LOVE IS

VERSE1:

Love has a price, love isn’t free, love laid his life down for you and for me
Love’s holding on, love’s letting go, love is the truth inside of everything we know
And love is here…

CHORUS:

It’s the light that burns in the darkest dark, the hole inside of the coldest heart
A million miles that don’t feel that far and love is
It’s the missing piece that you’re looking for, the hand that opens every door
The thing you want and you can’t ignore that love is all of this and more

VERSE 2:

Love leaves the light on, love sings a love song, 
Love lets you in and makes you feel like you belong
Love is a long ride, love always wants to try, love hears every story, every time

CHORUS
BRIDGE:

He’s hanging there and love runs red and still He’s holding on
Love still loves when all seems lost love won it at the cross

CHORUS:

It’s the light that burns in the darkest dark, the hole inside of the coldest heart
A million miles that don’t feel that far and love is
It’s the missing piece that you’re looking for, the hand that opens every door
The thing you want and you can’t ignore that love is all of this and more
All of this and more
Love is
All of this and more
Love is.

__________________________________

It’s good to talk about love every once in a while.  It’s important.

There’s a great quote by Elbert Hubbard.  Hubbard was a leader in the arts and crafts movement, he was famous for making incredible handmade book bindings.  

His quote is this, “A friend is someone who knows all about you…and still loves you.”

It’s a great one.  It describes our relationship with Jesus.  He knows every little detail about you.  The joy, the pain, the wins, the stains, the loves, the losses and everything in between.  He knows it all and yet…He still loves you.  He still loves me.

The idea for this song was love, plain and simple.  I wanted to write a bit about what love is, how it fits into our lives and what we should do with it..and….who is the greatest example of it.

So the first line that came into this song was “Love has a price, love isn’t free, love laid His life down for you and for me.”

Strong opening I think.

Based on  John 15:13 where it says, “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.”

This idea of laying down your life for your friend.  Laying down your life for another person.  It’s a powerful, very powerful display of affection.

Clark says this, “No man can carry his love for his friend farther than this: for, when he gives up his life, he gives up all that he has. This proof of my love for you I shall give in a few hours; and the doctrine which I recommend to you I am just going to exemplify myself.”

It’s an incredible sentiment and an incredible act.  There’s no getting around it.  Jesus lays down His life for all of us.  Drop the mic, study over.  Right?

Jesus described the measure and quality of His love for them, to use as a pattern for the way they should love each other. His love is complete and of surpassing greatness, laying down its life.

Then the second half of the first verse says this, “Love’s holding on, love’s letting go, love is the truth inside of everything we know…and love is here.”

I found this quote by Lao Tzu, an ancient Chinese philosopher.  It says this,  “Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage.”

Sometimes love means that you have to give something away. You have to let it go.  There’s the classic proverb which says, “If you love something, set it free. If it comes back, it’s yours. If not, it was never meant to be,” 

It’s a reminder to let go and trust in a bigger plan.

Love’s holding on….love’s letting go…love is the truth inside of everything we know.

Truth.  Something we’re all seeking.  Something we all need.  Something we all want. Love requires truth.  It requires that we are honest, truthful, sincere and trustworthy with the one that we love.

So.  Are you honest, truthful, sincere and trustworthy with those you love?

One of my favorite all time set of verses is from 1 Corinthians 13: 4-7.

“Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”

And it does.  All the time.  

The love that Jesus brings us and gives us is all of this and more.  You see, we think we know love but in the end, we are novices when it comes to love.  Jesus is the true expert.  Yes, we love our friends, family, Community…there is love there for sure.

But…laying down your life for a friend. Laying down your life for someone else.

That love is the love that Jesus brings. That’s the love that Jesus walks in with.  You see His love is all of this and more.

So we get to the chorus.  

It’s the light that burns in the darkest dark, the hole inside of the coldest heart

A million miles that don’t feel that far and love is

It’s the missing piece that you’re looking for, the hand that opens every door

The thing you want and you can’t ignore that love is all of this and more

I love the quote by Martin Luther King, “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that.  Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that.”

