The simplicity of knowing that Jehovah is my shepherd
Gregory Bishop
(Audio: Spanish)
SUMMARY: The speaker reflects on Psalm 23 and the simplicity of knowing that God is our shepherd. He emphasizes the importance of listening to the voice of Jesus and trusting in His provision. The speaker also discusses the importance of simplicity and innocence in our faith, and the idea that as we mature spiritually, we become more like children. The speaker shares a personal story of God's provision to illustrate the point that Jehovah is our provider and we will lack nothing. Finally, the speaker discusses the importance of rest and how sometimes we resist it in our busy lives.
In Psalm 23, God is compared to a shepherd who leads his sheep to delicate pastures and still waters. The sheep are not very intelligent and need the shepherd to force them to move to new pastures and to rest when it is time to do so. Similarly, as humans, we often resist rest and live in a hectic society. God invites us to rest in Him and enjoy delicate pastures, which can be found in a person, a relationship with Him. He knows what truly refreshes and renews our souls. The paths of justice that the shepherd guides us on may not always be easy, but we can trust that He knows where He is leading us. Sometimes we have to be ready for changes in our lives to continue growing and moving forward. Ultimately, the life of a Christian is dynamic and requires trust in the shepherd to guide us through the dark paths and valleys of life.
The psalmist compares God to a shepherd who guides and disciplines his sheep with a rod and staff. He also describes God as a host who prepares a table for him in the presence of his distressers. The word used for "table" is the same word used for the table in the temple's holy place, where the bread of the Presence was placed. The psalmist says that God's goodness and mercy will follow and persecute him. He concludes by saying that he will dwell in the house of the Lord for long days.
In the house of Jehovah, there are no monsters or demons. We may have wanted to leave the Church, but there is nowhere else to go. We belong in God's house and have a place with Him. He has prepared a place for us and one day we will be with Him forever. We have a Shepherd who knows us by name and is faithful.
In Psalm 23, God is compared to a shepherd who leads his sheep to delicate pastures and still waters. The sheep are not very intelligent and need the shepherd to force them to move to new pastures and to rest when it is time to do so. Similarly, as humans, we often resist rest and live in a hectic society. God invites us to rest in Him and enjoy delicate pastures, which can be found in a person, a relationship with Him. He knows what truly refreshes and renews our souls. The paths of justice that the shepherd guides us on may not always be easy, but we can trust that He knows where He is leading us. Sometimes we have to be ready for changes in our lives to continue growing and moving forward. Ultimately, the life of a Christian is dynamic and requires trust in the shepherd to guide us through the dark paths and valleys of life.
The psalmist compares God to a shepherd who guides and disciplines his sheep with a rod and staff. He also describes God as a host who prepares a table for him in the presence of his distressers. The word used for "table" is the same word used for the table in the temple's holy place, where the bread of the Presence was placed. The psalmist says that God's goodness and mercy will follow and persecute him. He concludes by saying that he will dwell in the house of the Lord for long days.
In the house of Jehovah, there are no monsters or demons. We may have wanted to leave the Church, but there is nowhere else to go. We belong in God's house and have a place with Him. He has prepared a place for us and one day we will be with Him forever. We have a Shepherd who knows us by name and is faithful.
I felt from the Lord that we had to read Psalm 23 today and tune our ears again to hear the voice of our Shepherd. Jesus said: "I am the Shepherd of the sheep, the shepherd lays down his life for his sheep. He knows each one by name and the sheep know his voice." I believe that listening to the voice of Jesus is the privilege of every Christian, there is no one here who does not have that right as sheep of the Lord. It may be that you know Christ for five minutes, He has something to tell you.
So Psalm 23 says, "The Lord is my shepherd and I shall not want. In soft pastures he will make me rest; beside still waters he will shepherd me. He will comfort my soul; he will guide me in paths of righteousness for His Name's sake. Although 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 give me breath, you prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies, you anoint my head with oil, my cup overflows, surely good and mercy will follow me all the days of my life and in the house of Jehovah I will dwell for long days." Amen, amen.
