God, My Shepherd!

Psalm 23 is probably the most popular book of the bible, I'm sure even some non-christians know it by heart. Today, I was having a conversation with my mum that opened my eyes to interpret verse 1 of this psalm differently. The New Living Translation of verse 1 reads, "The Lord is my shepherd, I have all that I need". So as my mum and I were discussing, she says, "God is your shepherd so you lack nothing, if you ever think you lack something then you don't need it". Wow! Simple as these words were, they were still so profound because for the past few months, I've been burdened by fear, worry, and uncertainty as I've thought about my future. I'm nearing the end of my masters program so I've started job hunting and just in general planning for next steps, but because these past 5 years of my life have been so tumultuous in regards to my career progress, hitting one road block or the other due to my status as an international student, that feeling of history repeating itself has begun to creep in and I've been afraid. Some nights, even being up till so late because of the fear clouding my thoughts. Just recently, I lost an internship opportunity because of this whole immigration thing, so, that fear of getting disappointed yet again has been looming. But as I began to meditate on Psalm 23, new light and hope began to arise.  

Despite the disappointments I've faced in the past few years of my life, feeling like I've lost time and that I should be further in my career by now, I am reminded that God is my shepherd. I googled what the duties of a shepherd were and the statement that jumped out to me was that "a shepherd’s primary responsibility is the safety and welfare of the flock" (Shepherd's duties). It goes on further to explain how a shepherd guides his flock to good grazing land and prevents the sheep from eating poisonous plants. The shepherd also has guard dogs and weapons to protect the sheep from predators. Reading this article in conjunction with Psalm 23 helped me conclude that God is committed to my welfare. Let that sink in for a moment... So, while we worry about everything that has gone wrong or is going wrong, nothing catches God by surprise because He is our keeper and our guide. Verse 3 says, "He guides me along right paths, bringing honor to his name". So, even when we think we've taken the "wrong paths", God is working it out to make it right. Just like a GPS, even when we make the wrong turns, it redirects. God, as the good shepherd, never leaves us stranded. And it's funny how we get so worked up about our lives when God has a vested interest in it! I love the last part of verse 3 that says "bringing honor to his name", so God guides us along the right paths because He has a name/reputation/promise to live up to/fulfill. So, we can rest in this assurance that God is wholeheartedly committed to us. 

While I only talked about the first 3 verses of Psalm 23, I encourage us to meditate on the whole of it because it has some deep revelation! So, lovelies, I hope you've been encouraged by this short post because I myself have been writing this :). I am confident that no matter how gloomy things may seem right now, we will testify of God's goodness and unfailing love (Psalm 23:6).

Let all that I am wait quietly before God, for my hope is in him. He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress where I will not be shaken. My victory and honor come from God alone. He is my refuge, a rock where no enemy can reach me (Psalm 62:5-7).