April 23rd Class

3:34 pm

Hey, Girls!

I'm just going to have a quick bite to eat and then I'll be back and we can go over our morning together!  In the meantime, Sally has already been giving you all a shout-out in the Comment Cafe... pop in and say hi!

later...

As I was making my way to the car with Angie at the closing of our morning together she said, "That was so good, how could we even begin to describe it?"  I agree.  Yet, something was stirring in each one of our hearts this morning, perhaps our being bold enough to share, even a small amount, would contribute so much to the growth of another.  Sally was the first to jump right in to The Comment Cafe today and give a shout-out of appreciation to her sisters... it was a pleasure to hear her joy and gratitude!

We began this morning with Debbie reading the introduction to our homework chapter, The LORD is my Shepherd... Jehovah-Raah.  We spent a portion of time looking at what each one of us, personally, would equate to 'success or succeeding' in life.  I believe that it was quite insightful and that it laid the foundation for the discussion that followed.  

It's always good to remind ourselves that Psalm 23 is not just a psalm for funerals... it is a psalm for life!  It is the outline of God's total care, total provision and total guidance of those that belong to Him... His sheep.  It is also a psalm that implies relationship, it does not state that the LORD is 'our' Shepherd, but that the LORD is 'my' shepherd! We are to take this personally, with the understanding that this is a personal relationship that is initiated by Him and also sustained by Him.

I had the girls run a few verses that shows that this personal relationship is not just relegated to Psalm 23, but that we see it all the way back in Genesis 48:15 when Israel (Jacob) was blessing his son Joseph and said, "...the God Who has been my shepherd all my life to this day."  You can also see Israel, again speaking prophetically over his son Joseph and mentioning The Shepherd in Genesis 49:24.

Psalm 78:52-53 also speaks of the total care, total provision and total guidance of The Shepherd, "But He led forth His own people like sheep and guided them in the wilderness like a flock; He led them to safety, so that they did not fear; but the sea engulfed their enemies." 

Isaiah 40:11 tells us, "Like a shepherd He will tend His flock, in His arm He will gather the lambs and carry them in His bosom; He will gently lead the nursing ewes."

In Ezekiel 34:15-16 The LORD says of Himself, "I will seek the lost, bring back the scattered, bind up the broken and strengthen the sick; but the fat and the strong I will destroy.  I will feed them with judgement."  This particular chapter needs to be read in its entirety in order to be able to understand these verses.  It is a chapter in which God, through Ezekiel is prophesying against the shepherds of Israel who were feeding themselves and not the flock.  They had not strengthen the sickly, they did not heal the diseased, the broken they had not bound up and the scattered they had not brought back nor sought out the lost.  Rather with 'force and with severity' they had dominated them.

Who better, than The Shepherd Himself, to judge the shepherds who had misused their position to shepherd the people of God?  These two verses show us that God Himself would step in and be their Good Shepherd, seeking the lost, bringing back the scattered, binding up the broken and strengthening the sick... yet He would also hold to account in judgement, those that were to care for the flock under Him.  His people are invited in Ezekiel 95:6-7 to "Come, let us bow down, let us kneel before the LORD our Maker.  For He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hand."

John 10:1-16 tells us a lot about The Shepherd and also a lot about the sheep.  We discussed how this passage clearly tells us that Jesus Himself is The Door (v.7-8) and we can see this also alluded to in John 14:6 "I am the way and the truth and the life; no one come to the Father but through Me."  Yet the question may have arisen as to who is the Doorkeeper.  I took the girls to Acts 14:27 where we read, "When they arrived and gathered the church together, they began to report all things that God had done with them and how He had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles."  John 6:44 states that "No one can come unto Me (Jesus, The Door) unless the Father Who sent Him (Jesus) draws him.  I believe that it is God the Father that is the Doorkeeper. 

  

It was insightful to see that in v. 4 we are told by Jesus Himself that The Shepherd of the sheep goes ahead of the sheep and that the sheep follow Him because they know His voice.  The Shepherd never drives the sheep from behind, He leads them by going ahead of them.  He leads, the sheep follow.  They follow because they know His voice, they KNOW Him.