Father: thank you for the privilege of having our pastor and I ask you in the Name of Jesus to be that Voice of Yours speaking to me, speaking to all of us and You know what each one needs to hear better than me and I ask you to be You speaking to each one in their own way, in the privacy of their hearts, in the privacy of their thoughts; that they know that there is a God who is speaking to them. Lord we open our hearts to You; we are yours Lord marked, part of Your flock in Jesus Name, amen.
The simplicity of knowing that Jehovah is my shepherd. Simplicity. Do you know that Christianity is not that complicated? It's hard because there are temptations, there are sacrifices that have to be made, but in the end we make it very complicated when everything boils down to this: Jehovah is my shepherd. I don't know if there are some here who analyze a lot, who worry a lot, who work hard. Any people here who think too much? It's like having a car on ice and it doesn't move and you think: well, maybe if I push the gasoline a little harder it will work, right? And what about those tires?
Many of us are like this in our thoughts, in our worries we are all entangled and we try to solve our own problems, we try to find our way out of the labyrinth we find ourselves in when everything boils down to following a shepherd who knows us by name. Simplicity of heart
There is a very beautiful psalm that speaks of that simplicity, that innocence that God calls us to have. Psalm 131 says: "Jehovah: my heart has not been puffed up nor my eyes lifted up, nor have I walked in greatness or in things too sublime for me. In truth I have behaved and have silenced my soul like a child weaned from its mother, My soul is like a weaned child. Wait on the LORD, O Israel, from now on and forever."
In english is: I do not myself with great matters or things that are too complicated for me. Sometimes we have to take a little vacation from the problem and say: Lord I don't know but You know in some way You can do Your Will in the world as You have always done.
It's interesting; spiritual maturity is a journey turned upside down, no matter how mature we become, the simpler and more like children we are. I don't know if I explain myself. We are very complicated when we are new to Christ, we are very sophisticated and we think we know how to run our lives. I have seen in some old people those who have walked with Christ for decades many, many years. Although they are so wise, so intelligent with everything they have learned in life, those who have truly walked with Christ are so children at heart, so innocent, so simple. You can see in his eyes a clean look. It's like crystal clear water because there are no turns. There are no shadows. They have learned to trust Christ as their shepherd.
Jesus said to Peter: "When you were young you went where you wanted but when you are old you will go where you do not want to go, where another will guide you and you will stretch out your hands like a child and perhaps you will be dressed in a way that you would not have wanted" speaking of his sacrifice to death because Peter ended his life as a child saying: Lord, tell me where and I am going. There are no questions, there are no complications, you are my shepherd, I am your old lady, period. Simplicity of heart
And also knowing that God is your personalized shepherd. Normally I have learned very well as a father of two small children the word "mio" or "mia". Mía was the first Spanish word my daughter learned. He learned all the commands: go, give me, this commanded like one, two years but fluent Spanish with that. Mine normally the word mine is a bad thing right? It is selfish?.
Me looking for my son in preschool one day he goes out with a friend of his and says: he is my dad with a little attitude, right? and the little friend says: she's my mom and they kind of start fighting, she's not my dad, she's not my mom and one says like: relax, it's all right, right? But normally it's selfish to say: "it's my dad" is it selfish? no?, yes and no. Yes it's selfish of mine but sometimes it's good to be selfish. When you are a child with your dad you can be selfish "he's my dad" and with your shepherd you can be selfish "you know what? You are my shepherd and I am your sheep and I need you. I'm not so noble that I think I don't care need". My shepherd.
He knows you by name. Know your situation. We are sometimes very private people, we suffer in private, we have a personal drama that hardly anyone knows what we are experiencing; there is someone who knows what you are living and He loves you just the way you are. He understands you.
