The Good Shepherd's Path

The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not be in want. He makes me lie down in green pastures, He leads me beside quiet waters, He restores my soul. He guides me in paths of righteousness for His Name's sake. 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. – Psalm 23:1-4

Have you ever experienced a time in your life where you felt like your relationship with God was on fire?  You took time out of each day to pray, read God's Word, talk to Him, and just spend time with Him.  Difficult things would come up, but you immediately took them to the Lord and knew that, ultimately, He was in control.  Have you ever gotten so distracted by life, deadlines, work, etc. that you lost that? 

I was there just last week.  Finishing up classes for the semester – papers to write, final exams to take – totally took my focus off the Lord.  I still took time in the morning to do my devotions, but they just felt empty.  I would come to the end of the day, exhausted, and feel like I just didn't have any more strength, energy, or time to spend with God.  So instead I read books for fun, claiming it was a stress-release.  I watched movies and tv, pointing to my work load and saying I deserved it.  Yet I would still come to the end of my day and somehow claim I didn't have any leftover time for God.  Each day I felt more and more empty.  Assignments piled up, I stayed stressed, and the work never seemed to diminish.  Somehow I made it to the end of the semester, but I was drained.  And then I attended a service on campus where God showed me what I had been attempted to do:

You were running a good race. Who cut in on you and kept you from obeying the truth? That kind of persuasion does not come from the One who calls you. – Galatians 5:7-8

I realized that I was trying to do everything on my own.  I had been running a good race – following the Lord, leaning on Him, and then slowly started turning to my own interests, my own desires.  An image of a path came into my mind.  Instead of running on the path, however, I found myself running just to the side of it.  My feet were getting caught up in mud, my face was hit by branches, and I constantly had to dodge trees.  As I watched this scene in my mind I couldn't help but think, How silly!  Wouldn't it make so much more sense to run on that flat, straight path right there?  There are no branches to hit my face, no mud to slow me down, no trees to dodge.  In the midst of this thought the Lord very gently said, "Crystal, I've laid this path out just for you.  It's flat, straight, and firm.  You chose to step off the path and run.  When you're ready, the path is still there.  I'm not moving it.  Just step back onto it and I can help."

As I realized how easily I had stepped off the path I began to cry out to the Lord to set up guardrails, some sort of fence that would keep me from stepping so easily off the path.  Even as I prayed this God began to show me that He is the Good Shepherd.  As my Shepherd, His crook gently nudges me back to the path.  If I allow him to gently lead me with His crook, I'll never get stuck in that mud again.  I simply need to recognize the crook of my Shepherd, the sound of His voice:

"I am the Good Shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me--just as the Father knows me and I know the Father--and I lay down my life for the sheep. – John 10:14-15

God has a path laid out for your life and as your Good Shepherd He desires to see you thrive and flourish as you walk along that path.  When we try to make choices without His input, complete tasks without leaning on His strength, and live as if we have to figure everything out on our own, we get caught up in the mud of life.  Branches hit our face and trees come up before us.  But remember that your Father is also your Good Shepherd.  We can choose to rebel and push away from the crook He sets out to guide us on the path or we can recognize that He truly is the Good Shepherd and desires only the best for us.  When we do this we will see that crook not as something keeping us from things we want, but as a comfort and blessing that protects us and keeps us on the path.

Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. - Psalm 23:4b

Remember

Immediately the rooster crowed the second time. Then Peter remembered the word Jesus had spoken to him: "Before the rooster crows twice you will disown me three times." And he broke down and wept. – Mark 14:72

Has God ever spoken something to you and then the next day, next week, next year you've completely forgotten about it?  Then something comes up and suddenly you remember everything He said?  I can recall doing that with a calling God made clear to me my freshman year of college.  At that time I felt God was calling me to the mission field, but I also felt certain that I was to finish school first.  I quickly got caught up in classes, majors, and future plans to the point that I forgot this calling.  It wasn't until I was accepted into Regent University's School of Divinity with a full scholarship that I suddenly remembered several years before when God told me I would be doing this.

For a while I wondered how I could forget something that significant for my life.  I found some comfort in the fact that I certainly was not the first to encounter this forgetfulness.  In Mark 14 we find the story of the last Passover Jesus celebrated with His disciples before His crucifixion.  At one point Jesus tells His disciples that all of them will fall away from Him.  It says:

Peter declared, "Even if all fall away, I will not." "I tell you the truth," Jesus answered, "today—yes, tonight—before the rooster crows twice you yourself will disown Me three times." – Mark 14:30-31

That very night Peter denied Christ three times just as Jesus said he would (Mark 14:72).  We might look at this passage and wonder how in the world Peter could have forgotten the words of Christ within the same day they were spoken!  But we must consider this in comparison to our own lives.  Peter had a lot going on.  His friend and Messiah had been arrested, those at the trial were obviously hostile towards Jesus and, in turn, His followers, and Peter was caught in the midst of all of it.  He proceeded without thought as to what Jesus had said.  He was so caught up in the situation and the speed with which life was happening in that moment that he acted without remembering first.

Was that the end of Peter?  Was he from then on forgotten, denied, and rejected because He forgot the words of his Lord?  No!  Emphatically no!  The book of Acts is riddled with the actions and words of Peter.  In Galatians 2:8 he is called an apostle to the Jews.  And let us not forget that he is credited with writing two books of the New Testament!  God recognizes that we are a forgetful people.  Consider this:  the word "remember" is used 166 times in the New International Version.  God is constantly telling His people to remember and even showing them ways in which they can remember:

Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth. – Genesis 9:16

Remember this, fix it in mind, take it to heart, you rebels.  Remember the former things, those of long ago; I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me.  – Isaiah 46:8-9

Perhaps you forgot something God commanded you to do, or not do.  Maybe it was a promise God made to you.  It could even be something God did in your life that you had forgotten about.  Take a moment to ask God to remind you of His word to you.  He is faithful to answer.  And never feel that you are somehow unworthy or rejected because you forgot what the Lord spoke to you.  Again, He is a faithful God, He created you, He loves you, and He still wants the absolute best for you.

But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. – John 14:26