It’s a great quote.  Love is the light that burns in the darkest dark.  It’s the light that burns through the hurt, the pain, the suffering, the loss, the regret, the anxiety, the stress, the worry, the fear.  It’s the light the burns through it all.  All the time.

Love melts the cold.  The hole inside of our hearts can only be filled with love.  We have this cold that the world calls us into, a cold that the world welcomes us into.  A cold that the world says is OK.  To ignore, to bury the hurt, to live in solitude, to look out for ourselves and no one else.  This is not the teaching of Jesus.

Cold hardens.  Warmth softens and heals. Coldness is a curse.  Warmth is the cure.

We need warmth in our lives.  We need to experience warmth, hope, love, grace, compassion and mercy.

We need to experience it so that we can help others experience it.

Colossians 3:14 says this, “And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.”

Put on love.  Let love be a part of your daily life.  Your daily journey.

Love travels far.  It knows no bounds, knows no distance.  It doesn’t say no. It doesn’t reject or turn away.  Love gives.  All the time.  Love never gives up. Ever.

The chorus goes on to say that love is the missing piece that we’re looking for.  1 Corinthians 16:14 says “Let all that you do be done in love.”

Words to live by.

Let’s get back to this verse in Colossians about putting on love and how it binds us together.

Love perfectly fulfills what God requires of us in relationships.

But above all these things put on love.  “Upon all, over all; as the outer garment envelopes all the clothing, so let charity or love invest and encompass all the rest… Let this, therefore, be as the upper garment… that invests the whole man.” (Clarke)

“Other virtues, pursued without love, become distorted and unbalanced.” (Wright)

LOVE FORGIVES.

To dig deeper into Colossians which is a fantastic book…look at Colossians 3:13: “Forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do”

We are told to live forgiving one another, after the pattern of Jesus’ forgiveness towards us. 

Understanding the way Jesus forgave us will always make us more generous with forgiveness, and never less generous.

When we consider the staggering debt Jesus forgave for us, and the comparative smallness of the debts others have toward us, it is base ingratitude for us to not forgive them (as in the parable Jesus spoke called the parable of the unmerciful servant in Matthew 18:21-35,  the forgiveness we have received should be used to enforce the duty of forgiving others.

A few points on forgiveness:

When we think of how Christ forgave us it should make us much more generous with forgiveness.

God reaches out to bad people to bring forgiveness to them; the habit of man is to not reconcile if the offending person is a person of bad character.

God makes the first move towards us in forgiveness; the habit of man is to only be reconciled if the offending party craves forgiveness and makes the first move.

God forgives often knowing that we will sin again, sometimes in the exact same way. It is the habit of man to forgive only if the offending party solemnly promises to never do the wrong again.

God’s forgiveness is so complete and glorious that He grants adoption to those former offenders. In the habit of man, even when forgiveness is offered, he will not lift again the former offender to a place of high status and partnership.

God bore all the penalty for the wrong we did against Him. In the habit of man, when he is wronged, he will not forgive unless the offender agrees to bear all the penalty for the wrong done.

God keeps reaching out to man for reconciliation even when man refuses Him again and again. In the habit of man, one will not continue to offer reconciliation if it is rejected once.

God requires no probationary period to receive His forgiveness; in the habit of man, one will not restore an offender without a period of probation.

God’s forgiveness offers complete restoration and honor; in the habit of man, we feel we should be complimented when we merely tolerate those who sin against us.

Once having forgiven, God puts His trust in us and invites us back to work with Him as co-laborers. In the habit of man, one will not trust someone who has formerly wronged him.

Spurgeon says this, “Suppose that someone had grievously offended any one of you, and that he asked your forgiveness, do you not think that you would probably say to him, ‘Well, yes, I forgive you; but I – I – I – cannot forget it’?   Ah! dear friends, that is a sort of forgiveness with one leg chopped off, it is a lame forgiveness, and is not worth much.”

You see, love is forgiveness.  

Love is so much more than we think it is.

The second verse of the song says this:

Love leaves the light on, love sings a love song, 

Love lets you in and makes you feel like you belong

Love is a long ride, love always wants to try, love hears every story, every time

A few things to point out about love as referenced in this verse.

Love leaves the light on.  Always.  It never pretends that it’s not home.  It never pushes people away.  It never leaves them hanging in the middle of the night.  Love….loves.