Sometimes we look in the mirror and say to myself: I don't even understand myself but there is a God who does understand; He is your shepherd, my shepherd, my shepherd. That almost violence, that clinging to Him. I will lack nothing, Jehovah is my shepherd I will lack nothing, I will have what I need to live I will lack nothing. There is a confidence of God's provision, Jehovah Jireh; He knows what I need and he's not going to leave me there. This is not a guarantee that you will not cross some deserts.
Do you know what happened to the Israelites? God called them upon leaving Egypt and before entering the promised land to go through a desert and they had nothing to eat, and they did not endure it in silence, right? they did not suffer in silence. Do we have any people here that don't suffer in silence very well? They complained to God, they complained to Moses but he still gave them bread, a miraculous bread. You know the story right?
They were in the desert, they had nothing to eat, and they went out one morning and saw something white as frost on the sand, as if calcified, and someone accumulated a little bit of it and there is always a crazy person who says: well, why don't we eat this? But what is it? I don't know what it is, do you know what "what is" means in Hebrew? manna. What is this? - manna, what is this? I don't know but I'm going to try eating it, and then they were looking: ¿se va a morir?, and the guy eating it: you know, not bad, ¿a qué sabe?. Well it tastes like nothing but I don't know, I don't know, it's not garlic and onion like in Egypt but we live on it. God does not promise tasty food even if we are going to arrive at a dinner that He prepares for us but He does sustain you.
The Word says that: "the one who accumulated a lot did not have too much and the one who collected little had enough" each one had what they needed, manna in the desert. We all know the story of the widow of Sarepta, this name; This is one of our Pastor Roberto's favorite stories, he preaches this every few years. A widow who had a son who had almost nothing to live on, it was a time of famine on Earth and she only had a little bit of sand and a little bit of oil and a prophet Elisha came and told her: cook me some bread. She says: well we were going to cook with this little that we have and then die here.
Eliseo says: do it but you will see that the jug will not wear out, there is a phrase in Spanish that is very nice, I don't know but the jug, the oil container is not going to empty in all the dry weather we have, you will always have . She would spill oil and there was always a little more, she would scoop up sand and there would always be a little more. Isn't it sand? (laughs) wait a minute sand is on the beach wait a minute flour? how many years am I here? well sometimes it's like eating sand I guess. What a barbarity, what a barbarity you guys all know what I mean right? Oh no.
Where was I? there is always enough, right? Some of you have really lived it, right? There are some of you and I have heard testimonies that have lived through unthinkable times, struggles that you did not think how you were going to survive but here you are, here you are, you survived, right? God took care of you, God provided and here you are He is the same. Jehovah who was your shepherd is still your shepherd and you will lack nothing, right?
There are some young people here who have not yet had to live by faith but you are having some of you having your first experiences with the Lord. I really liked hearing the testimony of a young man in the ministry in English who did not know how he was going to pay for the semester, he thought that perhaps he was not going to be able to, and God miraculously provided up to the penny the money for tuition, a nineteen-year-old boy.
And I know that God gives him little miracles like that, and he's not that little, but he gives him these miracles so that he can start writing his own spiritual story, right? let him know: God has been faithful in my life, He has given me what I needed and He is the same yesterday, today and forever.
I remember when I began to study in the seminary to be a Pastor, my mom and dad were a little worried, how are you going to make a living being a Pastor? because I don't know, the priest gives them what they need but I said: don't worry mom Jehovah is my shepherd, I will lack nothing. She says: how cute; worried. And I remember that one day I had to pay for a semester and a few thousand dollars and some things, and I was saving and working in those days and I had a vacation and I worked extra hours at my job, and a lot, a lot to save money . And I felt from the Lord that I had to take a few days off to serve Him in certain things, even though it meant earning less, I felt from the Lord to tithe what I had received and give an offering something like that.
Then I go to the school office and I had written everything that I had in my account down to the penny and there was something, eleven hundred and cents and the lady at the desk looks and says: look how you calculated it before, it's all this, but you already have five cents more, you were wrong. I was like, are you kidding me? right now (laughs). It was my student life but it wasn't what some really live, hard.
