confessions of a happy sheep

I love babysitting because it brings out the kid in me.

Tonight we made a fort, but not just any old regular fort. Noooo sir. We made a mansion-fort. Three rooms. Loads of pillows. Perfect roof. I mean, I don’t mean to brag or anything, but it was one heck of a fort!! But I must give credit where credit is due. Please put your hands together for Daniel, the mastermind behind the design, the emerging architect of this day. He made the blue-prints. (Official, I must say. He even used a blue sharpie.) And he even directed the construction. The fort lasted an hour. Success, ladies and gentlemen, success.

And then we had ice-cream, in the fort, of course. The kids say it tastes better that way.

Anyways, onto more important things… this week I pulled out some old sermon recordings of my dad’s. The ones I listened to were entitled: Confessions of a Happy Sheep, and were on Psalm 23:1. “The LORD is my Shepherd. I shall not want (for anything).” David here, when he penned those words, was looking back to his shepherd days and draws one of the most beautiful metaphors in.all.of.Scripture. What David was to his sheep (provider, protector, companion), he says that God has been to him infinity times more!!

David had what everybody wants, what everybody is searching for, what everybody would give everything for… and that is: sufficiency and security. David says, “I shall not want. And I will not fear,” *BECAUSE* “the LORD is my Shepherd.” A.W. Tozer put it well. “The man who has God for his treasure has all things in one. For having the Source of all things, he has in one – all satisfaction, all pleasure, all delight.”

Because God has always been to Himself what He needs Himself to be, is He not (more than) enough for us? Because He is self-sufficient, is He not, thus, (all) sufficient for us?

They “lacked nothing”. (Deuteronomy 2:7)
Neither will we, only if we fill the hole in our soul with the ‘fullness of God”.

The psalmist tells us –
For my weariness, I have green pastures.
For my anxieties, I have still waters.
For my faltering, I have restoration.
For my perplexity, I have guidance.
For my fear, I have comfort.
For my enemies, I have a table.
For my hurts, I have an anointing.
And for my end, I have the Father’s house. (What about that for a happy ending?)

Martin Luther once commented that “personal pronouns are the difference between true religion and false religion.” I am so glad that He is my Shepherd. I hope that He is your's.