Sheep

He leads me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
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.

When God calls us to step down a path on pure faith, God does so with the awareness that his name is at stake.  Folks are watching to see if God really will care for his own sheep. This doesn’t mean that we won’t travel some dark and scary paths. But as we travel these paths we have no reason to fear evil. God is there to protect us just as a shepherd fends off predators.

This is one of my favorite verses in scripture. Not only because of the beauty of the verse but because of the change in perspective. It is here ‘in the valley of the shadow of death’ that the psalmist switches from talking about God to talking to God. ‘He leads me’ becomes ‘you are with me.’

Isn’t this true of our own walk? We speak about God until we are in a moment of great anxiety and then we speak directly to God. It is in these moments that we walk closest to our shepherd. May we learn to never again stray from these paths of righteousness. Trust that the Shepherd knows what he’s doing. We have nothing to fear.

See You Sunday!
Missy