Dear friends in Christ,
This coming Sunday, the lectionary offers us the gift of Psalm 23. Each liturgical year, we enjoy Psalm 23 at least two times, and it never gets old.
There’s a reason this psalm is the most popular one of all 150. Psalm 23 offers lovely, poetic images to assure us that God abides with us always. We can all use this reminder. God doesn’t promise that we won’t have problems, but God does promise that when we struggle, God will be with us. As the psalm says, “for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.”
We might be so used to the imagery that we miss its significance. When we say the Lord is our shepherd, we are making important claims about God and our relationship with him. Shepherding is risky business. Shepherds stay with their sheep in fair and stormy weather. Shepherds have to fight off attackers. Shepherds have to chase down wayward sheep. Shepherds have to drive the sheep to the places where there is ample food and water. We’re saying quite a lot about God when we think of ourselves as sheep and God as our shepherd.
Read and meditate on Psalm 23. How has God sustained you? Does it encourage you to know that God will abide with you in good times and in difficult times?
Yours faithfully,
Scott Gunn
Executive Director
More from our ministry:
From the Grow Christians archives: Children’s books about the Good Shepherd
Give the gift of psalms and prayers: Book of Common Prayer, Gift Edition
Listen for God’s invitations in scripture: A Generous Beckoning
Pray the psalms with us every day at prayer.forwardmovement.org