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God's Answer to Our Anxiety Stress Relief from Psalm 23 We live in a hurry up, worry up world. Stress is something we are all prone to face, and this Psalm of six verses, 118 words and 28 pronouns is power packed with truths that can help us face and conquer the stress that surrounds us. What causes you to fret, fuss and fume, to be toss and turn, and makes you wonder, is it ever going to work out? What puts a pit in your stomach? Worry is like racing your car engine: it is stewing without doing. Worry is unhealthy, unreasonable, and unnecessary! Imagine if I came into church this morning choking myself. Would you think I am crazy? Sure, because I would be! Worry is like choking yourself. It is made up of a mere six verses, 118 words, and 28 pronouns. Let us not allow its familiarity to cause us to not glean some practical and sublime truths that can help us grow in our Spiritual lives. Today, we will consider just verse one, The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want! Here is God's answer to our anxiety! God Himself! I learn three great, liberating truths about God from this passage that give me an antidote to worry: 1. He is Eternally Contemporary The Lord IS. God is a present tense verb! He is not a WAS, He is not a HAS BEEN. He is not a WILL BE, or a SOMEDAY. God is not "Over the hill." He is not "Out of touch" with modern man. He is eternally, perfectly contemporary; He is current; He is up-to-date. When He spoke to Moses He said, I AM THAT I AM. He is the same, yesterday, today, and forever. God never goes out of date. God is never out of style. He is not someone who was good for the good old days; He is for the present day. He is a friend now and forever. Because "The LORD is" you can live in the present. You do not have to let the failures of the past depress you; do not let the fears of the future discourage you; live in the present in the presence of the LORD. He is all present everywhere, but He is present in a special way in the public, corporate worship of the church. Psalm 46:1 God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. The name LORD is Jehovah. Jehovah comes from the Hebrew root word, HAVAH, which is the verb tense, TO BE. This means God EXISTS. Do you know that the LORD is the only God who exists. Every other god that people worship does not exist. Many worship idols, others worship false gods. The eternally self existent God IS. Have you seen these bumper stickers, God is my Co-pilot? I do not know what Bible they are reading, but God does not want to be your co-pilot! He wants to be your LORD. If He is your co-pilot you'll probably crash, and He will get blamed! God is the LORD. He is the one in complete control. He calls all the shots. Let Jesus be your Lord He is Jehovah Jireh: The Lord who provides. Gen. 22:13,14. He presently provides for us. Jehovah Rapha: He is the Lord who heals. Ex. 15:26. He presently gives health and strength. Jehovah Nissi: The Lord is our banner. Ex. 17:15. He is our present victory. Jehovah Qadash: The Lord that sanctifies. Lev. 20:7,8. He presently sets us apart! Jehovah Shalom: The Lord our Peace. Judges 6:23,24 Peace is not the absense of conflict, it is not everything going just the way we had planned. Gideon named this altar, Jehovah Shalom, in spite of living in a culture full of unrest, war, instability, and violence, He had peace in his heart. HOW? He had surrendered and committed himself to the Lord. Jehovah Tsidkenu: The Lord our Righteousness: Jer. 23:6; Ex. 45:23,24 Jehovah Shammah: The Lord is There: Ex. 48:35 Jehovah Sabbaoth: The Lord of hosts: 1 Sam. 17:45 He fights our battles. This Lord, Jehovah, the Creator Divine God links Himself to lumps of clay. The Lord is MINE! 2. He is Personally Caring He is personal: He is Mine, and I am His. And He is a Shepherd. That is, He is my Owner. He is the One who personally cares for me. This is an intensely personal Psalm: 17 times he uses the word "I, MY, or ME." Do you want a real antidote to worry: Believe God is YOUR SHEPHERD. Now, if God is a Shepherd, that makes me a sheep. Sheep are very needy creatures. They cannot take care of themselves. They would be killed without a shepherd. Sheep are Defenseless and Directionless. He is not merely A Shepherd, but He can be MY Shepherd. This little word, "MY" can make a paradise of earth; it can breath joy into your gloom, and enthusiasm into your boredom. That He provides, protects, guides, and