Love sings.  Love loves to sing.  It loves to lift others up through singing.  It loves to praise and worship the Father through singing. 

Love cares.  It makes you feel like you belong.  It gives.  It brings you into the fold.  That’s one thing I love about our Community is the sense of love there.  I see the comments in the livestreams and read the comments on our Community boards and am blown away by the kindness, compassion, love and genuine hope that people bring to others in our Community.  It’s beautiful to see.

Love always wants to try.

Love always goes the extra mile.  It never stops.  It never gives up.  It never leaves.  It never holds back and it never lets go.

Then I wrote this last line of this verse..

Love hears every story, every time.

You see, love has margin.  It has time.  It’s not in a hurry.  It’s not running to the next meeting or trying to make the next bus or train.  It relishes time.  It gives time when time is needed and it never rushes through a conversation.  I love this thought, this idea.

Love hears every story, every time.

Then we get to the bridge.

He’s hanging there and love runs red and still He’s holding on

Love still loves when all seems lost love won it at the cross

Think about the sacrifice for a minute.  Jesus.  Beaten, bruised, broken for you, for me.  He could have called down an army of angels…yet…He didn't’.

Broken, bruised, blood running down His body.  He holds on.  He never lets go.  Ever.

Then my favorite line in the song, “Love still loves when all seems lost, love won it at the cross.”

The battle is won, the victory is here.  Jesus. His love.  Overcomes all of it. Overcomes our fear, stress, worry, anxiety, pain, brokenness, hurt, mistakes, jealousy, greed..all of it.  He won it all at the cross.

I found this commentary on the Crucifixion and thought it appropriate to end this devotion on this song with.

In Mark, we find a fast-paced, purposeful narrative, laced with riddles, secrecy, and misunderstandings. The text darkens halfway through, with increasing shadow as the suffering journey of the deserted, condemned, and crucified Christ dramatically exposes the forces of human power and positioning, and our potential for cruelty, sympathy, ridicule, and grief.

 As the Passion of Christ is narrated by Mark, God is silent. Jesus is passed from one person to another, is let down by those he loves most, and is executed while being jeered at. Through it all, God is silent. One can feel through Mark’s story all of Jesus’s struggle with God, his tears and prayers, his wanting the cup of pain to go away, his agony of questionings about what he is doing and why.

Then, as Jesus takes his last breaths on the cross, Mark tells us he shouts out in his native tongue: “My God, why have you forsaken me?” A little later, he screams with pain, and dies.

 For the later Gospel-writers, this was too raw, Jesus not being very composed. More words come from the cross in their accounts. In Mark, Jesus even stops addressing God intimately as “Abba”, and cries out to the formal God with all the suffering innocent, isolated, and tormented: why have you abandoned us?

Again, God is silent. He gives no reply. Jesus dies uninformed; but Mark says that some­thing happened at this point. He tells us that the veil in the Temple ripped. As Jesus dies, the presence of God is no longer hidden, Mark dares to suggest. It is a radical thought — that, as words of desperation and loss are thrown out, God, although silent, has never been closer.

It was the novelist John Updike who wrote: “The sensation of silence cannot be helped: a loud and evident God would be a bully, an insecure tyrant, instead of, as he is, a bottomless encouragement to our faltering and frightened being.” A lover can never become a controller if being true to the love.

It is this same silence of God — which equally interrogates whether we are absent from ourselves, as whether God is absent from us — which has been taken up by some late-20th-century poets. The most famous is the Welsh priest R. S. Thomas.

In one of the most poignant poems about the crucifixion, “The Musician”, Thomas recalls going to a concert to see the violinist Fritz Kreisler. He is seated near the musician, and can see the physical effects his art has, how he “beautifully suffered” on his instrument:

So it must have been on Calvary.
The men standing by and that one figure,
The hands bleeding, the mind bruised but calm,
Making such music as lives still.
And no one daring to interrupt
Because it was himself that he played.
And closer than all of them the God listened.

 Here, from a distance, we look on something intimate and tender between Christ and his God. It is as if we are spying on the beauty and pain of their relationship; of what must be done; of what is not said, but is, perhaps, known in the silence between them.

