
“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep.” —John 10:11-15
Jesus reiterates twice in this passage that He is the Good Shepherd. He’s not the thief, he’s not the robber, he’s not the enemy. He’s not a hireling either. He isn’t in this to just gather a following until hard times hit. He is our ultimate provider.
“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Even 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. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” —Psalm 23
When The Lord Is Your Shepherd, You Are
The Oxford dictionary defines contentment as the state of happiness and satisfaction. I’m convinced that God isn’t concerned about whether you are successful or not. You may concerned about that. Your definition of success may be driving you to do all types of things, but I don’t think God is overly concerned about your personal success, how much wealth you achieve, how big your house is, how many cars you own.
“The time of success is a time of danger to the Christian soul.” —J.C. Ryle
Our heart and our goal should be to instill in our kids this idea that true success is only found in our satisfaction with God. He is our Shepherd. We shall not want. True success is found in faithfulness, not in worldly wealth.
“Watch where Jesus went. The one dominant note in his life was to do his Father’s will. His is not the way of wisdom or of success, but the way of faithfulness.” —Oswald Chambers
Busyness is a sign that our
Think about what the Psalmist is saying, God wants to lead you to places of rest. He wants you to have a place to lie down and find your contentment in Him.
And
Go Hand In Hand
Our restoration comes as we find contentment in Him. As we find our rest, our satisfaction in Jesus, we become more content and what happens is our souls are healed of the brokenness that we carry within us.
“You have made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless till they find their rest in you.” —Augustine of Hippo
We can walk through a place where death literally casts it shadow upon us and we can find contentment, satisfaction because He is with us. The Shepherd of our souls walks with us in that dark place. He doesn’t leave us.
Contentment is the birthplace of
Do you want to grow closer to Jesus? Then find contentment with where God has you and what he has given you. As you walk in intimacy and contentment, your cup will overflow. The Psalmist describes it as an anointing. When they would anoint you, they would use oil.
As the Psalmist has received this contentment from God and has found his satisfaction and happiness in Him, the path behind him is filled with goodness. In other words, if we were a boat, the wake we’d leave behind us is goodness and mercy.