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The Father's Business Podcast
The Father's Business Podcast
The Good Shepherd: Unpacking the Profound Truths of Psalm 23 (Part 1)
What happens when we look beyond the familiar words of "The Lord is my shepherd" into the profound truths they contain? In this soul-nourishing exploration of Psalm 23, Elizabeth and Kimberly unpack the revolutionary concept of God as our personal shepherd – a radical idea in Old Testament times that foreshadowed Jesus' later claim to be the Good Shepherd.
Whether you've recited Psalm 23 countless times or are hearing these words with fresh ears, this episode invites you to experience the profound comfort of being personally known, led, and restored by the Good Shepherd who knows your name.
The Father's Business was founded by Sylvia Gunter to encourage people to a deeper relationship with God. I'm Elizabeth Gunter Powell.
Speaker 2:And I am Kimberly Roddy. Welcome to the Father's Business podcast. We are so glad that you've joined us.
Speaker 1:Welcome to our podcast, everybody. We're so glad you've joined us. We want to take some time to look at a passage that's probably familiar and beloved by a lot of us Psalm 23. I think even some people that may not be as familiar with other parts of the Bible have probably heard this quoted somewhere, or have read it and heard it at a church service or some other place. But before we get too deep into this, we want to make sure that everyone has a fresh remembrance in their mind of Psalm 23. So, Kimberly, why don't you read Psalm 23 for us? The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
Speaker 2:He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside quiet waters. He refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths. For His name's sake, even though I walk through the darkest valley, 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 overflows.
Speaker 1:Surely, your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever Such a beautiful passage and one that, kimberly, as soon as you started the first sentence, I probably could have finished the rest of it for you. But the problem with this is sometimes, I think, it's so familiar that it loses some of the depth of it. So we want to take some time today and really walk through, step by step, what Psalm 23 is really trying to say to us not just about us, because it feels very me-centered that he's my shepherd and I won't lack anything and he's doing all this for me. But Psalm 23 really reflects a lot about who God is, and so we want to take some time today to look through the lens of the character of God as we look through Psalm 23. There's going to be a lot of things that we talk about today and some of you, I know, are riding in your car listening to us and you're like, oh, I wish I could sit down or I wish I could think about this some more. There is a section of prayer portions called Praying the 23rd Psalm that you can go and a lot of the information we're going to talk about today. You can go and do some more in-depth study there. So be sure to check that out in prayer portions. But, kimberly, I think just the first five words of this verse have a depth that I don't know, that I really fully explored until I was preparing for this podcast. Know that I've really fully explored until I was preparing for this podcast.
Speaker 1:The Lord is my shepherd is a common phrase, but there is a depth there, just even starting with the Lord, because you got to remember this is Old Testament times and in the Old Testament you didn't approach the father face to face.
Speaker 1:You know, kimberly, there's the whole temple set up where only the priests were allowed to go in on certain days, after certain sacrifices, and only they could see the full presence of God.
Speaker 1:And yet David is writing about that holiness, that Jehovah, that person that is so holy that if you go in there and all your sins aren't confessed, you could be struck dead, which that would just be frightening to me if I was the priest having to do that, because they even used to tie a rope around the priest's ankle in case he was struck dead so they could pull him back out of the Holy of Holies.
Speaker 1:So someone that holy and that big and the universe creating God is also my shepherd. David is introducing this idea in the Old Testament of a much closer relationship to Jehovah than they have had before and foreshadowing, you know, jesus coming, because Jesus came. And later he says in John 10 that I am the good shepherd, I am the fulfillment of what Psalm 23 was talking about, and so just even the Lord has a lot of weight to it. And then it says is my shepherd, not just the shepherd, israel's shepherd, but my shepherd. And so there's so much personal relationship, just in these first couple of words, with a very big and mighty God.
Speaker 2:Elizabeth, there is something so personal about that idea of the Lord being our shepherd, because what that means is he knows our name, he sees us, he leads us, he even speaks to us, and I think that's powerful because, like you said, they didn't always understand that personal connection to who the Lord was said they didn't always understand that personal connection to who the Lord was.
