- araratchurch
- Apr 26, 2022
- 3 min read
“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness For His name’s sake. Yea, 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 runs over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me All the days of my life; And I will dwell in the house of the Lord Forever.”
Psalms 23:1-6 NKJV
As I was meditating on Psalms 23 today, the Holy Spirit brought an odd scripture to my mind. Now, I have read this scripture before; but it is definitely not one that just comes up in my mind. Here is the scripture:
“Thus says the Lord: “As a shepherd takes from the mouth of a lion Two legs or a piece of an ear, So shall the children of Israel be taken out Who dwell in Samaria— In the corner of a bed and on the edge of a couch!”
Amos 3:12 NKJV
Obviously, I understood that the Lord is using the actions of a shepherd to explain the terrible fate of His people who were committing idolatry: what/who would be saved would be a pitiful remnant. But what does this have to do with a good shepherd?
The Lord then directed me to this passage where—in explaining to Saul why he could defeat Goliath—David says this:
“But David said to Saul, “Your servant used to keep his father’s sheep, and when a lion or a bear came and took a lamb out of the flock, I went out after it and struck it, and delivered the lamb from its mouth; and when it arose against me, I caught it by its beard, and struck and killed it.”
I Samuel 17:34-35 NKJV
There it is. A good shepherd doesn’t just let the predator get away with snatching the sheep. Even if the sheep is in the predator’s mouth, even if the sheep is already torn apart, the good shepherd gets the sheep back…even if it’s in pieces!
Look what Jesus said about Himself:
“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep. But a hireling, he who is not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them. The hireling flees because he is a hireling and does not care about the sheep. I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own.”
John 10:11-14 NKJV
This is so powerful! Our Lord, our Good Shepherd, put Himself in the mouth of the enemy to retrieve us back to Himself! Not only that, tho He was torn in the process, He shook it off! He emerged victorious to hold our broken souls in His bosom where He makes us whole again!
Don’t you see it? David—a good shepherd—knew that there was a greater Good Shepherd Who watched over him. This Good Shepherd could do more than pull him out of the mouth of the destroyer, He could RESTORE his soul!
For today let us know and understand what David knew:
The Lord is our Good Shepherd.
Day 42 with David: One day we will live happily ever after in the Kingdom of God w/ our forever King
- araratchurch
- Apr 26, 2022
- 2 min read
“All the ends of the world Shall remember and turn to the Lord, And all the families of the nations Shall worship before You. For the kingdom is the Lord’s, And He rules over the nations.”
Psalms 22:27-28 NKJV
Castles, knights, courts, Royalty, etc., make up the fabric out of which many a fairytale has been sown. Let’s give it a try:
“Once upon a time, in a far away kingdom there was a wonderful king who was very sad. Now, he was sad because his subjects had been taken captive by a deceitful monster who made them believe a lie. Not willing to give up on them, the king sent messengers to them and showed them great signs and wonders. But nothing worked to free the people from the rule of the evil one. No matter how hard they might try, they always fell back captive to the lying one.
One day the king did something unthinkable; he sent a representative who the people would surely embrace: his perfect only son. His wonderful son would explain to the people who their king really was. He would tell them that he would set them free from the evil kingdom’s control.
Well, the wonderful son came to the place ruled by evil; he came without all the trappings of his royalty; he came as a servant. Sadly, the leaders of the people hated him and had him killed. But—what they did not know is that his kingdom could not be destroyed. And then—as he was dying—he spoke the words that would bring their release from the bonds of evil. He said, ‘Father, forgive them. They don’t understand what they’re doing!’ With that, the evil spell was broken for those who looked on this dying man, who also happened to be a king.
Happily, because his kingdom could not be destroyed, he came back from the dead and went back to his Father’s Kingdom to prepare for the subjects’ return. And—sure enough—when he comes and gets the formerly vanquished subjects, he’ll take them to his forever kingdom where he will be their forever king.
And they’ll all live happily ever after!”
The End (of sin and suffering)”
“And the Lord shall be King over all the earth. In that day it shall be— “The Lord is one,” And His name one.”
