Oh Lord, may the words from my lips be from your inspiration to my heart. Amen.
Well here we are in week number two of our Lenten journey. Our yearly journey to remember what will take place for us and for our salvation in just a few more weeks, that we all need to reflect on what Christ’s journey was all about, to pave the way for us to become children of God.
As we continue with Pastor Tim’s request, to be able to say the 23rd Psalms, by heart at the end of our Lenten journey, we need to look back at what we have already done. So, together, let us say the first two verse of this Psalms; the King James version. The LORD is my shepherd ; I shall not want . He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.
Now for the 3rd verse; He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
Now you’ve all had Pastor Tim’s break down of the first two verses, let me try to continue with what I feel what David is trying to tell us in this 3rd verse.
He restoreth my soul, to me, this finishes the 2nd verse. We’ve just been led besides still waters and are resting in a safe place, green pastures. While thinking about safe and calming place that we can go to, don’t we feel relief from all those things that are giving us grief? Do any of you ever feel that, Ahhh moment, a God moment, and we feel better. When we feel that a heavy load has been lifted from our backs, when we just want to say Ahhhh. Isn’t that God restoring our souls? But, do we take that time to thank God for the Ahhhh? Do we thank God for leading us besides still waters? Do we thank God for those green pastures, that safe place to rest. Think about that the next time you have an Ahhh moment and the feeling of your soul being restored.
Now, with a refreshed soul, let us continue, he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. As we travel through this life, we are always on a journey, following a path. Sometime these paths lead us to places where we feel comfortable and other times, to places we would rather not be. But, which place is God leading us? To a comfortable place or somewhere “we” would rather not be? To me, I’d say both, for do we not say in the Lord’s Prayer; lead not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. So, if we find ourselves in a place we would rather not be, isn’t God trying to tell us or showing us something we really need to see? I mean to show us, for if we didn’t see or hear what is happening to those around us, how would we realize what God is doing for us everyday. What good would come of us all, if we were always someplace that we felt comfortable in. Where and how would our Faith be stretched, stretched to it’s limits, if it wasn’t “put to the test”? How will we be able to understand what will happen in just a couple of weeks, if our Faith wasn’t tested. What good would Jesus suffering and dying on the Cross be if we were always in a comfortable place?
This is how we can know that God is leading us down the path of righteousness. We can understand this verse better when we run into obstacles we find on our journey with Christ, obstacles of our Faith. Obstacles like; a baptismal fount placed in the center of the isles, to reminds us of that promise made at our Baptism; obstacles like confession and absolution to remind us that we are sinners and fall short of the Glory of God; obstacles like Holy Communion, to remind us of Jesus being the new covenant; obstacles like the Cross, to remind us that the price of sin is death; obstacles like Lent and our Lenten journeys, to help us understand who paid that price; and obstacles that test our Faith, to reminds us that we are children of God.
And that is how we can say; for his name’s sake. For as we travel down the paths of our lives, we pray that we are following the path that will lead us home. A home that’s outta this world. A home where we will find our Lord, being that good shepherd, a green pasture, still waters, and a restored soul that will sing praises to God with the Heavenly host.
So, as we continue our Lenten journey, let us be reminded as we are lead down this “right” path, that God has our lives. For he is ours and we are his.
Praise be to God. Amen