Speaker 1:Yeah, because I mean their experience, through their own personal experience, what David had. But also, looking back, thinking even back to Moses Moses went away, he met with God in a tent, and you know, and the people stood at a distance, knowing that the holiness of God was coming down to meet with Moses. There was not this concept that we so naturally have. Like when I hear the Lord is my shepherd, I'm like, of course, the Lord is my shepherd because I have a personal relationship with Jesus, but that's not where their mind frame was.
Speaker 1:And so one of the things I love about this psalm is there are eight covenant names of God mentioned throughout scripture is there are eight covenant names of God mentioned throughout Scripture, one of them being here right here in Psalm 23, where the Lord is my shepherd, jehovah Roy. That is one of his promises. Names are important, but I believe these eight covenant names of God that are throughout Scripture and we see all of them reflected in this Psalm there's a deeper depth to the commitment the shepherd is going to have with the sheep and the comfort in knowing that the bigness of who God is is come to be shown to us in the simpleness of a shepherd.
Speaker 2:When David is saying the Lord is my shepherd. It would have been a common picture. It wouldn't have been to us. It's less common, right, it's less ordinary, but it would have been very ordinary, very simple, very known. And I think what the psalm is encouraging here is to put our confidence in a creator, because the shepherd is the one who leads and guides and protects the sheep. But what we also see in the Old Testament is that the Israelites even spoke of their leaders as shepherds, like they knew. They made those connections. They made the connections that it wasn't just the literal shepherd in the field with the literal sheep.
Speaker 2:They made the connection that shepherds were leaders of people also right. I think what these first five words as you said, one of the things it reminds us of is that shepherds were to care for their sheep, the literal shepherds, and the literal sheep, along with the shepherds who were seen as leaders like the Israelites, recognized that.
Speaker 2:And so they were to care for the people. The leaders were to care for the people who were under them. But what you also see here is that they also recognized that they were like under shepherds. They served the chief shepherd of all shepherds, who was the Lord. So right here you have that. The Lord is my shepherd. So it's not just there's a recognition of I'm not just meant to be a shepherd and hold all the power. I'm to recognize that there is a shepherd over me.
Speaker 1:Yeah, because I mean, who's writing this is David, who will be king over Israel. So, and what you're saying is, in some ways he's a shepherd over the people, but he is also recognizing he is under the leadership of the true shepherd, which is the Lord. And I love that there is this concept of a good shepherd in John 10, because, as you're talking about how there were leaders, people who shepherded the people of Israel or shepherded the sheep throughout scripture, there were times when the leadership was good and there was times when the leadership was bad. And the same. You can have two sheep farmers, or two shepherds, and one shepherd could take really good care of his sheep and another shepherd could neglect his sheep, you know, because it has to do with the character of the shepherd as well. So I love that when Jesus came and said what he said in John 10, he didn't just say I am the shepherd, I know my sheep, he said I am the good shepherd.
Speaker 1:And so, just like we've talked, sometimes Kimberly, about the whole idea of God being father and for some of us that's an easier concept to understand than others because of the reflection of our earthly father, I think in the same way because, as you said, these people were very familiar with shepherds.
Speaker 1:It's a part of their culture that they didn't need someone to sit down. Okay, here's what a shepherd does and here's how a sheep like you and I do. Because I grew up in the city, I don't know anything about a sheep or what a shepherd does, but these people understood the role of the shepherd and they'd probably seen both good and bad examples of how a shepherd takes care of his sheep, and so I love that. The rest of Psalm 23, david details as your shepherd, this is what I'm going to do, and he's basically giving the list of everything a good shepherd does, so that we can trust the shepherd is going to be there for us and take care of us, and I think you had this illustration throughout other parts of the Old Testament as well, like in Genesis 48, verses 15 through 16.
Speaker 2:At the end of Jacob's life, he's blessing Joseph and his other sons and he says the God before whom my fathers, abraham and Isaac, walked, the God who has been my shepherd all my life, long to this day the angel who has redeemed me from all evil. Bless these boys.
