I find these three Psalms interesting. Obviously, they may not appear in the Scriptures in the order in which they were written and it's possible that many years seperated them. And yet we find David praying for victory in battle in Psalm 20, praising God for victory in Psalm 21, and then crying out to God and feeling very deserted in Psalm 22.
But there's such a beautiful progression in Ps 22 from feeling alone and forgotten to finding restoration, love and peace. Psalm 22, as you have probably figured out, is a highly prophetic Psalm, in that it details very closely the death of Christ on the cross. The very first words are highly recognizable as Jesus' own as He hung there, dying for our sins. Nancy Leigh DeMoss did an INCREDIBLE series a while back on this Psalm and I encourage you to read/listen to all five broadcasts. And as always, I highly recommend listening, if possible, rather than just reading. Loading it onto my mp3 player is best, I find, because then I can listen whenever and wherever I want; I don't have to be sitting here at the computer. (Are you tired yet of me telling you this yet??!)
This Psalm is a great one to remember when it feels like nothing is going your way and that there is no hope. It's comforting to know that the "man after God's own heart" and Christ, Himself, knew what it was like to feel that way, and yet to seek solace in God the Father. To find it, and to look forward to the future with joy. Beautiful.
And then in John we have that soul-satisfying picture of Jesus as the Good Shepherd. I think it's interesting that here again, we see the same thing we noticed last Friday ~ Jesus' teachings getting harder and harder to understand for the people who didn't understand and didn't care to understand. Instead of simplifying His initial thought, He seems to make it more complicated and difficult to grasp. First He's using a pretty simple analogy about being a Shepherd, but then He starts calling Himself the Gate, owning sheep not from "this" pen who need to be brought into the fold, laying down His life for His sheep and then taking it up again...
I can imagine most listeners may have been thorougly confused by the time this conversation was over! Some called Him crazy; some called Him demon-possessed yet had to face the reality that He had also just cured a man born blind of his blindness. It's no coincidence at ALL that Jesus used that healing to talk about spiritual blindness.
I love vv. 14-16: 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. And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.
What a great reminder not only for us Gentiles, who were not the people Christ was originally sent to, but for ALL believers to remember we all serve the same God!
A while back, I read a massive book by Chuck Colson called The Body: Being Light in Darkness (and reviewed it here) that really hit me in regards to this aspect. It's very easy to allow division in our churches and denominations based on our differences, but what we forget is that we're all one flock if we believe and live out the basic foundations of Christianity. Let's not be so caught up in pointing out our differences that our influence on the unbelieving world is lost in the fray.
Tomorrow's passages: Psalm 24-26; John 10:22-42.
3 comments:
Great post. I like what you said about one Shepherd and one flock. It's too easy to get caught up in differences and divisions. It actually made me think about the year I have had with my classroom and the fighting and disagreements and troubles. There is only one Grade 1 class which means these kids will be together for the next 7 years. We need to figure out a way for them to realize that they are one classroom family (one flock) so that we can find a harmony and peace within it. I think the same is true for churches. Spending time and energy on the differences takes us away from other, much more important, things.
Great post, Tammi. I loved the verses in John immediately following the ones you highlighted as well, where Jesus says he lays down his life of his own accord. Incredible. I still, after hearing about it my entire life, marvel at the amazing love and sacrifice of Jesus.
Great thoughts as always. Great reminder that we need to major on the majors and minor on the minors when it comes to our differences.
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