supplies our needs and the one who makes sure that we are safe forever in His arms. If we are silly enough to run and jump off a cliff (figuratively speaking) then we are the ones who should understand that it is going to hurt when we reach the bottom of that cliff! But He is also the one standing at the top of the cliff and warning us that we should not be going there – and if we are willing to listen to Him then we will not have to face that fall in the first place!

I am sure that I am not alone in knowing that before I got to know Christ I was always seeking something in life to fit the gap that was there. I went about it in many different ways, many of which I would rather forget about than be reminded of. Even after getting to know Him I still went seeking for things not knowing just how much God is actually willing to do for me. But when I came to the realisation that God cares very deeply for me and that He tries to let me see just how much He does care, I began to rely on Him more than on the world around me.

The more that I rely on God, the more I recognise how much more He wants to care for me and the more I am willing to rely on Him. So when David said that he “should not want”, it was not the fact that he would not want for any physical things in life, because he had many trials to go through after this, but more that He knew that God would supply all that he required to keep him secure. It is an eternal security that God gives us and not one that is limited to this earth and our physical bodies. It is not just protection whilst in the sheepfold that Christ offers but eternal protection. We don’t have to look and wonder whether the grass is greener on the other side because we can be safe in the knowledge that God is supplying all that we need!

Points to Ponder:
What do you yearn for?

Are you seeking God in that same way?