Continuing my 2020 Lenten Journey- with personal thoughts and commentary by Martha McDuff Wiggins on the book “Lord I Want To Know You” by Kay Arthur.
Day 35-36
Jehovah-raah, The LORD My Shepherd
23d Psalm:
The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside quiet waters.
He restores my soul;
He guides me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I fear no evil, for You are with me;
Your rod and Your staff they comfort me.
You prepare a table for me in the presence of my enemies;
You have anointed my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
Surely goodness and lovingkindness shall follow me all the days of my life;
And I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.
The 23rd Psalm is one of the most beloved prayers for those who need guidance, those who need comforting, and those who need hope. Just reading through it makes one feel feel loved, protected, and peaceful.
For the LORD to be our shepherd though, we must be His sheep.
“For this reason the Father loves, Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again. . . . But you do not believe, because you are not of My sheep. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me;” (John 10:17 and 26-27).
How do we know we follow the right shepherd and not an imposter?
He tells us in His own words in the following excerpts from John 10:
—Truly, truly I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. . . .
—The thief comes only to steal, and kill, and destroy. . . .
—He who is a hireling, and not a shepherd, who is not the owner of the sheep, beholds the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep, and flees, and the wolf snatches them, and scatters them. He flees because He is a hireling and not concerned about the sheep.
If we are not following the right shepherd we will not feel love, protected, and peaceful. Instead, we will feel insecure, fearful, and distressed. We will wander through this earthly life aimlessly.
To be one of His sheep is to be known by our name. When He appears at the gate, He calls each of His sheep by name, and they follow wherever He leads them. Even if a strange shepherd calls out to them they will not go to him, because they do not know His voice. They do not trust what they do not know to be true.
There are other sheep outside of His flock, who do not understand, and in their ignorance have followed a different shepherd. Because our LORD is the Good Shepherd, He does not want to leave them behind. “I have other sheep, which are not of this flock; I must bring them also, and they shall hear My voice; and they shall become one flock with one shepherd” (John 10:16).
What happens when we are part of His flock and we wander off, or go astray?
He comes and finds us! And if we refuse to come, He waits patiently throughout our earthly life for us to realize our mistake and return.
“What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!’ I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance” (Luke 15:4-7).
What if we repeatedly wander off?
One tool a shepherd has in his arsenal, to keep a repeat wanderer close by, is called a ‘leg brake’. Note the spelling, brake not break. He has a way of putting the brakes on the sheep, lol. It’s similar to a ball and chain. The shepherd attaches a weight to the sheep’s leg, but only heavy enough to slow its gait. In this way the Shepherd has a better chance of seeing and stopping the wanderer before it gets too far away. While the sheep may be a bit uncomfortable, it remains safe and protected within the shepherd’s care. In time the sheep will come to trust its shepherd’s care and will no longer yearn for greener pastures, so to speak. The ‘leg brake’ can then be removed.
Throughout this Study we have seen how the LORD sometimes renders His people helpless or brings them to their knees in order to make them realize their need of Him. He uses that ‘leg brake’ when we stray because He wants us to return to His loving care, to return to His flock and be safe.
How does the Good Shepherd protect His sheep from harm?
He lays across the gate opening so that nothing can get in and harm them without first going over or through Him. Nor, can the sheep get out without doing the same. He protects them with His own body.
“My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand. I and My Father are one” (John 10:27-30).
So, the name is Jehovah-raah, The LORD My Shepherd. It is a name to be trusted, a name to be called upon when we wander far from the Truth, or lose our way because we can not hear His voice in our heart.
Jehovah-raah, The LORD My Shepherd, is also the name by which we we enter the gates of heaven. He lays down (in the gate) His life for His sheep…
—“I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture” (John 10:9).
—“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep” (John 10:11).
Mental action to facilitate your Lenten Journey:
Are you feeling insecure, fearful, and distressed? Who do you look to for shepherding? A parent, a friend, a counselor? Maybe they aren’t enough.
Read John 10 in its entirety and claim His Truth. Call upon the name of Jehovah-raah, The LORD My Shepherd! He is searching for you already. He will hear you ‘bleating’ from the wilderness and come to find you. He PROMISES, and His promises neverchange.
🙏🏻💖
Further action if so inclined:
Read Psalm 23 again…
The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside quiet waters.
He restores my soul;
He guides me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I fear no evil, for You are with me;
Your rod and Your staff they comfort me.
You prepare a table for me in the presence of my enemies;
You have anointed my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
Surely goodness and lovingkindness shall follow me all the days of my life;
And I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.
It’s a great prayer to memorize! I did so many years ago and have found great comfort and refuge in it.
🙏🏻😇
(As an aside: Whenever you find Jesus saying ‘Truly, truly I say to you’ in the Bible, sit up and take note for what follows is always very important to our faith, aka a Truth. I have marked it all through my own Study Bible.)
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