Basketball and Psalm 23

Lately, I have been captivated by Psalm 23.  


Also, I have to admit to being captivated by my hometown Murray State Racer basketball team.  GO RACERS!


 I have just sat here tonight and watched them win their 22nd game in a row.  They are the only unbeaten team in college basketball and are the ninth ranked team in the country!   Yes, Murray State!


The one thing that really jumped out at me tonight is how fearlessly these guys play.  They don't get rattled and nothing seems to scare them (even to be down by 11 points).   The commentators even talked about this very thing as the game was winding down to the end.  


They said that people will have to start believing in this team because they play with no fear.   


That got me to thinking about what David says in verse 4 of Psalm 23 "I fear no evil..."  How could David say he feared nothing? 


Because "You are with me..."   See, David could say that because of what he said in verse 1...


"The LORD is My Shepherd" and for that reason he did not fear.    Do we live fearless lives? 


Satan wants to keep us in fear and most people live their lives ... how else can I say it, but just plain scared.  But if the Shepherd is truly our Lord, what do we have to fear?


I believe if we start living fearless lives, then others will start to believe in the God of the universe.  


Right now we just look like the rest of the world as we let fear control our lives.  When was the last time people were blown away by your boldness and your example of fearlessness?


"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".  (Psalm 23:4)


I am so thankful that God uses the simple things in life and makes them profound, like a group of young men led by a coach with tremendous character that have won 22 games in a row, to teach me that others will start to believe if I will live a fearless life.


"The LORD is My Shepherd"

The Sheep and the Shepherd Part 2

"The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want".

The beginning of one of the most recognized Psalm of our Bible. Even someone not raised in a church or a believer in Christ may recognize those words as something to do with God because of their popularity in the world today.

"I shall not want"

Are you truly satisfied?   

What is satisfaction?   

Mick Jagger is famous for singing "I can't get no satisfaction" and that's what the world teaches us today, that we cannot ever be satisfied and we should always seek out more and more and more and then even more.

Several years ago I was with a client about the same age as my dad.   Over the course of a couple of weeks we got to have some in-depth discussions about studying and reading the Bible, about different parts of faith, and just life in general.   

This man was a very, very successful man in the world's eyes.   He had the big house, the new cars, multiple positions of authority and power, country club membership, prosperous business, bank accounts with large balances, a wife, kids, grandkids, and health.   In the eyes of the world, what more could he want?   

This man had it all.   

This man was a success.  

This man should be satisfied.   

This man should not want.

This man was miserable.

I held this grown man in my arms while he sobbed.  Not just a single tear sliding down his cheek - this man sobbed.

"The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want".

This man did not have the one and only thing that would satisfy his soul, the Lord was not his shepherd.  That's really what our heart truly yearns for---that's what you were made for---for HIM!!!  We will never be truly satisfied apart from HIM.  

Satan has convinced us that "things" are where we get our satisfaction but David makes it clear in this Psalm that true peace and satisfaction can only come from one place...The Lord!  Are we teaching the next generations this truth?  Do they see us living our lives this way?

"My sheep hear my voice,and I know them, and they follow me."  (John 10:27)

Are we so focused on pursuing things to bring us satisfaction that we can't even hear our Shepherd's voice?  

What if our families, our churches, our communities, and workplaces saw us living our lives with:

Peace(Ps 23:2-3)?

Fearlessness(Ps.23:4)?

Security(Ps.23:5-6)?

All because "The Lord is My Shepherd".

I think things would be different.  I think folks would be attracted to what they would see in our lives and would start to believe in this GOD that we say we worship.

Is the Lord your Shepherd?

Better yet ...

Is the Shepherd truly your Lord?

The Sheep and The Shepherd

"THE LORD IS MY SHEPHERD"

Today in ABF class we talked about Psalm 23.  Next to John 3:16, this is probably one of the most often quoted sections of scripture from the Bible.  These words have been sung by mothers to soothe a crying baby, whispered by young men as they ran at an enemy across a bloody battlefield, spoken over a flower covered coffin at a graveside, and recited by children on countless hot summer days during vacation bible school.  

