𝒯𝒽𝑒 𝐿𝑜𝓇𝒹 𝒾𝓈 𝓂𝓎 𝓈𝒽𝑒𝓅𝒽𝑒𝓇𝒹, 𝐼 𝒽𝒶𝓋𝑒 𝒶𝓁𝓁 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝐼 𝓃𝑒𝑒𝒹. 𝒫𝓈𝒶𝓁𝓂 𝟤𝟥:𝟣 𝒩𝐿𝒯
David wrote the Psalms, and many have been turned into prayers and devotionals that tug at the heartstrings. They are beautifully intricated words that speak hope and truth and give glory to God. Some of them sound too good to be true. The words we speak as we read are delicately said, but have they taken root in our hearts?
Many authors have dedicated entire books to analyzing and interpreting these six verses, carefully crafting their words to capture the essence of their meaning. It is a well-studied set of poetic terms, but do we genuinely believe it when we say, "I lack nothing. With Jesus, I have all that I need."
Psalm 23 is one of the most famous Psalms known to mankind. If you do a quick Google search, you will find yourself scrolling through the endless possibilities of options dedicated to the six verses. The scriptures have been turned into melodic lyrics in songs.
Here's an example:
It's been transformed into beautiful paintings by the stroke of the brush with skilled hands.
Here is a famous one:
I have recently read a book called "A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23" by Phillip Keller. If you are interested in reading it, you can get it here: https://www.christianbook.com/a-shepherd-looks-at-psalm-23/w-keller/9780310291428/pd/291428?event=ESRCQ.
It will give you an entirely new perspective on these beautiful Words.
I believe David meant them
when he wrote them.
But as you read those words,
do you believe them?
Take it all away….
Is Jesus enough for you?
Pray through the verses word by word, and dig deep into what they mean to you.
Let God search your soul for your honest answer.
Take time to pause, read, pray, and respond.
It's effortless to express gratitude to God when everything seems to be going smoothly from a worldly standpoint. It is easy to say, "The Lord is my shepherd, I have all that I need," when we literally have all that we "need."
It's easy when all the bills are paid, the car runs smoothly, and plenty of food is available. And, of course, good health is priceless. It's easy when the yearly check-up comes, and you walk away with a clean bill of health.
When your children are happy, your marriage is surviving and thriving. It's easy when your life seems to be going well, and you can easily say, "It is well with my soul."
It's easy to say God is all I need when I have everything, including God.
But what about nothing + God?
Is it enough?
But what if those things get ripped away from our lives?
Minus God, of course, because He is always there.
Take it all away... all you are left with is God Himself.
Is He enough for you?
Is He enough to sustain you through these life challenges when he is all you have?
When all our easy-going, materialistic, convenient lives are ripped in pieces, and all we are left with is the wreckage, will God be enough?
You lose your job, the collection calls start ringing, and the threat of foreclosure comes knocking on the home you worked so hard to build. Your fridge and cupboards are only left with scraps that will hardly make a meal.
Is He enough?
The phone rings; it's your doctor with the test results from last week's visit. Your health is deteriorating, and you have no idea your life expectancy. Not that we do any other day. But the darkness overtakes you as your last breaths could be much closer than you woke up thinking.
When you hear the words you never wanted to hear come out of your spouse's mouth: I want a divorce.
Or the gut-wrenching words from the child you gave birth to: I hate you.
Your world gets turned upside down, and you forget about God's provision and presence. Instead, you blame Him for letting you go through the mess and the wreckage.
We forget that we previously said, "The Lord is my shepherd, I have all that I need," when everything has been ripped away.
Take it all away.
Take away your health.
Take away our house.
Take away your spouse.
Take away your best friend.
Take away our health.
Take away your pet/s.
Take away your kid/s.
Take away your job.
Take away your food.
Take every one of your worldly idols away.
Take it all away.
Is God, the Good Shepherd, still enough?
