Prescription for a Comeback

September 12, 2013

“He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness…”  (Psalm 23: 3)

What is considered by some to be the greatest chapter in the Bible is the best description ever written of what the relationship of a human being with God can be.  I call this psalm “Sheep Talk” because it’s like a sheep is telling us what a great Shepherd he has.  The opening statement of the sheep is the key to the relationship.  When the Lord is his Shepherd he has multiple blessings.  According to the second verse this relationship is established when his Shepherd makes him lie down. When he gets up again he loses those blessings.

He is telling us this has happened and he needs a spiritual comeback.  The prescription for his comeback is that his Shepherd leads him in the paths of righteousness.  This is the second time he uses the word “leads.” His Shepherd not only leads him beside still waters but when he needs restoration he is led in the paths of righteousness.  The second time he uses this word it is a Hebrew word for “drives me” into what is right.

By application, when we need a comeback we should not seek a cheap one.  We should cooperate with our Shepherd as He drives us into the paths of what is right, perhaps for several years, until He restores our soul.  I personally experienced this kind of comeback in the early eighties that lasted nearly a decade.

Rick Warren said “We’re all in recovery.  What do you think the word ‘salvation’ means?”  Do you need a spiritual comeback?  Don’t look for a cheap one.  Ask God to show you the paths of righteousness that will restore your soul.

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Posted by Dick Woodward

To it or Through it?

March 16, 2013

“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.”  (Psalm 23:4)

The great Shepherd psalm of David is the most familiar chapter in the Bible.  It is loved by Jews, Catholics and all the shades and grades of Protestants.  Psalm 23 is the greatest description ever written of what the relationship between God and man can be.

After declaring that his God makes him lie down in green pastures and leads him beside still waters David also declares there to be times when he finds himself in a valley that is so dark it is like the shadow of death.  However, he is comforted by the staff of his Shepherd.  He is referencing the confidence he has in the ability of his Shepherd to lead him through that valley, not just to that valley.

He is also comforted by the rod of his Shepherd.  The rod of a shepherd was a defensive weapon used to keep predators away from the sheep.  David is saying here that he has great confidence in the ability of his Shepherd to protect him from anything he might encounter in that valley.

The bottom line is that David knows his Shepherd God can not only lead him to a valley but through that valley.

Are you in a valley right now?  If you are, realize your Shepherd God wants to lead you through that valley.  Trust His perfect ability to lead and protect you all the way through your valley.

Faith nearly always involves choices.  The choice is yours. So, which is it going to be?  Is it going to be “To it, or through it?”

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Posted by Dick Woodward

A Beautiful Word

August 28, 2012

“Surely Your goodness and unfailing love will pursue me all the days of my life…” (Psalm 23:6 NLT)

Mercy is the unconditional love of God.  This beautiful word is found three hundred and sixty-six times in the Bible.  (Perhaps God wants us to know we need His unconditional love, every day of the year – and He even covers Leap Year!)  Many people think we don’t hear about the mercy of God in the Bible until we get to the Sermon on the Mount in the Gospel of Matthew.  However, two hundred and eighty of these references to the mercy of God are found in the Old Testament.

My favorite Old Testament reference to the mercy of God is found in the last verse of the Twenty-third Psalm.  David ends his greatest Psalm with the declaration that he is positively certain the mercy of God will follow him all the days of his life. The Hebrew word he uses here for “follow” is a word that can also be translated “pursue.”  David brings the most profound and eloquent description of the relationship between God and man ever written to a conclusion by making the declaration that the unconditional love of God will pursue him all the days of his life.  By application, this is true for any of us who will confess our sins.

There are so many ways to fail.  When we understand the meaning of the mercy of God, however, we should realize that we cannot possibly out-fail His mercy.  As I place my failures on a scale, I like to place all those times the Bible uses the word “mercy” on the scale opposite my failures.  I invite you to do the same thing no matter how horrible you think your sins are.

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Posted by Dick Woodward

The Great Shepherd

April 22, 2012

“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.”    (Psalm 23: 1-3)

These are some of the most familiar words in the Bible loved by Protestants, Catholics and Jews.  They describe our relationship with God.  They tell us that when God is our Shepherd we have green pastures, still waters and a full cup that never empties.  This is because our great Shepherd makes us lie down.  He may use problems we cannot solve to make us lie down.  However, since we are creatures of choice we can choose to get up again.  When we do our green pastures turn brown and our cup empties again.  He then restores our soul by driving us into the paths of righteousness that restore us.

Many devout souls also love this psalm because they see in it a description of a believer’s death.  To them death is the great Shepherd coming into a life for the last time making a devout person lie down so He can give them the green pastures that never turn brown and the full cup that never empties in the eternal state.  The only way He can give us these eternal blessings is to make us lie down in death.

The key to these eternal blessings is found in the opening words of the psalm: “The Lord is my Shepherd.” Meditate on these words one word at a time.  They are the key to living here and in the hereafter.  Can you say that He is your Shepherd today and always?

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Posted by Dick Woodward

Still Waters

April 20, 2012

“He leads me beside the still waters.”  (Psalm 23:2)

Most people associate the still waters of David’s Shepherd Psalm with peace.  However, if you do some research you will find that when a sheep drinks from a stream of water that stream must be as flat and still as a mirror or the water will go up the snout of the sheep.  The authentic application of this metaphor is therefore that the still waters mean our great Shepherd leads us to the places just suited for us.

In 1979 I resigned from a large church and accepted a call to a small church that had just begun.  After being in the small church for a year I went to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester Minnesota because of weird symptoms I was experiencing.  After nearly a month of studies, the doctor who directed my program misread my file.  Thinking I was still in the large church, when he gave me the diagnosis of multiple sclerosis he told me I needed to go to a small church in a small town.    I told him that I had already been in a small church for a year.  I was to learn to be fulfilled with doing less and doing it better.

As my symptoms persisted and I was confined to a wheelchair a group of men helped me build a house that accommodated my physical challenges.  One of them made a stained glass window with two words on it.  Near the entrance for 26 years those two words have been “Still Waters.” Those two words are not just a label for my home but also my ministry – in this location I have accomplished the most fruitful work of my life.

Can you write those two words across what God is doing in your life right now?

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Posted by Dick Woodward

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