Psalm 23:1-6
1 The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters,
3 he restores my soul. He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
4 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.
5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
6 Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.
John 10:1-11
1 "I tell you the truth, the man who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber.
2 The man who enters by the gate is the shepherd of his sheep.
3 The watchman opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.
4 When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice.
5 But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice."
6 Jesus used this figure of speech, but they did not understand what he was telling them.
7 Therefore Jesus said again, "I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep.
8 All who ever came before me were thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them.
9 I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. He will come in and go out, and find pasture.
10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
11 "I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
Psalm 23 has a very clear and comforting image of God leading us as a shepherd leads his flock.
The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
he restores my soul.
He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
This is beautiful imagery of God leading us in paths of righteousness for his names sake.
One of the elders was telling me the other day that sheep really are dumb animals. This elder told me that there is even one breed of sheep that is so dumb that if it falls on its back, it physically and mentally does not have the ability to get up. It will die there.
I don’t know if that is true or not, but I have also heard the same thing all my life.
And whether or not that is true in itself, what is true is that sheep are dumb animals.
But one thing we probably all know is that sheep can be led.
I enjoy watching David Letterman on TV late at night sometimes, and he has had on more than one occasion a taxi cab pull up to the front of the Ed Sullivan Theater where Letterman’s show is taped. The door of the cab is opened and out come half a dozen sheep and two sheep dogs. These two dogs can lead these sheep out of a New York taxi cab, into the Ed Sullivan Theater, through the lobby (where a special red carpet has been laid in advance for their welcome), down the aisles, and onto the stage where David Letterman is waiting. Then the dogs lead the sheep back up the aisle, through the lobby, out the door and back into the cab, which then drives off.
Sheep are dumb, but people are dumber! Because a sheep will let itself be led by a dog, but people won’t be led even by God almighty.
The imagery in the psalm is comforting -- up to a point. Green grass. Quiet waters. Then you have this valley of the shadow of death!
God leads us in some strange places, and sometimes, we don’t want to go where God leads.
St. Stephen is remembered in the Book of Acts as the first martyr of the church. He said in his first and last sermon: "You stiff-necked people, with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You are just like your fathers: You always resist the Holy Spirit!” (Acts 7:51)
And we do this all the time.
God leads us to speak, and we stay silent.
God leads us to use the gifts he gave us. And we stay quietly at home.
God leads us to be his bold witnesses, and we timidly stay mute.
It is hard to let God lead us. And it is almost illogical to do the things God wants us to do.
Moses! There he is with 1000’s of people waiting for him to do something. The Egyptian Army comes rushing over the sand dunes on one side, and Red Sea is on the other.
Who in his right mind would ever think that walking into the sea is a "good" idea? Most people in their right mind would look at the enemy army approaching and think, "Did anybody bring the white flag? Anybody trained in diplomacy?"
But God doesn’t want people in their right minds. He wants people on the righteous paths. And sometimes, following God on the righteous paths doesn’t seem like the right minded thing to do.
Israel facing Goliath! Who in his right mind would send in the kid with the slingshot? No. Anybody in their right mind would look for Arnold Swartzenegger armed with a bazooka!
But God doesn’t want people who from the world’s point of view are in their right mind. He wants people who are on the righteous path.
Think back on the times when you rejected God’s leadership. I look back on my life and I think the times I rejected God and I know I had outstanding reasons to reject God.
Outstanding reason number one...
It is easier to stay where you are, or even move backward, than to move forward with God.
I talked with a young person who volunteered to spend a year working in Arizona with the Navajo Indians. She told me that at the last minute, she started not to go. Not because of the expense, or because of losing a year of college, or because of any sort of difficulty. She almost decided not to go simply because it was easier to stay where she was, doing the same things she had always done. But on her return she couldn’t say enough about what a missed opportunity it would have been had she stayed in that comfort zone of hers.
As I look back on my life, it is the missed opportunities that I regret the most. The things I could have done, but didn’t, because it was easier to stay where I was, comfortable in my familiar settings.
God gave me the opportunity to have a 3 month pulpit exchange with a minister from Scotland a few years ago, and I missed the opportunity, because it was easier not to go.
God gave me a wonderful opportunity when I was in college to go to Pakestan and to work with the missionaries there, but I didn’t go because it’s a far way, the food is too spicy, and ----- well, it was just easier not to.
It has always amazed me that in the Exodus, God is leading the people to freedom. And time and again the people complain. It’s amazing. In Egypt, the people were slaves. In Egypt, Pharoah was killing the first born sons. God is leading to a land of milk and honey, and yet the people time and again will say, "Why didn’t we stay in Egypt?"
But God is a God who is on the move, and we’d rather stay were we are. Because we are people in our right minds. It’s nicer to stay where we are and stay comfortable, than to get on the move.
It’s easier to keep your old job than at age 40 to go back to college. It’s easier, but what is God leading you to do?
It’s easier to hear about someone needing help and to hope God leads someone ELSE to do something. It’s easier, but what is God leading YOU to do?
Are you in what the world around you would call your right mind? Or are you on the righteous path going where God leads?
Well, that is not the only reason why we resist God. Outstanding Reason Number Two To Resist God -- it is so costly. So many sacrifices.
You stop and count the cost, and it is hard to follow God.
I remember when my wife and I were married, we moved into the Cameron Apartments. Nasty things. Tiny little kitchen and bathroom. The only time you could get the air conditioning to work was in the winter time. The heat wouldn’t work except in the summer time. Bugs all over the place. Hated that place. We lived there for 5 months, and then moved out into pure luxery. Nice big den. Nice big bedroom. Nice kitchen. Heat that worked in winter and airconditioning that worked in summer. Swimming pool outside, and inside, not a bug in sight.
