Psalms 23

"The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want."

The familiar words roll off my tongue as I sit in Ms. Doreen's board house.

"He maketh me to lie down in green pastures; He leadeth me beside the still waters."

There's so many memories wrapped up in this passage. Reciting it to my grandpa and receiving my $1 prize. Family devotions. Sunday morning sermons. And now another memory added. Sweating in a poor Grenadian home.

"He restoreth my soul."

My grandpa and my father both describe the soul as your mind, will and emotions. When He restores my soul, He restores those three things. 

The battle of the mind is very real. I've seen others cave in the fight, recently the mother who shot her son, then herself. Sickness in the mind is very powerful. But He can restore it.

My will. What I want to do, or don't want to do. What I get passionate or excited about. What drives me. And when I have no will, no passion, no excitement for the place I am in, He can restore it.

My emotions. My grandpa says our emotions are like a caboose on a train. Sometimes the caboose falls off the track. But if the train keeps going, the caboose will come along eventually. Somehow through the hard, and good times in life, though our caboose may fall off the tracks, as we continue to follow our Shepherd, He will restore our emotions. 

He doesn't promise how He will restore, or even when or where. He just promises to be our good Shepherd. To guide. To lead. To love. And to take the broken pieces that are meaningless in our own hands, and restore them into something for His glory.

"He leadeth me in paths of righteousness for His name's sake."

In the midst of struggles, In the midst of seeing areas in my own life where God is working, I can trust Him to lead and guide for HIS name sake. By His grace. For His glory.

"Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil."

Death has become very real and very near to our world in the last 6 months. We are not indispensible. Death can claim any life and no one is exempt. But He promises we do not need to fear. If He is our Shepherd, if we are following Him, the Creator of the universe and HE promises we need not fear, we can trust that. 

"For Thou are with me. Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort me."

He is with me. We can claim that promise and cling to it. 

"Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies. Thou anointest my head with oil. My cup runneth over."

There are times I've had an empty cup. Needing to give, but feeling empty. He can fill. He can provide. He can give abundantly more then I ask or think. But am I seeking His filling? Am I following the Shepherd?

"Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever."

All the days. Days of laughter. Days of tears. Days of light. Days of darkness. Days of unknown. 

He promises goodness and mercy. 

Because He is good. 

He is my Shepherd.

And I can trust.