Speaker 2:And it's that idea again all the way back to Genesis and that's what David's picking up here. On so many things they knew God had been their shepherd and that he was faithful to them and that he cared for them. The role of the shepherd had so many different aspects. Us back to Jehovah-Rohi. Like the Lord is my shepherd, that is what we see in this Genesis passage and that's showing forth in this Psalm passage. Right, like those are the things that, like the people of God knew the Lord was their shepherd, and that role of the shepherd of caring and tending to the flock but also protecting the flock and prodding the flock to where they, directing them where they needed to go. I love where you said that, elizabeth, like remembering that he is, jesus specifically said in John that he was the good shepherd, and to remember that, I think, is really critical because, because it is that starting the psalm the Lord is my shepherd, it has to start with that point of that relationship being one that can be trustworthy, like you said.
Speaker 1:Yeah. And again, this is kind of echoing the conversations we've been having around understanding a good father and that we have this covenant relationship with him. So here he is, presenting his covenant name and saying I am going to be the one who will take care of you. And so if I put it all together and go, okay, the God, who's able to create a universe, wants to have a covenant relationship with me and care for me as a shepherd cares for a sheep. That should bring a level of peace and rest in me that I don't even need to read the rest of the psalm, like I should be able just to sit in that. But I'm grateful that David kept going and said OK, here's what that means.
Speaker 1:And the very next phrase, I lack nothing, is the hardest part of this for me to really grasp and trust of this for me to really grasp and trust, because while it is proclaiming that he is our Jehovah Jireh, which means the Lord will provide, while it is saying I am your good shepherd, I'm going to take care of you, I will lack nothing. I think that's where the rub is for us. Kimberly, is do we trust I won't lack anything? Or another version of it says I shall not want, and I'm like I want all the time. So how do we wrestle with this idea of feeling like we need more? There's all kinds of worries in our life financial stress, unmet desires, relationship issues. We could all just bring all of our stuff out and say here's everything I'm concerned about today, and yet you're telling me I lack nothing. How do you wrestle with those two truths?
Speaker 2:When Abraham in Genesis 22, when Abraham was taking Isaac up the mountain and he got there and God provided to him, I'm sure it felt like the last minute we know in God's world and God's economy. It was in God's timing, but I'm pretty certain it didn't feel like that. I'm pretty sure that Abraham felt like he was lacking right and wanting. But Abraham, in that moment, when God provided the sacrifice, abraham called that place the Lord will provide. And to this day it is said on the mountain of the Lord, it will be provided. And then you look in the New Testament, philippians 4, and we see Philippians 4, 19,. And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus. And I feel like I'm often having this conversation with people, as I'm sure you do too, elizabeth.
Speaker 2:But it's the idea that I, like I, have to tune into that space deep inside with that identity in Christ's peace, to know that as his beloved daughter, as his beloved sons, I don't need other things to affirm me. I don't need other people to understand me. I don't need other people to fulfill me. I don't need other people to fulfill me. I don't need other things to make me whole, I do lack nothing, I shall lack nothing.
Speaker 2:And while all of that is true and we can stand on it and I have to believe it it still is hard in the day to day. Yeah, I mean, there's no doubt about it. Yeah, and I think it's a place of like. I know, for me I often feel like I'm preaching to someone else while preaching to the choir here to myself that, okay, let's hold on for a minute. I know I mean practically for me. I can think about arguments and relationships or disagreements or misunderstandings that I've had in the last week or so, and I remember a time, a couple of days ago I think, where I walked away from this conversation disagreement really and I had to. It took me a few minutes, but while I'm alone, I get to the place where I'm like you're okay, you're okay, you don't need them to make you okay, you're okay. Now, what that also meant was I needed to go back and make the relationship right because I had put a burden on them.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:Right and I had put my need on them and I had put my need on them and the truth stands, jehovah Jireh like I. I'll be honest for me and my story. I feel like I've always been able to trust the Lord to provide, but I have a very narrow definition of that. I have always trusted the Lord to provide for me financially, emotionally totally different story.
