Extreme Shepherding

23 Psalm.....on Wednesday evening when I was at church, one of the things Virginia, our teacher, Christian guide, helper and friend, was telling us about was Extreme Shepherding.   Now you all know the definition of Extreme, and you I think know that Jesus is considered a Shepherd. Let's spend a moment and read the 23 Psalm:

Psalm 23

King James Version (KJV)

23 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

² He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.

³ He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

⁴ Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

⁵ Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.

⁶ Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.

I am going to try my best to retell what we learned on Wednesday evening, because it was so amazing to me and I want to share it with the people who read this.
Verse 1. The Lord is constantly watching over us, His sheep.  He will take care of all our needs.  Sometimes we do need to ask for help, not because he doesn't see a need, but because He wants us to depend on Him and talk to Him.
Verse 2. Did you know that a sheep is difficult to get to lie down...they will not lie down, if they are anxious, or if there is trouble within the flock, like a few sheep fussing, if flies are bothering them.... so the Shepherd prepares the grass for the sheep.  He stomps on the grass,  which not only will soften the grasses but it will also boot out the flies and gnat.  Also, and I did not know this before, a sheep is a very frightful animal, and it is afraid of drowning, so the shepherd will stomp in the water to spread it out so that the sheep can drink from little bits of water rather than not drinking, because of their fear.
Verse 3. Our Shepherd helps us to feel, and to be, restored to Himself.  And he will guide us only in the correct direction, because we are wanting to be like our Shepherd.
Verse 4. Do you ever feel or have you ever felt, as though you are in a deep, deep valley?  This can be a very lonely place, but when we have our Lord and Savior, our Shepherd walking with us we do not need to be afraid.  Because he is right there with us!  How awesome is this?  For thou at with me!  There really needs to be an exclamation at the end of this sentence, not a period.   This is exciting!  And our Shepherd will guide and direct is with His rod and His staff.  He's not using them to hit at us, His sheep.  He will hit at evil, or a bear or a lion or a wolf if it comes near, but not at us.  And the Shepherd does all this to protect us and for His glory, to show others that we walk with Him.
Verse 5. Because the Shepherd loves us so much, he wants to meet all our needs, so David, who wrote this Psalm want's us to know that God will care for everything even when our enemies are around us God is there and He is our protector. Have you ever been anointed with oil.  Well apparently the Shepherd  would take oil and would rub it on the sheep's head to help to protect it from gnats and other evils.  Do you see? David was equating the evil gnats with the evils that he had to deal with, that God was protecting him from. God is so good!  My cup runneth over.  We are over flowing with God's goodness...bring it on...I want more of you Lord...more....more...more!
Verse 6.  I will always walk with God.  And let's face it, David made some pretty big bo-bos in his life, even though he was walking with God.  David was not perfect, just like we are not perfect.  But he knew that he would always follow God, and that in doing so goodness and mercy would always be there and that he would live for ever with God.

Now before I close I just want to thank Miss Virginia,  what an awesome teacher, for setting me on fire for God.  Virginia I want you to know that I was telling Tim about what we had learned on Wednesday evening, this morning and I was moved to being teary because of some of the realization I felt concerning Gods love and faithfulness to me.  And I can thank you for illuminating this for me.
We all know the love that we as a church have for our Pastors, all of them, I just want you to know the love that we girls have for you!  You are our conduit!

Go find someone to bless!