God Around Us

The earth is the Lord's, and all its fullness, the world and those who dwell therein.    

--Psalm 24:1  (NKJV)

From the daily Bible reading on January 31, 2013 of Psalm 24; Matthew 21:33-22:14; Exodus 7-8.

God is sovereign, He rules over all and holds sway over every created thing.  All the great abundance of life that we see and smell and hear and touch and taste, God brought into existence just by speaking His word.  Everything is His; He created it all, He owns it all, it is all His to do with as He pleases.  And He gives it all to us, for our nourishment and for our pleasure.  Yes, He provides for our physical needs with food and water and shelter.  But He also provides for our spiritual needs with all the bounty of His creation.  Our survival does not depend upon breath-taking sunsets, colorful birds and fishes and flowers, the vast variety of life, the miracle of a baby's fingers, the stars filling our night's sky.  No, these and so much more He gives us of His wondrous creation out of the pure goodness and generosity of His heart and simply for our enjoyment and pleasure.  Thank you, Lord!  Thank you, Father.

O Father, I pray that man might open his eyes and look into the night sky, the sunrise, the distant storm, and see the beauty of Your handiwork, and that it then open his heart to You.  In Jesus' name I pray.  Amen.

A Simple Shepherd

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.    

--Psalm 23:1  (NKJV)

From the daily Bible reading on January 30, 2013 of Psalm 23; Matthew 21:1-32; Exodus 5-6.

It has been quite a while since I last posted to this blog.  The demands of life and trying to do too many things at once have kept me away.  Since I last posted I have retired from the full-time workforce to give more of myself to Jesus and pursue the ministry with greater vigor.  I have applied with two churches and have given trial sermons and done interviews at each.  I know God has something good in store for me although I don't know exactly what that might be.  So I keep on the path He showed me and await His continued wonders in my life, trying to follow the personal instruction He gave me to, preach His word.  I have full confidence, trust, and faith in our Lord.

From this point forward, at least for a while, I intend to post my personal reflections on a single verse that I came across during my daily Bible reading.  The verses may seem to skip around, but only because I am reading sections from the Psalms, the Old Testament, and the New Testament.  This year I am reading from the New King James Version (NKJV), and all these posts will be from that version unless otherwise noted.  The verse I choose to look into is simply the one that most closely drew my attention.  And the comments I make are in a very small notebook, so these posts will be relatively short in size, but, hopefully, will provide much to think about and ponder.  Although I am 30 days into my reading for the year, I will start with today's session, January the 30th, 2013.  If I happen to miss a day, I'll catch it up a little later on.  So let's get to it with Psalm 23:1.

Psalm 23 is one of the most beautiful and well-known passages in the Bible.  It describes the relationship between God (and Jesus) and His children as one between a shepherd and his sheep, the ones the shepherd is responsible for and to.  God looks after us, He feeds us (physical sustenance and His word), He provides for our needs.  Jesus called Himself the Good Shepherd and told how He looks after His sheep and how they know Him and respond to His voice.  But like sheep, we too often go astray.  Even though led to the food (His holy word) or to the water (Jesus, the Living Water), we may decide not to eat and drink - it's our choice.  Jesus also expects those He calls to serve Him as shepherds over the flock He leaves behind for now.  Pastors, we call them.  Preachers and ministers charged with a flock of any size.  We must care for our flock, protect it from enemies both humans and demons from Satan's army, just as Jesus says, just as David describes.

Dear Father, in You all our needs are met.  Please guide Your sheep to the still waters, lead us to the green pastures, shelter us and feed us and seek us when we are lost.  Stand alongside those You have called and anointed as shepherds of Your flock left here on earth.  Give us the strength and courage, the patience and fortitude, and a humble servant's heart to be the shepherd Jesus would have us be.  In Jesus' name we pray.  Amen.