This morning, in my personal time with God, I was meditating on Psalm 100. It was one of the few parts of the Bible that I knew by memory even before I came to know God personally, because verse 4 was part of the liturgy and was recited every Sunday morning in the church I grew up in. The concept of entering God's gates with thanksgiving has appeared in dozens of songs over the years. The idea of being welcomed by the King in the courts of His royal dwelling is an amazing privilege… but somehow I think that the Shepherd picture of vs 3 is even more special to me. No pomp and ceremony about that; just quiet intimacy and care. Unhurried intimacy is what we observe when we see the shepherds walking with their animals in the fields and country roads that surround Alhaurín.
And so I love the fact that both of those aspects are found in the psalm I was reading this morning:
Know that the Lord is God.
It is He who has made us (our Creator)
and we are His. (our Father)
We are His people, (our King)
the sheep of His pasture. (our Shepherd)
It reminds me of a worship song that we used to sing when I lived in France during the 1980s:
Prosternons-nous devant le Roi Let's bow down before the King.
Fléchissons le genou devant le Père Kneel before the Lord our Father.
Car Il est notre Dieu For He is our God.
Et nous sommes le peuple de son pâturage We are the people of His pasture.
Le troupeau que sa main conduit. The flock guided by His hand.
The song begins with God as King and ends with God as Shepherd. Sometimes we need to recognise Him as King and embrace His authority before we can truly experience Him as the Shepherd who guides us and cares for all our needs.
Recently, one of my Alhaurin teammates was out walking the dog when she spotted our local shepherds coming towards her with a large flock of sheep and goats. Shepherding is a traditional vocation here, that continues to be passed on from one generation to another, and so we often see two shepherds together, an older one and a younger one. My friend said that she had to laugh when she saw the difference between the two shepherds: the old man was chewing leisurely on a twig, while the young man was making a call on his mobile phone. A cameo picture of a huge generational difference, and yet a reminder that God is a God for all generations. He understands and not is not the least bit threatened by our modern technology… but He also invites us not to miss out on the unhurried fellowship that previous generations knew, when the pace of life was slower.
This morning in our team meeting and prayer time, someone else commented on how the shepherd sometimes stops the traffic, so that the sheep can cross the road. Our God is always able to make a way for us, and to stop the things that would be obstacles or dangers for us in our sometimes fast-paced lives. But He also calls us to walk unhurriedly by still waters, to lie down in green pastures, and to allow Him to restore our soul. Let's make time to enjoy friendship with our Shepherd as we approach the season of Easter, the time when we remember Him also as our Saviour.
