What if...?

Wednesday, November 30, 2022

What if the Lord had not been on our side?  Let all Israel repeat:  What if the Lord had not been on our side when people attacked us?  They would have swallowed us alive in their burning anger.  The waters would have engulfed us; a torrent would have overwhelmed us.  Yes, the raging waters of their fury would have overwhelmed our very lives.  Praise the Lord, who did not let their teeth tear us apart!  We escaped like a bird from a hunter’s trap.  The trap is broken, and we are free!  Our help is from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.  Psalm 124:1-8

I think Advent is my kind of season.  As an introspective sort, I naturally turn towards the inner self, thinking, evaluating, wondering, and (too-often) overthinking!  But, it is what it is; we are hardwired one way or another.

As much trouble as I can get into by keeping my mouth closed, and mind working, and, therefore open to criticism of being moody, or uncaring, I do sense I stay out of trouble more that way than the other.  Two sayings come to mind:

1.    Open mouth, insert foot…and

2.    Better to keep mouth closed and be thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove all doubt.

Advent was built with the thinker in mind.  To relfect is to consider deeply about what you’re doing, or what happened, or, perhaps most importantly, what’s coming.  In the Christian life, there is no larger consideration upon which to reflect than that last one…what’s coming is Jesus!

The “thinker” of Psalm 124 does all three:

He looks back:  What if the Lord had not been on our side?  The result of life in Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria would’ve been a catastrophe.  The blood would have run neck-deep to a horse for miles. 

He looks at what he does now in light of what happened:  The trap is broken, and we are free!  Freedom carries responsibility; the Psalmist doesn’t want to waste this gift of opportunity to reflect positively on God’s great kindness.

He looks very deeply at what’s coming:  Our help is from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.  To consider every last nook and cranny of creation takes a long time.  Somehow, the sober moment of escaping the tragedy of an enemy attack, has driven this thoughtful one to remember not only where he (and all Israel) would be without God’s divine favor and grace, but resolve to trust in no other strength, save the lovingkindness of JHWH, Jehovah-Jirah, the God who is I Am.

For You Today  

There is enough emotion at this time of year.  Hallmark sees to that detail.  For believers, it is a time to think, carefully, deeply, and with the very-pointed purpose of engaging where we’ve been, what we’re doing, and what’s coming. 

Advent is the stuff of life time.  What hangs in the balance for you and me is to either being engulfed by this world’s system, or released like a bird from a cage.  Prison of sin, or release to the Kingdom.  That’s Advent; that’s today!

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

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There are about 2,000 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road Devotions library.  To dig deeper on today’s topic, explore some of these: 

       Rescue   and   Committing Advent

Images:  Title Pixabay.com   Images without citation are either personal property of the author, or in public domain.

Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©   

 

The Tools of a Shepherd

Thursday, March 19, 2020

The Lord is my shepherd; I have all that I need.  He lets me rest in green meadows; he leads me beside peaceful streams.  He renews my strength.  He guides me along right paths, bringing honor to his name.  Even when I walk through the darkest valley, I will not be afraid, for you are close beside me.  Your rod and your staff protect and comfort me.  You prepare a feast for me in the presence of my enemies.  You honor me by anointing my head with oil.  My cup overflows with blessings.  Surely your goodness and unfailing love will pursue me all the days of my life, and I will live in the house of the Lord forever.  Psalm 23:1-6

There are so many dangers associated with tending a flock of sheep.  Ancient shepherds lived with the sheep to keep watch, because predators were everywhere.  The shepherd’s tools are well known, rod and staff.  The staff was a guide to help move the sheep along to the next place where there would be water and grazing.  Sheep tend to wander, so even the staff was a means of protection against just stumbling along, and perhaps winding up in a place that’s barren and unsustainable. 

I was watching a TV drama where one of the main characters was talking to a co-worker.  She asked her friend, have you ever felt like things happening to you were all connected; like you were being driven to something?  Had I been in on that conversation I would’ve jumped in and screamed, YES, YES…are you not listening?  Of course you’re being moved along, you senseless, non-attention-paying sheep!  That’s the Great Shepherd guiding your steps.

So, if the staff is for guiding, where does the rod come in?  That may be the most important tool in the shepherd’s hands.  The rod was for protection and discipline.  There are enemies of sheep that are too formidable for any sheep.  A rod was about the length of a man’s forearm, fortified with pieces of metal or rock strapped to the end.  It became a club in the hands of a skilled shepherd to drive off wolves and other predators. 

But it also became a different kind of protective tool each night.  As the sheep gathered close to the shepherd, he would use his rod like a diagnostic tool, pulling back the thick wool covering each sheep.  This was to allow the shepherd to see if there were any wounds that needed tending.  This was the comfort part of rod and staff of which David wrote.  David was a good and faithful shepherd tending the family’s flocks.  When he penned Psalm 23 it was with fond memories of simple, but profound experiences keeping watch.

And this is the task our Heavenly Father gave to The Good Shepherd, God’s son, Jesus.  We human beings are like a flock of wandering sheep who have a peculiar habit of wandering away from the Shepherd, as Isaiah said:

All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God’s paths to follow our own. Yet the Lord laid on him the sins of us all.  Isaiah 53:6

For You Today

What Isaiah said about God laying the sins of us all on the Christ of the cross, is God’s rod combing over our sheepish, wooly backs, revealing the sins of our foolishness and pride.  His omniscient eyes don’t miss a one…no matter how big or small.  And the Good Shepherd removes our sins and heals our wounds.

Take a moment just now and thank him in your best sheep prayer that the Good Shepherd is willing to live with His flock…us!

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

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Title Image:  Pixabay.com  Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation©

For other posts on Psalm 23 see In Green Pastures and Beside Still Waters  or  Enough