Word Out- Gettin' the WORD Out!

Word Out –Getting’ the Word out...

Psalm 23:1-3

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

If you missed Sunday, one of the things we talked about was that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (Proverbs 9:10). We defined this fear of God by saying it was desperate dependence resulting in reverent intimacy. One of our illustrations was my 20 month old daughter, Norah, who is pretty much FEARLESS! She’ll just take off in Wal-Mart if you let her and won’t look back! Well, this past Monday night, the FEARLESS Norah strikes again. About 9:45 Monday night, we are all still awake and the house is still full of activity…All of a sudden we hear Trinity say “oh no Norah” followed by a big THUD. We have hard wood floors so everything makes a loud noise, so our first response was to look at each other and wait for what followed. A split second later, we hear Norah, “WHAAAAA”, loud crying. The kind of crying that makes parents lose all sense of reality and knock each other down trying to get to the source. NORAH, who had been playing in her baby bed, had found a way to get her leg up over the bed rail, and had FALLEN to the floor, hence the THUD noise. Now before you call 911, CPS, my in-laws, or any of the number of people who love and help us take care of Norah, let me tell you, she was fine. A little shook up, scared, but fine. Trinity who witnessed this dramatic event was probably the most upset! We still don’t know how she did it (she must have her dad’s freakishly strong upper body, NOT)! Or WHY she did it? It just seems crazy to leave a perfectly comfortable safe place to go plummeting to the floor below! (Unless of course she knew that was a sure way to get to sleep in mom and dad’s bed, and it wasJ)

Here’s the point, aren’t we many times a lot like Norah when it comes to God, our “Shepherd”, and His “green pastures” and “still waters”? Don’t we find ourselves ignoring God’s wisdom, leaving His protection, and trying instead to do it our own way? Many of us continue to endure unnecessary pain in life, because even though we may be able to quote Psalm 23, we don’t always live like we believe it. Do we really possess this desperate dependence resulting reverent intimacy with God?

• Reread Psalm 23:1-3
• What does the Psalmist say that the Lord is to him?
• What are the results of the Lord being those things to him?
• Does your life reflect the Shepherding of God?
• In verse 3, for who’s namesake does He lead us in “paths of righteousness”?

Prayer response:

God, you are so awesome, and I don’t want to be anywhere but where you are. Forgive me for the times that I have strayed. Thank you for being my shepherd, for your protection, and provision. Make me a humble sheep who desires reverent intimacy with you. Amen.