Then, after 2 years of what my wife and I still refer to as our "wealthy years" God calls us to the ministry.
That means three years of seminary. Low salaries once you’re out. It meant delaying having children. But most of all, since the seminary was in the same town as where we had gone to college, it meant we had to move. And of course, there was only one vacant place in town. The Cameron Apartments where we had lived for 5 months, now we could look forward to 3 years there!
We had to ask ourselves if we were willing to pay the cost. Not in terms of money, but in terms of other sacrifices. The tuition for seminary was not outrageous, but the other costs were high.
We count the cost, and sometimes we want to say no to God.
Think about the cost that it took to get the Hebrews out of Egypt.
I read an interesting article recently that said that the Quartermaster General of the Army had figured out what it would have taken to lead the Hebrews out of Egypt. He figured that it would have taken 1,500 tons of food every day to feed the Hebrews. To bring that food each day, two frieght trains, each a mile long, would have been required.
And since they were in the desert, they would have to have firewood to use in cooking food. This would take 4,000 tons of wood and a few more freight trains each a mile long, just for one day. And think -- they spent 40 years in transit!
Then there is water. For just drinking and washing dishes only would have taken 11, 000,000 gallons each day, and a freight train with tank cars.
Then you have to think of all sorts of other practical problems -- setting up camp each night, cloth for the tents, rope, tent pegs. Then there is clothing. First aid supplies. Food and provisions for the animals.
But God provides. And that is all that Moses needed to know. Don’t worry about the water, God has all the water in the world. Don’t worry about the food, God has all the food in the world.
But it’s hard not to count the cost if you are in your right mind.
During the Exodus, God gives people gift upon gift. Freedom. Water out of rock. Food from heaven. But the people still complain. "We should have stayed in Egypt. The cost and sacrifice is too great."
So God tells Moses in Numbers chapter 11: "Tell the people: ’Consecrate yourselves in preparation for tomorrow, when you will eat meat. The LORD heard you when you wailed, "If only we had meat to eat! We were better off in Egypt!" Now the LORD will give you meat, and you will eat it. You will not eat it for just one day, or two days, or five, ten or twenty days, but for a whole month-- until it comes out of your nostrils and you loathe it-- because you have rejected the LORD, who is among you, and have wailed before him, saying, "Why did we ever leave Egypt?" ’"
When God leads, God provides. And that is all we need to worry about. Anybody in his or her right mind would stop and think about the cost and sacrifice. But God doesn’t want you, in what the world thinks of as being in the right mind. He wants you on the righteous path.
God calls, but we are too comfortable. Or God calls, and sacrifice is more than we want to pay.
Sometimes, we want to do what God calls us to do. Sometimes we are willing to leave our comfortable place in life and move on. Sometimes we are willing to make the sacrifices, but we feel overwhelmed. Outstanding Reason Number Three To Resist God’s Leading – Fear of Failure!
Moses sees this bush on fire, but it is not consumed. He investigates and finds himself talking personally to God, and God talks back, and tells Moses --
"Moses, I want you to go back to Egypt. I know you’re wanted for murder there, but go back there. I want you to go to the Pharoah. King of Egypt. Most powerful person in the world. I want you to talk to him face to face. I want you to remind the Pharoah of the slaves he has working, building those pyramids free of charge. and tell him to let them go free."
Moses is in his right mind. Moses looks at God and says, "Good idea, why don’t you send my brother Aaron to do this."
Moses is not a good speaker. He is not a strong person. He is not the right man for the job.
But when God leads, God enables.
When God calls, God empowers.
Mother Teresa was on a street corner in Calcutta, and three bodies were laying on the street. She began working with one person, and as she worked a visitor asked, "Aren’t you upset that you can’t get to all the bodies?"
Mother Teresa replied, "No, God created us not to be successful, but to be faithful."
Anybody in their right mind would look at the poverty of Calcutta and say, "Overwhelming. Can’t be done!"
But Mother Teresa is not in her right mind. She’s on the righteous path.
God has called you to be a Sunday School teacher. Anybody in the right mind would run in fear! But if God calls, God will equip you.
God gives us courage.
In the Civil War, one of the shining examples of courage was General Thomas Jackson. He was so courageous that his soldiers nicknamed him Stonewall. As the story goes, during the Battle of Bull Run, Jackson sat on his horse during the battle, calm and cool. One of his men saw the General and said, “Look, there’s General Jackson, sitting like a stonewall.”
He was always a man of courage, and he found his courage – not in his army, or his military training, but in his faith in God.
Jackson was a devout Christian. He was a fellow Presbyterian. He served as an ordained Deacon. Because of his faith, he became an early Civil Rights leader and even though it was against the laws of his day, he taught slaves how to read and write. There were over 100 students in his class and their textbook was the Bible.
There is a movie in the theaters now about the Civil War, named Gods and Generals. It is an unusual movie in that it has no profanity, no nudity, no graphic violence, and it is a very openly religious movie.
At one point in the film, and I suspect this is historically accurate, after a battle one of General Jackson’s men comes up to him and asks, “How can stay so serene during battle?”
Jackson says, “My faith teaches that God watches over me. When I die, I will be with Him. Because of that faith, I feel as safe in battle as I feel in bed.”
That kind of security is a lot more effective than buying a roll of duct tape and lost a plastic sheeting for the windows.
Our God leads us.
He may lead us into the Valley of the Shadow of Death, or He may lead us into to quiet waters. Truthfully, during the whole span of our lives, we will find that he will lead us into both places – the valley of the shadow of death and the comforting quiet places of peace.
But we need not fear.
God is leading us.
That is all we need to know.
Copyright Maynard Pittendreigh, 2003
All Rights Reserved