 The silent listening of God here is part of the music of sacrifice and redemption. But the silence is also the cause of doubt and of a sense of dereliction in the poet. Thomas is often confronted by this silence of God, as he is in “In Church”:

 There is no other sound
In the darkness but the sound of a man
Breathing, testing his faith
On emptiness, nailing his questions
One by one to an untenanted cross.

You see…God is the epitome of love.  He is love and so much more.

As you listen to this song, listen to your heart, listen to the Father, listen to His soft whisperings teaching us about His love and His soft whisperings urging us to love with a love that is incomprehensible to those around us but a complete and utter reflection of Him.

Love is all of this and more.

ROLL ON (LET GO OF THE WHEEL)

VERSE:

Step out the front door don’t even pack a bag, ‘cause where I’m going I don’t wanna look back
It’s faith and trust on the other side of the glass, out on this open road
Where do I start is the question on my mind, and I remember Your words, seek and you will find
So I push the pedal down and close my eyes into the unknown

 CHORUS:

You gotta roll on (roll on roll on) I can feel it getting closer,  roll on
So I’m giving up and giving in and giving you control….I let go of the wheel….let go of the wheel

VERSE 2:

The mountains in front of me oh they’re gonna move and the valleys below I know we’re gonna push through
And if I’m running on empty I know that You’re there too, and You’re gonna lead me home

CHORUS:

You gotta roll on (roll on roll on) I can feel it getting closer,  roll on
So I’m giving up and giving in and giving you control….I let go of the wheel….let go of the wheel

BRIDGE:

You gotta roll on, Roll on, and Lord I’m coming home to you
When you feel like giving up you gotta roll on

CHORUS:

(roll on roll on) I can feel it getting closer, roll on
You gotta roll on yeah keep rolling on
Oh and I’m giving up and giving in and giving you control….I let go of the wheel….let go of the wheel Keep rolling on….
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This song is all about control. About us letting control go and about us letting God take control of our lives and all that we have going on in our lives.

The line that started this song was the first line of the first verse.

“Step out the front door, don’t even pack a bag.  ‘Cause where I’m going I don’t want to look back.”

There’s this transformation that happens when we give our lives to Jesus.  There’s this letting go of so much and letting Him into so much.  It’s a surrender.  It’s faith, it’s trust.  It’s giving into something that we’re not quite sure of but something that we know will make us better in the long run.

So.  If we’re going to talk about this song, we have to talk about control and letting go of our control.  

Spurgeon says this, “I believe that every particle of dust that dances in the sunbeam does not move an atom more or less than God wishes – that every particle of spray that dashes against the steamboat has its orbit, as well as the sun in the heavens – that the chaff from the hand of the winnower is steered as the stars in their courses. The creeping of an aphid over the rosebud is as much fixed as the march of the devastating pestilence – the fall of leaves from a poplar is as fully ordained as the tumbling of an avalanche.”

The thought here is that nothing happens….nothing…without God’s involvement.  Without God being part of it and being part of the final outcome.

There are many ways that we can take this conversation but let’s stay focused on the “control in our lives” part.  The part where God is using us for His good purpose in and around our lives so that we can live the love of Jesus each and every day.

What does that look like for you?  Do you have the ability to give up control?  Do you want to give up control and let God work in your life?

Let’s take some notes from our study on Rest a few months back.  There’s a lot of giving up control when we talk about rest and talk about God being a part of our lives in a deeper way.

Genesis 3 teaches that the human race has been affected by our sin. Each one of us has been compromised by the devastation of sin.  This devastation causes defects in our desires and behaviors.

Deceived by the seductive promise of becoming Gods themselves, Adam & Eve turned away from God.

They believed that they could live apart from God.  They turned away from all that was good and beautiful in the Father.

They tried to be in control of their surroundings and their circumstances.

Like Adam & Eve we are lured into believing that we can take control of our own lives.

We believe that we can exist independent of God.

We seek pleasure, power and privilege and when we do that, our egos begin to think that we can leave God out of the picture.  Out of our lives.  Or maybe just have Him around when we think we need Him and can’t handle something on our own, something that’s too big for us.

