Be With Me: 7 Minutes of Biblical Wonder
Be With Me is a daily 7 minute chronological walk through the New Testament hosted by Michael Smith. It is for everyone who is curious about what Jesus actually said and did in the gospels. Most episodes will leave you with at least one good thought to chew on for the rest of the day. We start with the Bible and hopefully end with Awe. We are walking through the chronological events of Jesus' life and then thoughtfully considering them. It is meant to spur the devotional life of the Christian and the not-yet-Christian. We occasionally venture into the Old Testament when it helps our understanding of the New Testament events. Everybody has 7 minutes. Everybody needs to wonder. Be With Me is hosted by Michael Smith who has absolutely no special qualifications to do a podcast. He is not a pastor. He has not been to seminary. He does not lead a mega-church. He is not a professional and he has no more credentials than you do. He does, however, follow a great God with an observant eye and a curious heart. Each day, he starts with a study bible and aims for astonishment. ‘be with him’ for 7 minutes as he sets out daily to discover the God who invites us to ‘Be With Me.’
Be With Me: 7 Minutes of Biblical Wonder
Psalm 23 has something for everybody: S30e5
Do you need leading, or correction, or protection, or rest, or restoration, or refocusing on His name and priorities?
Are you walking in a valley of the shadow of even death?
Do you need the provision of not just necessities at a table, but oil on your head, cups that overflow? A special time of favor from the Lord?
Then Psalm 23 is for you. Listen 7 minutes and subscribe.
https://youtu.be/pCVIIBIvVho
Psalm 23 has something for everybody: S30e5
Only (surely) goodness and HESED shall follow me all the days of my life
Steadfast love. Persistent, faithful, unrelenting love towards often uncooperative people. It actually has pursued you if you’re a believer.
In Ps 23, the core of God’s character is echoed from Ex34: 6 The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness,
Who knew? Ps 23 has everything. It Has: Suspense and peril comfort, presence.
Do you need the reality that the Lord is of some good, practical Good?
Do you need leading, or correction, or protection, or rest, or restoration, or refocusing on His name and priorities?
Are you walking in a valley of the shadow of even death?
Do you need the provision of not just necessities at a table, but oil on your head, cups that overflow? A special time of favor from the Lord?
Is it that you want only goodness and Hesed, faithfulness to pursue you? Do you want to dwell at the same address of God for all the “length of days”?
Then Psalm 23 is for you:
1 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside still waters.
3 He restores my soul.
He leads me in paths of righteousness f
for his name’s sake.
4 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.
5 You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord
forever.
We see here the Lord providing creaturely needs—perhaps that is what you need
Also see the Lord providing our need for the Creator, that is, Himself
We see the Lord seeing Evil, valleys, death. Allowing but LIMITING them
Can see the Lord saying to Evil valleys and the shadow of death: this far, but no further. I am sovereign. I allow, but limit how these things affect my children.
Are you experiencing a valley today? Know that you are SEEN by God in it.
He’s given you not too much. Not too far. Not unseen by Him.
If a truth or a task, Not unknowable by you.
If it is a temptation, it is not unescapable if. That is, It is endurable
if it is an enemy, a valley or an of evil. Allowed permitted aware and limited
What kind of sheep do we find in Ps 23 and elsewhere?
Is53:6 All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have turned—every one—to his own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
It is here in Ps 23 that wayward sheep find their good Shepherd
This is the Shepherd that is presented: providing of still waters, One who we can and must lie down in rest before; A soul-fixing God aka heart-healer
These are the sheep that we know ourselves to be. Shadowed. Fearful. Walking through valleys. Exposed to death—in short: in need of a Savior. In need specifically of the God of Psalm 23: faithful when we are unfaithful
Steady when we are wobbly;
He allows us to USE HIS NAME; be under the banner of His name He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
We come under the banner, and power, and authority and protection of KING
Maybe you need to come under authority primarily. Belief, entrust
Receive His name. Allow your association with Him
Maybe you have got stuff that needs to come under His authority
Mentally, or under His influence
Maybe you need to place something into the boundaries of His kingdom rather
Than having it wandering outside the boundaries of His kingdom
Maybe it is a someone that we’d intercede for that we’d humbly ask that the Good Shepherd would help put into His Kingdom
Maybe you need a heart healer today. Say another way: if you are proudly carrying around a previous heart or soul injury you might be disobedient to Ps23 and the truth it has. He restores souls if we confess and allow
Ps 23 has something for everybody. Ps23 has something for you