Zechariah 14:9 NKJV
In our portion from Psalms today we see David speaking at once in the place of the suffering messiah, and also praising Him for the work He has done, then forecasting His future glorious rule.
David, even though he was a king, understood that his authority came from—and was subservient to—another. He saw the day when the King’s representative would suffer and he also saw the day that the King’s representative would be King of kings and Lord of lords!
Thankfully, David understood that none of this is a fairytale. It’s all true. It is also true that the Lord will be King forever and our suffering will be over.
For today let us know and understand what David knew:
One day we will live happily ever after in the Kingdom of God with our forever King.
- araratchurch
- Apr 26, 2022
- 3 min read
“The king shall have joy in Your strength, O Lord; And in Your salvation how greatly shall he rejoice! You have given him his heart’s desire, And have not withheld the request of his lips. Selah His glory is great in Your salvation; Honor and majesty You have placed upon him. For they intended evil against You; They devised a plot which they are not able to perform. Therefore You will make them turn their back; You will make ready Your arrows on Your string toward their faces.”
Psalms 21:1-2, 5, 11-12 NKJV
OK, I’ll admit it, I wish everybody liked me. When I was younger I remember going into situations assuming that I would be liked. You see, I thought that other people were like me: I “liked” people until they gave me a reason not to like them. I soon came to find out that some people have the exactly opposite philosophy; they dislike until they find some reason to like. Even beyond that, there are some people who are going to dislike you just because of what you stand for (in their estimation). That being the case, we should actually wear as a badge of honor the fact that some people do not like us. Their disdain of us only confirms that we are standing in opposition to the kingdom they serve: the kingdom of this world. Sadly, I have seen people do ridiculous things in order to get the approval of this or that group of people. They have gone against their principles, wise counsel, and even the threat of eternal consequences, just to fit into a group or to prove that they are somehow cool or relevant.
Now—turning back to the topic of people disliking us—it even goes past the point of people not liking those who stand in opposition to their philosophy or way of being and doing; they begin to plot against those who might shed light on their evil agenda. Remember, evil is not “happy” just being able to be evil; evil wants to destroy all that is good and take away all the rights of those who they see as being in opposition to their agendas.
“Woe to those who devise iniquity, And work out evil on their beds! At morning light they practice it, Because it is in the power of their hand. They covet fields and take them by violence, Also houses, and seize them. So they oppress a man and his house, A man and his inheritance.”
Micah 2:1-2 NKJV
Yes, the Bible has a lot to say about evil plotters; none of it’s good. Sadly, their end will not be good either. But no matter how much evil may plot against you, no matter how much evil may desire to take ultimate control, in the end, we win!
In our portion from Psalms today we see that David is expressing his great joy in the salvation of the Lord, even in the face of evil plotters. He is identifying with God, and the ultimate salvation of the Lord, knowing that he is on the Lord’s side. We saw this sentiment expressed in another place in the psalms early on in our journey with David. Consider this portion from Psalms 2:
“Why do the nations rage, And the people plot a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, And the rulers take counsel together, Against the Lord and against His Anointed, saying, “Let us break Their bonds in pieces And cast away Their cords from us.” He who sits in the heavens shall laugh; The Lord shall hold them in derision. Then He shall speak to them in His wrath, And distress them in His deep displeasure:”
Psalms 2:1-5 NKJV
Make no mistake, if you base your happiness, your joy, your sense of well-being, on whether or not people are plotting against you, I’m guessing you’re never going to have joy or true happiness. Why? If you stand for righteousness, if you are a light shining in darkness, you are necessarily a target. At once, we are a light showing the way to those who seek to be rescued from their dismal state, however, those who have thrown in with the side of evil, can all the better see you because of your light. But, no matter how hard evil tries, no matter how—at times—it may seem to have succeeded, we can take joy in the salvation of the Lord. Remember, evil plotters can’t plot their way out of hell, nor can they plot our way out of the loving care of our Father and our ultimate home with Him.
For today let us know and understand what David knew:
We can have joy in the Lord’s salvation even when surrounded by evil plotters.