Tuesday 28 July 2015

Daily Reading: Psalm 23v2

"He makes me lie down in green pastures, 
   he leads me beside quiet waters."

Everything else that follows in Psalm 23 flows from those astounding opening words "The LORD is my shepherd, I lack nothing."  As one of God's sheep this is the security that David enjoys, this is the reality of his life as he considers it.  What follows are descriptions of what God as shepherd does for his sheep.

God is the one who has provided for his life.  Sheep need pasture and water.  David pictures God as the one providing what he needs, God meets his physical needs.  The picture is of lavish provision, in Israel's dry rocky landscape with sparse tough grass, where water sources were few and far between and often changed from season to season shepherds used to travel from place to place seeking provision for their flocks.  The best shepherds learned to know where to find what their sheep needed when they needed it, and they would lead them there safely.

That is the picture David gives of God.  I was always brought up saying grace, thanking God for what was on the plate before me.  Too often, however, it was little more than unthinking rote.  But David pauses here and so ought we.  God provides our food and water, God provides the basics of life that we need.  It may be more distant for us than for David.  ASDA, Tesco, Aldi or whoever may be what the shopping bags proclaim as the source of our food but ultimately it has come from God.  God has provided for us.  And not just the food but the home in which we eat it securely, at rest.

And step back one step further, our job or the means by which we can afford our food and water and other things comes from God too.  Every person who has lovingly cared for you has been provided by God, every time someone has gotten alongside you this week to refresh you spiritually or to challenge you, provided by God. Our God abundantly supplies our needs.

When was the last time I stopped and thought about that?  When was the last time I thanked God for every provision he has given me that enables me to thrive?  When was the last time I actually stopped and properly thanked God for my food?  My house?  My job?  This matters because it is thinking about these things, meditating on them that leads David to write this Psalm, to pen this praise of God.  It is thinking about these blessings that fuels David's trust and confidence in God.

Cynicism is the enemy of confidence in God. It says God didn’t supply it I earned it, it says God didn’t supply so and so they are just being nice, or they have an ulterior motive, or that was just coincidence. No, the bible says God provides and unless we learn to see God’s provision and thank him for it then we will take it for granted and lose sight of our dependence on him - forget we're a sheep.

I was challenged recently by this quote I'm not sure who said it.  "What would life be like tomorrow if you woke up with only the things you had thanked God for today?"

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