Speaker 1:Right, does that make?
Speaker 2:sense.
Speaker 1:Oh, that totally makes sense. And you know, as you say, I've always trusted that the Lord will provide. I'm like, really, I mean not about you, about me, because it's like no, I can sit in this and I can say with my whole heart and I can totally mean it. And this was the struggle of my life. A lot of the time before I got married in my 30s, all through my 20s, I felt like I wasn't complete because I didn't have someone and I had to keep coming back to God is enough. I am fulfilled and I am who I am and my identity is complete because God is enough. At the same time, I would say God is enough in one area of my life and then be totally freaking out because I didn't think that. You know, the end of the month is coming and I don't have enough money to pay the bills, and so I don't believe God is enough because I don't see enough money in my bank account to cover this bill that's coming in.
Speaker 1:So for each of us, I think there's areas where it's easier for us to trust that he will meet our needs. So, like for you, kimberly financially has been okay for you, but then emotionally maybe not, and then in other ways. I think, because of all I went through in my twenties, I'm a little more solid on the I have. God has proven to me time and time again that he will be there for me emotionally when I need him. But I get more skittish and feel like I need to step in and if I don't solve the problem, it's not going to get solved and the weight of the world is on me and I've got to fix it and those types of areas over here where more worry and financial stress may come in. I think that's where I struggle. So even each of us we have a different area where we're where we struggle with I shall lack nothing. It's a hard place to live in and this is I mean this is broken cisterns all over again. We've talked about it several times on our podcast. It's when we get our eyes off of God is living water and we start running to other things because we don't believe that God is enough, or we don't believe that God will provide, or we don't think that God will fix this yearning inside of me with himself. So I've got to go find something else to try to make me feel full, and so it is. I think it is interesting that before he says anything else, right after the Lord is my shepherd.
Speaker 1:The next conclusion is I'm not in lack, or I'm not lacking anything. Because I think that is where the enemy wants to kind of come in, as he did with Adam and Eve, and say well, if God loves you so much, why is he holding out on you and saying you can't eat from that tree over there? He was trying to plant this idea of lack in their head from the very beginning, and so I think it's okay to struggle, just like your example you gave of the disagreements you had this week. It's okay to blow it.
Speaker 1:I don't think any of us are always going to be like, oh, I'm at perfect peace because the Lord is my shepherd and I like nothing and everything is always fine. I'm never stressed out and I'm never worried and I'm never awake in the middle of the night. But it's like you did, kimberly. It's like, okay, how can I get myself back to a place of knowing, no, it's going to be okay, I'm okay, god is with me, I don't need to turn to that other thing. And so it is this constant back and forth that we're all going to be going through as his sheep, to truly trust that he's being a good shepherd who's really going to take care of all of our needs.
Speaker 2:And the only reason that we can recognize that we are his sheep and he is our shepherd is because he did give us what we needed the most, which was redemption.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And so that is the we got to recognize too. That is the piece that allows me the fact that I'm redeemed, the fact that he redeemed me. Let's put the emphasis on the most important part. Right, he redeemed me. Because of that, I can say I lack nothing. There's no other reason. Right, because of the fact that he redeemed us, we can trust Him and we can release our burdens to Him. He is strong enough to carry them, and we can rest in the fact that the Lord is my shepherd. I lack nothing because he's my provider.
Speaker 1:Really easy to say, harder to live in the stress at the moment, but he is and he can be there for us, and I think it is so good to be reminded that the same God who was willing to die for you in order to redeem you, the same God who was willing to die for you in order to redeem you, how can he not be able to meet any other need that you think you?
Speaker 2:have. So this next portion says he makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside still waters, he restores my soul, and that part, I think, takes us to the name of God, jehovah Shalom, which is, god is my peace. And after what we just talked about, I think we really need to be reminded that God is my peace, right, yeah? Which takes us back to in the Old Testament, in Judges, where Gideon built an altar to the Lord and he said Jehovah Shalom, god is my peace, the Lord is my peace. And then in John 14 in the New Testament, you see Jesus saying peace, I leave with you my peace, I give you, I do not give to you as the world gives.