corrects. He will take care of you. He is a Shepherd. This passage says JEHOVAH is this Shepherd. Who is the Shepherd? JESUS! Jesus is Jehovah! What did the shepherd personally do for you? A. He is the GOOD SHEPHERD who GAVE His Life for the sheep: John 10:9. He personally died for you. Oh, what love! As our shepherd He gives absolute security. B. He is the GREAT SHEPHERD who ROSE AGAIN for the sheep: Heb. 13:20 Oh, what power! To conquer the grave! The resurrection demonstrates the might power of God. As our great shepherd he gives POWER! He has power to protect us from our greatest enemy of all, the Devil and Death, so He has power to protect us from all enemies that would attack our soul. C. He is the CHIEF SHEPHERD who COMES AGAIN for the sheep: 1 Peter 5:4. Oh, what joy! To deliver us from this earth under the curse. As our Chief Shepherd He gives REWARD! Accept Jesus as your Savior and Lord. The Lord cannot be your Shepherd until the Shepherd is your Lord. John 10:27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. Begin praying about everything. Hide God's Word in your heart. Appropriating and meditating on God's Word, and making it a very part of our thought processes, our thinking, is the key to joy in this world. You need a relationship, day by day, moment by moment, living in God's presence, knowing that He is your Shepherd. Take the first step today, and accept Jesus Christ as Your Savior and Shepherd. 3. He is Faithfully Consistent That is, He so meets my needs that I have no lack. I might not be rich, but I have enough. This means that I can trust Him to meet my needs. He is the shepherd who meets all my needs. He cares for me. A shepherd PROVIDES, PROTECTS, GUIDES, AND CORRECTS. If He does all of this, what do we have to worry about! What do we worry about? We worry about THINGS. MONEY. HEALTH. Worry is a control issue. Worry is an attempt to control the uncontrollable. When you worry, you are acting like an athiest! You are playing God! Why don't Christians tithe? They are worried if they do, they will not have enough to give to the Lord. A good shepherd will provide our needs. Why don't Christians come to church on Wednesday prayer meeting? It is not important? You are afraid? You are too tired? Listen, if you are a member of this church, and you are not working, I expect you to come to prayer meeting. I am expected to come. Does the shepherd not lead the sheep? I cannot do my job of teaching and equipping you for the work of ministry if you do not come to the services of the church. God will faithfully protect you and strengthen you to do the work. Why don't Christians get involved in ministry? They are afraid of failure. They do not think God can use them. They are too busy doing their own thing? We are not our own. The Lord is our Shepherd. That means He guides and corrects. Do you really let him guide you and correct you? Are you willing to let Him My response: Be content in your circumstances. Contentment is not laziness, it is not an excuse to not go forward, it is realizing my happiness does not depend on outside circumstances. It does not depend on material things, it does depend on the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. We can be sufficient within because of the Holy Spirit inside us! Contentment can be realized today. Contentment resists "WHEN and THEN" thinking. When I get that degree, then I'll be happy, when I get that new job, then I will be satisfied, When I get that face lift, then I will be satisfied with my looks. Contentment realizes that the most important things in life are not things. The story is told of a traveller who met a little boy. He taught him the first five words of this Psalm by counting the five fingers of his hand: The Lord is My Shepherd. He told the boy that whenever he became worried about what was happening to him, to just say those words with his fingers and to hold on to his ring finger. He is MY Shepherd. The man was passing through the town another time, and went to see the boy. The mother told the traveller that the boy was now dead. Are you the man who "taught my boy to say something on his fingers?" He replied that he was. "My boy, just before he died, told me to tell yu, if you ever came this way again, that he died holding the fourth finger of his hand." The little boy had laid claim to the possessive pronoun, "MY." Is the Lord your Shepherd? The Lord cannot be your Shepherd until the Shepherd is your Lord. Ask Him just now to save you. |