When Jesus died on the cross for us, his love brought healing to the effects of all sin.  

His work on the cross reconciles us with God and restores our good, true and beautiful desires so that we might share the mind and heart of Christ.

We need to step away from the rigorous life of “doing it all ourselves” and live with a deeper relationship with Jesus. The true lover of our soul.

Augustine has a great quote that says this, “Our hearts are restless until they rest in You.”

Surrendering our lives to Christ not only  radically recalibrates our desires, it also brings us into a more, not less, fulfilled life.  When we look back we find that God’s ways are much better than our own.

Isaiah 55:9 says this, “As the heavens are higher than the earth,  so are my ways higher than your ways  and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

So God has a plan.  He loves us.  But what about the times where we don’t feel like we’re loved.  When we forget that He loves us as much as He does.

We’ve all experienced an awareness of God’s love for us.  We’ve sensed it as a new follower of Jesus.  We’ve sensed it during a breakup.  At a bus stop or when you’re on a jog.  Sometimes it’s just overwhelming.

But…our memory is short.

There are many days where we forget how much we’re loved and how much God cares for us.

Then what do we do.  We start to rely on our own strength, our own feelings.  We start to rely on what the world defines as love.

We seek success.

We long for more and more of it to make us feel validated.

The great theologian Paul Tillich tells us that “we must accept the fact that we are accepted.”  When someone looks at the notes that Paul has when he’s preaching and you find that quote…in the margins it says, “this is for me.”

Do you accept the fact that you are accepted?

Do you claim the fact that you are beloved?

Do you live as a daughter or son of grace?

We may say to ourselves, I want to…but how?  How do I accept the fact that I’m accepted?

I’ve been asking this question a lot at my shows lately.  This idea of acceptance, of being accepted for who we are, not for what we’ve done or will do.  You see, God accepts us even when we are fighting for control of our lives.  He understands our human desires and our human needs. 

He knows that we are control freaks.  It’s just part of who we are.

Yet, in the midst of our desire for control, He’s there with us, holding us, guiding us and helping us through it all.

He’s the one who tells us to slow down, like He slows down, so that we can hear His voice and walk with Him so that we can hear all that He has to say to us through His word, though these other preachers, through songs, through conversations…so that we can hear His voice speak to us and guide us….

Our desire for control gets in the way of our relationship with God.  It tells us that we can do this on our own.  It tells us that we don’t need a Savior, that we don’t need God in our lives. But that couldn’t be further from the truth.

Let’s walk through a few scriptural references that might help us let go of a few things in our lives.

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD.  “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts” - Isaiah 55:8-9

This passage of scripture assures us that God knows what He’s doing, His thinking is different than ours when it comes to what is best for us and His ways – and everything He allows – are so much higher and better than ours. Despite what we see around us, we can take a pause and refocus on what really matters. Let the "big things" become little in the hands of God. 

“It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.” - Deuteronomy 31:8

Moses spoke these words to Joshua as he commissioned him to take the Israelites into the promised land.  But we can glean from these words the hope and confidence today that God goes before us, He walks alongside us, and He’s got our backs. He will not leave us nor forsake us and He is well aware of all that is happening, all that has happened, and all that will happen according to His wisdom, His love, and His plan. We do not need to fear when we have God in control of our future.

"My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever." - Psalm 73:26

Whether it is sickness, disease, loss of a job, betrayal, or even our own sin - God shows up. His grace supports us and sustains us. He strengthens our soul through trials and in the moment of death, he conquers the grave. Our souls are safe and secure in the Lords' hands.

“If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” 2 Chronicles 7:14

This verse reinforces that God wants His people to be humble and dependent on Him. He is the Gentle Healer and the Great Physician. He can heal individually, as well as heal nations physically, economically, spiritually. 

But He desires we call out to Him for help. Trust what He is allowing to affect you, your family, and the world, and cry out to Him for healing. The best thing we can do when we are overwhelmed with anxiety is to cry out to God in prayer. 

"He refreshes my soul, He guides me along the right paths for his names' sake." - Psalm 23:3

Psalm 23 is a beautiful chapter of the Bible in which David acknowledges God's goodness and protection in his life. David has come to learn the comfort in depending upon God. He recounts his experience as God being a shepherd for Him - leading him through troubles and guiding him. We can have confident hope that God will provide for us throughout all of life. 