Speaker 1:Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. And again, we don't live in biblical culture and we don't live around a whole bunch of sheep. But if you really think about it, where this is being written, in the Middle East, there's not always water, yeah, and there's not always green pastures. And so a shepherd had to know how to find water and find green pastures for the sheep. So I think it is a beautiful dovetail to I will lack nothing. Well, I won't lack anything, because I have a shepherd who is thinking three steps ahead of me Okay, we need to find water and we need to find green things for these sheep to eat.
Speaker 1:And I don't know much about sheep, but I do know there are a few reasons why a sheep will not lie down. They won't lie down if they have any kind of critters stuck on them. They won't lie down if they have any kind of critters stuck on them. They won't lie down if they're hungry. They won't lie down if they're afraid. And they won't lie down if there's any fighting in between the sheep.
Speaker 1:I don't know if you've ever seen videos, kimberly, but there's sometimes when two sheep get into it and they run at each other and they butt heads with each other. That's the pecking order that goes on in a sheep family. I don't know what you call a pack of sheep, but there is a pecking order, and if there's ever someone who's trying to take dominance over the other one, the shepherd has to step in and mediate and get everyone calm and get everyone to lie down. And so that shepherd is doing a lot of things. He's looking for the water, he's looking for the water, he's looking for the grass, but also for each individual sheep. He's checking them and making sure they have what they want, and because a sheep will not lie down and rest until all of those needs are met, I just think that's a beautiful picture of oftentimes.
Speaker 1:You know, kimberly, you and, I think, god, are you watching Like, do you know exactly all the stuff going on in my life right now? Are you sure you know what you're up to? And yet, as a shepherd, he has to be thinking several steps ahead of us, because you don't just all of a sudden find water and grass and all of these things. And so God is far more involved in our lives and is doing far more on our behalf than our little finite minds can understand.
Speaker 2:It makes me think about. There were certain shepherds that took care of the sheep that were going to be the perfect sacrifices, right, the unblemished lambs, right. It's my understanding that those shepherds really, like they had to you were just mentioning like critters on them and things like that Like they had to really get in and check those sheep and they were examining them and they were tending to them and caring for them and making sure that there was nothing in there. Their wool and their fur was clean and without blemish. It says there's this idea that they would thresh about when they were born right on the threshing floor. The shepherd had to help that lamb stop thrashing about and so they would swaddle him. And that's the imagery of a protective, loving, tending shepherd who brings peace. He makes me lie down, he brings me to green pastures, he calms me, he restores me, and that's also the picture I think about. Is that beautiful picture of finding the unblemished lamb and protecting it?
Speaker 1:And I can feel, even as we're doing this podcast. You know, you and I both have a lot of things going on right now and just kind of more of a calm coming over us as we really just remind ourselves of these truths, which that's what I get so frustrated with myself, about ourselves. With these truths, which that's what I get so frustrated with myself about is how quickly I forget just how much care he has for me and I get so wound up in the moment and the fear and the anxiety of whatever's going on. And it's just that's why we so need moment-by-moment reminders that he is a good shepherd. He is there for you you aren't lacking anything and he's going to, he thinks of everything. He is there for you, you aren't lacking anything, and he thinks of everything, he takes care of all of the details. And so after he's done all of that, I would think, okay, we're good. But then the next phrase says he restores my soul. And that's where you see the reflection of the covenant name of God, of Jehovah Rapha, which is the Lord who heals, which is found in Exodus 15, 26.
Speaker 1:And I've been thinking about that a little this week as we're preparing for this podcast.
Speaker 1:You know, I would think, if I'm fed and I don't have any critters and I'm not afraid and I'm able to rest, like would that not be a place of completeness.