When everything else is gone... would you be happy with Jesus being the only thing you had left?
Psalm 23 plays in our minds, but do we believe it?
Let's look at another set of verses. They are written in red because Jesus himself proclaimed them.
“𝐼𝒻 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓁𝑜𝓋𝑒 𝓎𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝒻𝒶𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓇 𝑜𝓇 𝓂𝑜𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓇 𝓂𝑜𝓇𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓃 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓁𝑜𝓋𝑒 𝓂𝑒, 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝒶𝓇𝑒 𝓃𝑜𝓉 𝓌𝑜𝓇𝓉𝒽𝓎 𝑜𝒻 𝒷𝑒𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓂𝒾𝓃𝑒; 𝑜𝓇 𝒾𝒻 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓁𝑜𝓋𝑒 𝓎𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝓈𝑜𝓃 𝑜𝓇 𝒹𝒶𝓊𝑔𝒽𝓉𝑒𝓇 𝓂𝑜𝓇𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓃 𝓂𝑒, 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝒶𝓇𝑒 𝓃𝑜𝓉 𝓌𝑜𝓇𝓉𝒽𝓎 𝑜𝒻 𝒷𝑒𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓂𝒾𝓃𝑒. 𝐼𝒻 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓇𝑒𝒻𝓊𝓈𝑒 𝓉𝑜 𝓉𝒶𝓀𝑒 𝓊𝓅 𝓎𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝒸𝓇𝑜𝓈𝓈 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝒻𝑜𝓁𝓁𝑜𝓌 𝓂𝑒, 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝒶𝓇𝑒 𝓃𝑜𝓉 𝓌𝑜𝓇𝓉𝒽𝓎 𝑜𝒻 𝒷𝑒𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓂𝒾𝓃𝑒. 𝐼𝒻 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝒸𝓁𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓉𝑜 𝓎𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝓁𝒾𝒻𝑒, 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓌𝒾𝓁𝓁 𝓁𝑜𝓈𝑒 𝒾𝓉; 𝒷𝓊𝓉 𝒾𝒻 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝑔𝒾𝓋𝑒 𝓊𝓅 𝓎𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝓁𝒾𝒻𝑒 𝒻𝑜𝓇 𝓂𝑒, 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓌𝒾𝓁𝓁 𝒻𝒾𝓃𝒹 𝒾𝓉. 𝑀𝒶𝓉𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓌 𝟣𝟢:𝟥𝟩-𝟥𝟫
Ooof... doesn't this put Psalm 23 into perspective for us?
How does reading that make you feel?
I know for me, I feel convicted! Thank God he is a gracious God!
Jesus' words convey that he should be sufficient for us even when we lose everything we have. Spouse, kids, health, and everything else.
When everything is stripped away, we forget God's provision of our needs and question where God is in our lives.
“𝒯𝒽𝑒𝓇𝑒𝒻𝑜𝓇𝑒 𝐼 𝓉𝑒𝓁𝓁 𝓎𝑜𝓊, 𝒹𝑜 𝓃𝑜𝓉 𝓌𝑜𝓇𝓇𝓎 𝒶𝒷𝑜𝓊𝓉 𝓎𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝓁𝒾𝒻𝑒, 𝓌𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓌𝒾𝓁𝓁 𝑒𝒶𝓉 𝑜𝓇 𝒹𝓇𝒾𝓃𝓀; 𝑜𝓇 𝒶𝒷𝑜𝓊𝓉 𝓎𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝒷𝑜𝒹𝓎, 𝓌𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓌𝒾𝓁𝓁 𝓌𝑒𝒶𝓇. 𝐼𝓈 𝓃𝑜𝓉 𝓁𝒾𝒻𝑒 𝓂𝑜𝓇𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓃 𝒻𝑜𝑜𝒹, 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒷𝑜𝒹𝓎 𝓂𝑜𝓇𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓃 𝒸𝓁𝑜𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓈? 