Praying To Know What Reality Is Today And What I Actually Have

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 honour to his name.  Psalm 23:1-3 NLT

While these are not the traditional words of Psalm 23 they do highlight for me, and hopefully for all of us, some important things to consider. 

When I was teaching students how to read and write, one of the important features we would check and upgrade in our writings were the verbs – the action words – and it’s where I think it helps us today to focus.

The Lord IS my shepherd. 

I think that’s the first point of consideration for all of us as we seek the benefits that are described in the next verses.  Is the Lord my shepherd today?  It’s not important enough to know that Jesus is Lord or even that He offers to shepherd us in loving and generous ways.  We have to ask ourselves is Jesus MY shepherd today?  Have I opened my life to Him?  Do I surrender the direction of what I need and where to go to get it to Him?  It’s the shepherd’s job to provide for all the necessities of the sheep as they keep themselves in his care. 

Oh Lord, we want You to be our shepherd.  We can’t navigate these days on our own.  We sometimes are sheep that wander but help us to turn back and surrender to You because we need You, more desperately than we even know.  Be our shepherd today.

I HAVE all that I need 

Really?  Do I believe that?  Or am I grasping for something more in these waning days of the pandemic with the sun shining brighter and longer each day and my heart longing to get out and be with those I love, enjoying this and that?  For those who’ve been hit economically during these long months of lockdowns, now that resources are cut way down from where they were, do we still find a contentment in our hearts that we have all that we need or are we living in fear and insecurity and even bitterness at how things turned down financially for us? 

Lord, with all the change and all the ways we live in an imperfect world these days, made even more vulnerable by this pandemic, we pray today to see all that we have and find willingness in our hearts to rejoice and give thanks.  Because You have promised to be our shepherd, providing for us, help us to turn to You today with whatever needs are before us, trusting You to give us what we need. Amen  

He LETS me rest in green meadows;

He LEADS me beside peaceful streams.

We live in a world where the evil one seems to get free reign to sow fear and worry and confusion into every area.  There are so many questions, it seems, so many complicated issues.  God comes to us today and offers us peace.  He is God and He is in control.  He has authority over every broken and hurtful set of circumstances the evil one tries to keep us riled up over.  Will we let Him show us His heart and His way or will we continue with the turmoil in our hearts and minds?

Jesus, your resurrection from the dead is the definitive evidence that You have power over every sin and all evil.  Today we want to rest.  We will be still and know that You are God, just as we are commanded in scripture.  You have the solutions to every problem.  You are strength in every weakness.  You are peace in every storm.  We will rest in the green meadows, beside the peaceful streams where You have led us to today.

He RENEWS my strength. 

Pandemic fatigue … we’ve heard it talked about.  We’ve experienced it to one degree or another over and over again as the days became weeks, the weeks became months, and now we’ve moved into the years of this pandemic.  I need renewing, don’t You?  God is ready to renew us today.  So Lord, we pray back to You Your own wonderful words:

Create in me a pure heart, O God, and RENEW A STEADFAST SPIRIT within me. (Psalm 51:10)

Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly WE ARE BEING RENEWED day by day. 2 Corinthians 4:16

I WILL REFRESH the weary and satisfy the faint. - Jeremiah 31:25

… BE MADE NEW IN THE ATTITUDE OF YOUR MINDS; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. - Ephesians 4:24

He GUIDES me along right paths, BRINGING HONOUR to his name. 

Well Lord, we can’t find a better place to pause for this day, I think, than to affirm that You guide us along right paths, and bring honour to Your name as You do.  With the famous man of prayer, Thomas a Kempis we pray:

O Lord, you know what is best for me  Give me what you will, how much you will, and when you will.