Speaker 1:But the shepherd knows, no, sometimes there's some deeper healing in there that needs to happen, and sometimes there was some deeper needs that that sheep needed. If a sheep gets turned upside down on its back, it can't flip itself back over. So the shepherd not only did, he was like okay, I fed you, I watered you, you're safe because I'm here to watch out for wolves or coyotes or dogs or whatever might try to get you, so go to bed. He's constantly watching, even through the night, to make sure someone doesn't get flipped in a direction where they can't get themselves flipped back. And so there's this deeper caring, nurturing, healing that God wants to do in our lives as we allow him to handle the things that so consume my mind, which are the practical worries of the day. All right, let's put those in the for Jesus to do box, so then God can then do a deeper work inside of me.
Speaker 2:If we know the truth of Exodus, that he's the Lord who heals us, then we also have to look at Psalm 47 that says he heals the brokenhearted and he binds up their wounds. And then in Isaiah we look at who Jesus was. We have to remember he's the good shepherd right. And so he took the place of the sheep that was led to slaughter. It was just talking about the lamb, without blemish right. He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that has brought us peace was on him and by his wounds we are healed. By his wounds we are healed, speaking of salvation, and we are his redeemed because of his sacrifice.
Speaker 2:And in the day-to-day there's I mean, that's part of the ultimate healing. And then there's the other part of the ultimate healing when we are met with Him again. And yet there's the in-between. But in the now and the not yet, in the now and the waiting, we are weary, we are without hope, we have despair, we have discouragement, we have wounds that are hard to live with.
Speaker 2:And if the Lord is our healer, then what does that mean? I mean, if he will bind up our broken hearts, then sometimes that leaves me in the day-to-day wondering do you really see me Like we just talked about? You know you're my shepherd, you provide for me, you give me peace, and yet you're my healer. Why aren't you healing me? You provide for me, you give me peace, and yet you're my healer. Why aren't you healing me? Yeah, right, and I think that's where we have to remember that God is outside of time and he has brought ultimate restoration into our lives through salvation as his children, and we are so grateful for that. And yet we wonder well, when are you going to show up for all these other things If we don't catch that thinking? That's where we get into the victim mindset. Yeah, we have to be really careful to not walk that out, because then that we just shifted, like on this phrase and as on many phrases in this, we can shift it and go. Well then, God's not my shepherd.
Speaker 1:Right. My soul's not restored Right, and so what not?
Speaker 2:restored Right. And so what does that lead me to do? That leads me to say I have to take care of myself.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:No one else is going to take care of me, I have to do that.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:And that is a very hard, callous, bitter way to live, honestly, if you look at the application of that. And yet, trust me, Elizabeth, and I could I mean we're not going to today because I don't really want to talk about it we could tell you stories. I mean, you know like how many times we sit in that place of God, are you? I prayed for God to heal my dad. I didn't see the healing I thought I would see. But there are other times where I prayed for God to heal me in places where I saw the healing and God is not. He's not a genie and I can rub his belly and he's going to show up when I want him to show up. But we have to look at who the true character of God is. He is the God who heals, yes, and he is the sovereign Lord over all things. And there's tension in that right, elizabeth.
Speaker 1:Oh, absolutely there is. And you know, oftentimes I'd love to give God advice about how he could do things differently than the way he's doing it. But that's where you have to trust the good shepherd is doing what he knows is best for the sheep. I know there are times like if a certain sheep wanders off a lot, there are times when a shepherd will break a leg of the sheep and carry the sheep in his arms for a season until that sheep learns you need to stay close to the shepherd because wandering away from me is dangerous. You could hurt yourself, an animal could get you. All things could happen.
Speaker 1:And yet there's scriptures both in the Old and the New Testament where Jesus says that you know that he'll leave the 99 to go after the one. Or you know, I, the Lord. In Ezekiel he said I, the Lord, will go find my sheep. So there is this deep compassion that he will go after us, regardless of how much we try to run from him or how wounded we may feel. But sometimes I don't like the way he does the restoration and that's the problem, because sometimes I need my little lamb legs broken for my own good, so that I can be held close to the shepherd for a season and I can allow him to really restore what needs to be done to me. And so I think that is that tension you're talking about, kimberly, is from our finite minds. We have an idea of what restoration means, and God is playing on a much bigger field than we are.