𝐿𝑜𝑜𝓀 𝒶𝓉 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒷𝒾𝓇𝒹𝓈 𝑜𝒻 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒶𝒾𝓇; 𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓎 𝒹𝑜 𝓃𝑜𝓉 𝓈𝑜𝓌 𝑜𝓇 𝓇𝑒𝒶𝓅 𝑜𝓇 𝓈𝓉𝑜𝓇𝑒 𝒶𝓌𝒶𝓎 𝒾𝓃 𝒷𝒶𝓇𝓃𝓈, 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝓎𝑒𝓉 𝓎𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝒽𝑒𝒶𝓋𝑒𝓃𝓁𝓎 𝐹𝒶𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓇 𝒻𝑒𝑒𝒹𝓈 𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓂. 𝒜𝓇𝑒 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓃𝑜𝓉 𝓂𝓊𝒸𝒽 𝓂𝑜𝓇𝑒 𝓋𝒶𝓁𝓊𝒶𝒷𝓁𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓃 𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓎? 𝒞𝒶𝓃 𝒶𝓃𝓎 𝑜𝓃𝑒 𝑜𝒻 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝒷𝓎 𝓌𝑜𝓇𝓇𝓎𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒶𝒹𝒹 𝒶 𝓈𝒾𝓃𝑔𝓁𝑒 𝒽𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝓉𝑜 𝓎𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝓁𝒾𝒻𝑒? 𝑀𝒶𝓉𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓌 𝟨:𝟤𝟧-𝟤𝟩
More words in red.
𝐵𝓊𝓉 𝒽𝑜𝓌 𝑜𝒻𝓉𝑒𝓃 𝒾𝓈 𝒿𝓊𝓈𝓉 𝒥𝑒𝓈𝓊𝓈 𝑒𝓃𝑜𝓊𝑔𝒽 𝒻𝑜𝓇 𝓊𝓈?
As I sit here and pray through that question, I can't lie because God sees my heart. I question if He is enough, but I pray that He becomes enough for me. I am human. God knows the idols in my life that would crush me to lose and make it difficult to confidently say, "Jesus is enough for me."
My heart desperately wants my Good and Faithful Shepherd to be enough, but my flesh gets in the way.
Are we bold and brave enough to proclaim to God, "Lord, I want you to be enough, strip it all away so that you become enough no matter what."
I pray one day, I will be that brave.
I pray that one day, I will be bold and faithful like David to proclaim those words with not an ounce of doubt. What about Job? He lost it all: his health, wealth, wife, and kids, and even had his friends stacked up against him, saying he must have sinned in some great capacity for such a severe punishment to come his way.
But He stayed faithful through it all.
God was his enough.
𝐈 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐇𝐢𝐦 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐦𝐲 𝐞𝐧𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡.
But my flesh undoubtedly says, at what cost?
"The Lord says, come as you are, you are enough, I love you just as you are."
Allow the Holy Spirit to work in your heart, revealing the idols in your life, and let him strip them away one at a time so that if it comes down to it, you will already know, 𝓙𝓮𝓼𝓾𝓼, YOU ARE ENOUGH!
𝓟𝓻𝓪𝔂 𝔀𝓲𝓽𝓱 𝓶𝓮
𝓛𝓸𝓻𝓭, You are such a good and faithful father, Lord. Even when my heart can't say that you are enough without any doubt, you still love me and accept me as I am. Flaws and all, Lord, you say I am enough for you. I pray one day, I can say those words back to you and mean them with every ounce of my heart and soul. Forgive me, Lord, for the things in my life that have become idols. Open my eyes to things in my life that take priority over you. Thank you for your grace, love, and compassion. Thank You, Lord, for the work on the cross by Jesus Christ that allows me to come to your throne confidently. Lord, I love you. May my life be a reflection of that love. In Jesus' precious and holy name, I pray. 𝓐𝓶𝓮𝓷.
𝕃𝕖𝕥'𝕤 𝕘𝕖𝕥 𝕤𝕠𝕔𝕚𝕒𝕝
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