"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 before me in the presence of my enemies; You have anointed my head with oil; My cup overflows. Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life, And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever".

Most of you probably didn't even really read these verses just now, but glanced over them quickly because you were so familiar with them.   Oh yeah, we got these down pat.   

AND THAT IS THE PROBLEM!    

Our common knowledge - our familiarity - with these verses puts us on dangerous ground.   Do we even really pay attention to the first 5 words?   The words that I believe are the most important in the entire chapter?  A grasp of those first 5 small but incredibly important words is needed to really understand the next 4 words... "I shall not want".

"THE LORD IS MY SHEPHERD"

THE = not "a" but "the".   David knew there was only 1 God.   At the time David was writing this psalm, experts believe the Egyptians had 360 different gods; that is a different one for almost every day of the year.   And the Canaanites whom David would have been very familiar with, worshipped many different gods as well.  But David knew His God was "The".

LORD = one who rules over all. The word used for Lord was Jehovah, the Jews most sacred name for deity.  Jehovah is my shepherd! 

IS = always has been, always will be.   Our God is eternal.

MY = not a shepherd, but MY shepherd.  Our relationship with the Lord is personal.

SHEPHERD = responsible for every care the sheep might have, to be their guide, their protector, their constant companion.

"THE LORD IS MY SHEPHERD"

The one who never had a beginning and never has an ending, the ruler of the universe, the great I AM is my shepherd!  

But it gets even better.   3 different times in the NT Jesus is referred to as a shepherd.  

John 10, Hebrews 13, 1 Peter 5   

The Good Shepherd lays down His life/The Great Shepherd rose from the dead/The Chief Shepherd is coming to take us out of this mess!

When you think about Jesus in Psalm 23 - you are talking about His deity as Lord and His humanity as shepherd.   A king and a shepherd.   A God who is able and a shepherd who is available.   

"THE LORD IS MY SHEPHERD"

Is the Lord your shepherd?   The answer to that is the key to the entire chapter.  

Without Jesus as your Lord and Shepherd - you will never be able to say "I shall not want".   Only the Sovereign and the Shepherd leads to satisfaction.  

So much more that we talked about in class today - especially those next 4 words...

"I SHALL NOT WANT"

We'll catch up tomorrow.  

  

Are we limiting HIM in our lives??

Recently I read this from Oswald Chambers..."We limit the Holy One by remembering only what we have allowed Him to do for us in the past."   I had to ask myself .."Is that my expectation of God?"  I would have to say alot times it probably is, but why do I think that way?   Hasn't scripture constantly shown me that HE can do the amazing and it even states that what is impossible with man is possible with GOD.  My wife and I were talking yesterday about my recent health issues and she said she had been pondering whether or not we should be claiming victory for God that he answered prayers in making this mass that was found not be cancer.  The doctors are saying that it apparently is something related to an old football injury.  NO!  It's HIM answering prayers and HIM doing more for me than anything HE had done in my past!!   My expectation of HIM has to be based on who HE is not my past experiences.   We see in Joshua 10:12-13 what that looks like...Joshua was leading an attack of the Amorites and HE asked God to do something that would seem "crazy" by most of our thinking.
"O sun stand still at Gibeon,and O moon in the valley of Aijalon.  So the sun stood still and the moon stopped until the nation avenged themselves of their enemies."

Joshua had an "audacious faith" to ask God to make the sun stand still.  Scripture doesnt tell us that God had ever done anything like this before for Joshua.  So he wasn't limiting God by his own past experiences. What's really crazy is that it says GOD did what Joshua asked!   WOW!!  That is the GOD we serve.  GOD chose to answers Joshua's prayer.  HE did what only HE could do.  HE did it in a way that cant be explained and that His people would never forget.  HE wants to do exceedingly,abundanly more than we could ever imagine so we can marvel at HIM everyday.  How about asking and trusting HIM to do just that!!!!