Speaker 1:There are many things in your life and mine. I was like man. I wish Kimberly didn't have to go through that, or, oh, I wish I hadn't been through that season. But as you and I have both said about some of those seasons, I wouldn't trade what God did for me in those seasons. I don't want to go through that pain again ever, and I don't want anyone I know to go through that pain again. But I wouldn't trade what God did deep in me in those seasons for who I am now. But you don't have that view until you're looking back 20 years or 10 years or five years.
Speaker 1:And so I love that all of these phrases have been in the present tense, but I love most this one is it's not he restored my soul or he will restore my soul. It is he restores. He is actively at work right now restoring those wounded places in me that maybe other people don't even know about, maybe some I'm not even fully aware of what the wound is. I'm reacting out of that wound, I am lashing out at people, but I don't fully even understand and over time, as the Good Shepherd knows the timing of all things he is restoring, he is currently present tense in my life, in Kimberly's life and all the lives of people that we love that may feel like they are the sheep that's run way, way far away from God. God is in the restoration business. He will make all things new. It just may not look the way I want it to look and it may not be in the time that I want it to happen.
Speaker 2:It's easier to see that and it may not be in the time that I want it to happen. It's easier to see that when it's not my life having that done. Oh yeah, right, oh yeah, while I was in youth ministry I was discipling. There was a particular girl that I was discipling and she had just come out of a pretty traumatic relationship and she was kind of spiraling back down into other unhealthy relationships. And I remember reaching out to one of my friends who was a counselor for help and he said you know, sometimes the shepherd has to break the sheep's legs. And I remember what you were saying. I remember going to her and confronting her and it was not comfortable or fun for her or for me in the particular situation, but I remember the love that I had for her was so deep and so real and I so wanted to care for her. She didn't feel like it was care. Oh, yeah.
Speaker 2:We felt like it was correction right. And yet she's probably well, we're both probably 10 years, probably 12 years out from that now, mm-hmm, and she's married with children and has a wonderful husband and kids, and life's not perfect. But she will say now thank you, mm-hmm, and I will tell her now how nervous I was that day to have to confront her like I did. Right, I don't like being in her shoes, I don't like being on that side where I'm having to have my legs broken and having to be carried by a shepherd, because it feels vulnerable, it feels scary, it feels correcting and it is yeah, but it's all to bring us back to, like you said, he is the God who restores, and that is a truth and a fact, and so he is present with us in all of this and he does see us.
Speaker 1:So, kimberly, this has been a rich conversation just looking over the first half of Psalm 23.
Speaker 1:And so we're going to invite everyone to come back with us next week as we look at the second half of Psalm 23. As the chapter kind of takes a turn at this point and starts to focus on other things, these first several verses we've looked at have really been about our relationship with the shepherd. So, as we close, I just want to bless everyone to be aware this week that you are loved deeply by a good shepherd, and may you walk in the confidence that the Lord is your shepherd. And may you walk in the confidence that the Lord is your shepherd, personally, your shepherd, who knows your name and leads you with loving care. And may you be blessed to know that he provides for your every need, those that are seen and unseen, and we just bless you to rest in the truth that you lack nothing in him. And may you be able to quiet your heart in his peace this week, and that you would sense in the inside if it's an emotional need or on the physical needs that you have in front of you that he is leading you to green pastures, he is leading you to still waters. He is there in the chaos of your daily life, and may you be blessed to have some time to reflect with him and celebrate the ways where he has restored things that used to be broken, and join in with him as he continues to restore the places in each of our hearts and minds that need his redemptive and restoration care. So we just bless you this week to enjoy the relationship that you have with your Good Shepherd, and we look forward to talking more with you next week.
Speaker 1:I want to thank you for listening to the Father's Business Podcast. This podcast is made possible through donations by people like you. To donate, go to wwwthefathersbusinesscom. Be sure to follow us at the Father's Biz on Instagram and Facebook.