We discussed Luke 15:1-5 as showing the intimacy of relationship as The Shepherd seeks out His sheep and rejoices in the finding of it.  

sheep 

singular 

one ewe  

you

He is after you.  He is not drumming His fingers, and rolling His eyes as He waits for you to show up to YADA with Him.  He knows that you are caught up in the every day of planet earth.  That's why He always takes the initiative in this, the most intimate of relationships.  He initiates this intimacy.  He sustains this intimacy.  He has come for you and He will find you... no amount of 'doing', no amount of sin, no amount of self loathing, no amount of 'I'm not worthy' or 'let me clean myself up first' will thwart His pursuit of you.  He will seek you out and find you, He will lift you up and He will place you upon His shoulders and He will take you unto Himself and His rejoicing over you will, precious girl, be your strength.  He delights in you.  

Go ahead.  

Bawl.  

Bawl over the sheer magnificent beauty of it... 

even as I tap out these words it's through tears of complete, head shaking, wonder of it all.  

I pray I'll never get over it.  

Rest.  From our past studies (Hebrews 3:18-19) we know that unbelief is what kept the Israelites from entering into God's rest.  It is unbelief that kept them in a continual cycle of disobedience. Yet we also know, that for those have believed, they have entered into His rest (Hebrews 4:3).  It is the hearing of the Word of God combined with faith that profits us in the Rest of God.  We looked again at Psalm 23:1-2 and discussed the 'waters of rest' and that once you enter through the Door and into the sheepfold, you HAVE entered into a life of rest.  It's a done deal.  So what if you don't FEEL that you have that rest?  Well, one thing we have to consider is what we discussed last week, that quite often we have confused REST with leisure and the absence of anything that we would deem to be uncomfortable or unpleasant.  We also discussed the four things that cause sheep (those that have entered into the salvation rest of God) to not fully enter into rest.  We all agreed that 'hunger', 'fear' and 'pests', whether spiritual or of the flesh. were understandable.  It was 'friction' that we spent a little time on (I would love to hear what you girls brought away from this discussion!).  I had each one hold out their arm in front of themselves, then lift the other arm and press their palms together and rub... friction!  Drop one arm and what happens... friction stops!

In my own life I have time and again called this the "I don't want to play anymore" technique.  You simply drop the ball and walk away.  The game ends.  

Simplistic? Perhaps. Yet, quite often, the friction that we have is within ourselves first.  I'll let some of the other girls speak to this before I add anything else!

We also looked at Psalm 23:3-4 again and discussed the fact that He guides us in paths of righteousness for His Namesake.  One thing I forgot to bring out here is that verse 3 is one complete thought... in other words, it is while He is guiding us in paths of righteousness (for His Namesake) that our souls are restored!  These paths of righteousness are often taken to mean those things that are mostly outside ourselves.  Our Christian walk and how we treat others.  Yet it is the inward life, the Path of Righteousness that God has placed, by His Spirit, within every one of His children that we are to walk first.  The Path of Righteousness within us is always in constant friction with the flesh.  He WILL lead us in paths of righteousness, for His Namesake, that we might live according to the spirit and not according to the flesh.  The yielding to the Spirit within, is the dying to self... Galatians 5:16 "But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh."  When you walk the internal path of righteousness for His Namesake, you are far from the eyes of others.  This is between you and God alone.  It is the walk that is not done for anyone else's eyes but His.  It's not done to impress Him... it's done in yieldedness to Him.  We get out of His Way... and He does it in us!  The outward walk is then simply a product of the fruit that has already been born within.

And that began a discussion of not how we speak about others, but how we actually speak to ourselves, that Edna responded to by saying... "I had never thought of it that way before!"  How I love that girl! 

We pretty much ended the class discussing how the paths of righteousness will always wind through the valley of the shadow of death.  Remember, your Good Shepherd is with you on The Path.  We fear no evil.  It is a biblical statement, but we need to ask ourselves... do we fear evil?  Is it deep seated, unsettling fear or is it the initial charge of adrenaline that courses quickly through us until we are reminded of the Presence and the total care, provision and guidance of our Good Shepherd?  The two are not the same and we need to know the difference.  One of the lines in the initial paragraphs of our study this week read, "It is wonderful to be able to evaluate yourself honestly and not be thrown by the facts."  We need to be honest before God when our immediate reality does not seem to line up with what God says is true about our spiritual reality in Christ as revealed to us in His Word.  This is the point where healing happens in the deepest part of our souls.  This is what it means to YADA with God.  

Well, I know that our discussion and our time together held so much more than my notes here reflect, but I left the girls with Job 22:21 as a focus regarding your Good Shepherd...

Acquaint now thyself with Him

and be at peace

thereby good shall come unto thee

with much love and joy in serving,

Come on in, 

pull up a chair, 

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The Comment Cafe