Let’s actually look at this entire Psalm because when we talk about control, we have to look at Psalm 23.  Here’s the Psalm;

1 The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
3 He refreshes my soul.He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake.
4 Even though I walk through the darkest valley, 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 your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

The LORD is my shepherd: David thought about God, the God of Israel; as he thought about his relationship with God, he made the analogy of a shepherd and his sheep. God was like a shepherd to David, and David was like a sheep to God.

It is a familiar idea throughout the Bible that the LORD is a shepherd to His people. The idea begins as early as the Book of Genesis, where Jacob called the LORD the Shepherd, the Stone of Israel.

In Psalm 28:9 David invited the LORD to shepherd the people of Israel, and to bear them up forever. Psalm 80:1 also looks to the LORD as the Shepherd of Israel, who would lead Joseph like a flock.

Isaiah 40:11 tells us that the LORD will feed His flock like a shepherd; He will gather the lambs with His arm.

In John 10:11 and 10:14, Jesus clearly spoke of Himself as the good shepherd, who gives His life for the sheep and who can say, “I know My sheep, and am known by My own.”

Hebrews 13:20 speaks of Jesus as that great Shepherd of the sheep

1 Peter 2:25 calls Jesus the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls, and 

1 Peter 5:4 calls Jesus the Chief Shepherd.

What does a shepherd do?  He watches over the flock.

Here’s an interesting comment on this. 

It’s remarkable that the LORD would call Himself our shepherd. “In Israel, as in other ancient societies, a shepherd’s work was considered the lowest of all works. If a family needed a shepherd, it was always the youngest son, like David, who got this unpleasant assignment…Jehovah has chosen to be our shepherd, David says. The great God of the universe has stooped to take just such care of you and me.” (Boice)

The Lord is my shepherd.  David knew this in a personal sense. He could say, “my shepherd.” It wasn’t just that the LORD was a shepherd for others in a theoretical sense; He was a real, personal shepherd for David himself.

 “A sheep is an object of property, not a wild animal; its owner sets great store by it, and frequently it is bought with a great price. It is well to know, as certainly as David did, that we belong to the Lord. There is a noble tone of confidence about this sentence. There is no ‘if’ nor ‘but,’ nor even ‘I hope so;’ but he says, ‘The Lord is my shepherd.’” (Spurgeon)

“The sweetest word of the whole is that monosyllable, ‘My.’ He does not say, ‘The Lord is the shepherd of the world at large, and leadeth forth the multitude as his flock,’ but ‘The Lord is my shepherd;’ if he be a Shepherd to no one else, he is a Shepherd to me; he cares for me, watches over me, and preserves me.” (Spurgeon)

David felt that he needed a shepherd. The heart of this psalm doesn’t connect with the self-sufficient. But those who acutely sense their need – the poor in spirit Jesus described in the Sermon on the Mount find great comfort in the idea that God can be a shepherd to them in a personal sense.

Spurgeon said that before a man can truly say, “the LORD is my shepherd,” he must first feel himself to be a sheep by nature, “for he cannot know that God is his Shepherd unless he feels in himself that he has the nature of a sheep.” He must relate to a sheep in its foolishness, its dependency, and in the warped nature of its will.

When David says, “I shall not want”, for David, the fact of God’s shepherd-like care was the end of dissatisfied need. He said, “I shall not want” both as a declaration and as a decision.

“I shall not want” means, “All my needs are supplied by the Lord, my shepherd.”

“I shall not want” means, “I decide to not desire more than what the Lord, my shepherd gives.

There’s so much here in just the first sentence of this Psalm. So much that relates to our desire for control and our letting go of that control.

Let’s keep going in this Psalm.

The LORD as a shepherd knew how to make David rest when he needed it, just as a literal shepherd would care for his sheep. The implication is that a sheep doesn’t always know what it needs and what is best for itself, and so needs help from the shepherd.

The shepherd also knew the good places to make his sheep rest. He faithfully guides the sheep to green pastures.

Philip Keller (in A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23) writes that sheep do not lie down easily and will not unless four conditions are met. 

