{"id":1984,"date":"2015-10-11T21:16:58","date_gmt":"2015-10-11T21:16:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/curwensvillealliance.org\/laurel\/?p=1984"},"modified":"2015-10-11T21:16:58","modified_gmt":"2015-10-11T21:16:58","slug":"of-sheep-and-spotlights-and-familiar-songs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.curwensvillealliance.org\/laurel\/?p=1984","title":{"rendered":"Of Sheep and Spotlights and Familiar Songs"},"content":{"rendered":"

The familiar words of Psalm 23 continue to wind through my heart this week, but with a glimmer of something that I am just beginning to understand. It’s as if the comforting phrases\u00a0are overlaid with the question “But do you really live that way?”<\/em> I see that if I\u00a0claim\u00a0“The Lord is my Shepherd,”<\/em> then it should\u00a0probably change the way I face the circumstances of this\u00a0day. I have a feeling that\u00a0this\u00a0Psalm will probably be more than\u00a0a familiar recitation from now on.\u00a0If I say “I lack nothing”<\/em> and believe He is all-sufficient for me,\u00a0maybe\u00a0I should accept\u00a0that what He gives me in the moment is enough, without worrying or complaining.\u00a0Can I see in the ups and downs of my days that “He makes me lie down in green pastures, He leads me beside quiet waters, He refreshes my soul”<\/em>? Do I truly believe this, as God’s Word to me?– or am I just appreciating\u00a0the picturesque poetry and approving of its content?<\/p>\n

It’s fairly obvious\u00a0that the best way to show my\u00a0faith is to live it– to place the full weight of my\u00a0hopes and actions on the Truth of God’s\u00a0Word and Who He Is– otherwise it’s just hollow words. But so often there is this disconnect between what I believe and what I experience.\u00a0I guess many of us are good at talking about what we believe, and many of us believe good things….but if we do not put enough stock in our beliefs\u00a0to live them out, they are not really ours at all, are they? Un-tried\u00a0beliefs are certainly not in a position to prove themselves to us (or to others) as trustworthy.\u00a0It’s like Big Brother James says, “Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.” (James 1:23-24)<\/em>\u00a0See a\u00a0facial crisis\u00a0and just walk away and forget about it?…Ha! Sheer craziness from a woman’s perspective. Yet here I am, able to recite Psalm 23 with barely a thought to what I am declaring about my relationship with the Good Shepherd.<\/p>\n

The only way to prove\u00a0what I\u00a0really believe\u00a0is to act on it, and\u00a0where those laudable declarations\u00a0and good principles enter the dust and noise of everyday life they take on shape, substance that can make a difference in this world–\u00a0the Truth\u00a0becoming flesh once again.\u00a0But of course, this is where things get difficult, because it is\u00a0unexpectedly painful to submit emotions to faith, to fix my\u00a0eyes on\u00a0Jesus’ plans instead of on circumstances, to bend my\u00a0will and perspectives to His ways. It is not an accident that Paul’s words evoke the\u00a0taming of wild horses when he says “…we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” (2 Corinthians 10:5) <\/em>Obedience is the hardest thing I\u00a0will ever do in this world. (Paul says it is warfare that will be the death of\u00a0Me, so why would it be easy?) The good news is that the smallest step forward is worth celebrating, and every step counts\u00a0toward\u00a0the final goal. And\u00a0every time the Holy Spirit brings words of Scripture to light– spotlights it so you can’t miss it and burrows it into your heart so you can’t forget it– the really sensible thing to do is pay attention and obey, start putting it into practice, one small step at a time.<\/p>\n

Looking at the Shepherd’s Psalm with an eye to obedience\u00a0makes me see how much God values my\u00a0complete and peaceful trust. The sheep does not fear or stress about anything in its world, large or small, because he rests in the Shepherd’s provision of\u00a0all things. It reminds me of the words\u00a0Amy Carmichael wrote:\u00a0“…we trust all that the love of God does– all He gives and all He does not give, all He says and all He does not say. To it all we say, by His loving enabling, ‘I trust.’ Let us be content with our Lord’s will, and tell Him so, and not disappoint Him by wishing for anything He does not give. The more we understand His love, the more we trust.” <\/em>Now this is a sheep who knows and trusts her Shepherd.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em>Amy’s life is inspiring– she is one of those women whose faith shines just ahead in the Race and beckons other women to follow.\u00a0As a single young woman, she\u00a0left her home in Ireland to be trained by China Inland Mission for missions work; despite her frail health, which often left her weak and in pain for weeks on end, she eventually came to India where she spent the rest of her life\u00a0showing God’s love in the most tangible forms\u00a0to the helpless and cast-aside.\u00a0<\/em>Many of her later years were spent bed-ridden, but from her room she continued to write down what she was learning from the Good Shepherd, as a way\u00a0to encourage\u00a0the staff\u00a0at\u00a0her Dohnavur mission and orphanage, which cared for the children and women they rescued from temple prostitution and slavery.\u00a0Hers were lessons learned in countless small ways, again and again, in the course of ordinary days and extraordinary difficulties, loneliness,\u00a0and illness, till we can look back at her life and call it remarkable. At one point, she wrote,\u00a0“Sometimes when we read the words of those who have been more than conquerors, we feel almost\u00a0despondent. ‘I shall never be\u00a0like that,’ we feel. But they won through, step by step– by little acts of will, little denials of self, little inward victories; by faithfulness in very little things, they became what they are. No one sees these little hidden steps; they only see the accomplishment; but even so, those small steps were taken. There is no sudden triumph, no spiritual maturity that is the work of a moment. So let us take courage….”<\/em><\/p>\n

Take courage indeed, beloved sheep, and do not hesitate to act on\u00a0what Jesus tells us, because we can trust in our Shepherd’s care. Step into the Spirit’s light, and prove it.<\/p>\n

~~~~~~~<\/p>\n

“My hope is built on nothing less<\/em>
\n Than Jesus blood and righteousness.<\/em>
\n I dare not trust the sweetest frame,<\/em>
\n But wholly trust in Jesus name.<\/em>
\n Christ alone,\u00a0Cornerstone–<\/em>
\n Weak made strong in the Saviour’s love;<\/em>
\n Through the storm, He is Lord…<\/em>
\n Lord of all.”<\/em>
\n(Cornerstone, Hillsong)<\/em><\/p>\n

~~~~~~~<\/p>\n

“He guides me along the right paths for His name\u2019s sake. Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.” (Psalm 23:3-4)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The familiar words of Psalm 23 continue to wind through my heart this week, but with a glimmer of something that I am just beginning to understand. It’s as if the comforting phrases\u00a0are overlaid with the question “But do you … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1984","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-god-is-enough"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9XvNH-w0","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curwensvillealliance.org\/laurel\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1984","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curwensvillealliance.org\/laurel\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curwensvillealliance.org\/laurel\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curwensvillealliance.org\/laurel\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curwensvillealliance.org\/laurel\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1984"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.curwensvillealliance.org\/laurel\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1984\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1995,"href":"https:\/\/www.curwensvillealliance.org\/laurel\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1984\/revisions\/1995"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curwensvillealliance.org\/laurel\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1984"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curwensvillealliance.org\/laurel\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1984"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curwensvillealliance.org\/laurel\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1984"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}