- Because they are timid, they will not lie down if they are afraid. 
- Because they are social animals, they will not lie down if there is friction among the sheep.
- If flies or parasites trouble them, they will not lie down. 
- Finally, if sheep are anxious about food or hungry, they will not lie down. 

 

Rest comes because the shepherd has dealt with fear, friction, flies, and famine.

He leads me beside the still waters.  The shepherd knows when the sheep needs green pastures, and knows when the sheep needs the still waters. The images are rich with the sense of comfort, care, and rest.

The tender care of the shepherd described in the previous verse had its intended effect. David’s soul was restored by the figurative green pastures and still waters the shepherd brought him to.

The shepherd was a guide. The sheep didn’t need to know where the green pastures or still waters were; all it needed to know was where the shepherd was. Likewise, the LORD would guide David to what he needed.

Let’s keep going….

Notably, David recognized that under the shepherd’s leading, he may walk through the valley of the shadow of death. It isn’t his destination or dwelling place. David might say that all of life is lived under the shadow of death, and it is the conscious presence of the Lord as shepherd that makes it bearable.

When we read this psalm with an eye toward Jesus, the Great Shepherd, we understand that a shadow is not tangible but is cast by something that is. One can rightly say that we face only the shadow of death because Jesus took the full reality of death in our place.

When David says, “I will fear no evil”.  Despite every dark association with the idea of the valley of the shadow of death, David could say this because he was under the care of the LORD his shepherd. Even in a fearful place, the presence of the shepherd banished the fear of evil.

David knew that the Lord was in control, so he let go of His control.

Important point here is this.  We might say that the shepherd’s presence did not eliminate the presence of evil, but certainly the fear of evil.

David then goes on to say…”for You are with me.”  

This emphasizes that it is the presence of the shepherd that eliminated the fear of evil for the sheep. No matter his present environment, David could look to the fact of God’s shepherd-like presence and know, “You are with me” and “I will fear no evil.”

He knew that God was with Him and in control.  He let go of the wheel in a sense.

Clarke says this about the next section:

A magnificent banquet is provided by a most liberal and benevolent host; who has not only the bounty to feed me, but power to protect me; and, though surrounded by enemies, I sit down to this table with confidence, knowing that I shall feast in perfect security.”

David gives a beautiful picture. The table suggests bounty; prepare suggests foresight and care; before me suggests the personal connection.

“When a soldier is in the presence of his enemies, if he eats at all he snatches a hasty meal, and away he hastens to the fight. But observe: ‘Thou preparest a table,’ just as a servant does when she unfolds the damask cloth and displays the ornaments of the feast on an ordinary peaceful occasion. Nothing is hurried, there is no confusion, no disturbance, the enemy is at the door and yet God prepares a table, and the Christian sits down and eats as if everything were in perfect peace.” (Spurgeon)

So we have this great quote from Spurgeon and then he asks another question:

“Beloved, I will ask you a question now. How would it be with you if God had filled your cup in proportion to your faith? How much would you have had in your cup?” (Spurgeon)

So the question that I ask now is this as well.  If God is in control of your life, or….if we say that God is in control of our lives, how much control are we giving Him?

Spurgeons question is a good one.  If our cup was full according to the amount of faith in our lives, how full would it be?  

Do we give God the control in our lives?  Do we want to? 

Or…do we only give what we want to give because we’re afraid of giving up all control. 

Does fear limit our relationship with God?

I love the analogy that I found a few months back.  When we say we are giving up control or when we say that we’re afraid to give up control, it’s actually a test of our faith.  Do we believe that God will provide?  Do we believe that God will indeed do what He says He’ll do?  

Can we take a day off and rest in the fact that God will provide if we take that day off, that week off?

Do we trust him?  Do we believe Him?

I love the line in this song…”it’s faith and trust on the other side of the glass, out on this open road”

This is how we give up control, we have to increase our faith.

We have to increase our trust.

We have to increase our relationship with God

Our reliance on God has to grow.  

There’s no way around it.   We have to get real with our fears.  Real with our faith and real with our relationship with God.

So today.  Are you giving in and giving up and giving Him control?

Have you let go of the wheel?