But I learned at that moment, I felt the Lord saying: remember, remember that! I am your provider, I am going to take care of you and yours, let me take care of you and I felt that God did it with that precision to teach me something, so that I would learn to trust Jehovah as a shepherd that I will lack nothing. Jehovah will provide you with what you need thanks to Him.
It also says in this psalm: "In places of delicate pastures he will make me rest." Why does God have to make us rest? is it not natural rest? I want to sleep all the time, you don't have to make me do it. Rest is something that many times we resist doing. We live in a hectic society.
We are running with the phone always there texting, doing one and the other multitasking, right? always active, always accelerated. God is saying: look, lower the revs a little, we're going to go a little slower, we're going to go slow. I don't know if it frustrates you sometimes walking with a person who is walking very slowly in front of you and you are in a hurry, gotta go driving. Look, God forces us sometimes, slow it down, slow it down. That is why it is so important that we spend time with children who, although they run, do everything slowly, with elderly people who move a little slower, with people who have special needs and need time, remind us of the importance of slow-down, of slowing down. of life a little. Let our pastor force us to rest a little.
I understand that sheep if you leave them alone they eat and eat the same and rest in the dirtiest places and get sick. They need the shepherd to force them to move to new pastures, to delicate pastures and force them to rest when it is time to do so. The Hebrew is clear; there is a force that is being put with the sheep. Let God rest you a little, let God calm you down a little it's gonna be ok, let him calm you down. Jehovah is my shepherd, Jehovah is my shepherd, I will not lack anything.
There is a break. Jesus said: come to me all who are labored and loaded and I will give you rest. Amen. Take My yoke upon you, for I am meek and humble of heart, and you will find rest for your souls. Only in Christ. We are people the word in English is restless, restless. There is only rest in Him, there is no rest in anything else. God invites us to enjoy that but how? when life is so hard, when you are working two jobs running from here to there. He says there are delicate pastures that He knows and He can put you there.
You know that this morning I was remembering a trip that God gave me with a scholarship to travel to Latin America to learn a little bit of Spanish, obviously not enough, but a little bit of Spanish. And I traveled and got to know delicate grasses in many countries, right? I got into trouble this morning because I mentioned some countries and not all, forgive me. But I was remembering a town in the Dominican Republic, Jarabacoa, so fresh and green, and I was walking on a path in the forest, there I found a waterfall and I said: oh Lord, I feel so good here so far from everything.
I remember when I traveled in Guatemala I was in Quiché for a while in the children's ministry wandering alone and I went to a lake there, Lake Atitlán that has some beautiful volcanoes around it and I stayed with a family that spoke Zutuhil, a family really indigenous, right? they killed a chicken for me and everything. And there, in that lake, that place, the sun enters through the clouds. Do you know when the sun enters through the clouds and you see rays and it's as if God himself were coming through the clouds? and I got into the lake with my friend who had invited me, and we were there bathing in the lake and I felt: oh I'm staying here, goodbye Boston. I ate one of the richest tortillas of my life there, ground by hand.
There are such beautiful places but all countries have them. I understand that in Argentina there are some vineyards in Mendoza, in the south of Chile I have heard about some islands that are like heaven on Earth. I've heard of beautiful places, I can't mention every country right? but I said in the morning I have a lot of people in the English service who live in the Caribbean islands, Barbados, Tartola, northern Honduras, so I feel compelled as a Pastor to take a cruise to these islands and get to know them, right? to be able to understand where my people come from (laughs) what a sin, joke joke.
But seriously we have people from beautiful islands. Dominica an island also there. But each country has its place and all of us have known true places of delicate pastures where we feel that here I can rest, whatever it is for you each of us have such places. And sometimes when it's fifteen degrees and we're walking in Roxbury we feel far away from our happy place, far away. I feel ay Fajardo is very far from here, Barranquilla, Santa Marta is very far from here.
And I told him in the morning that for a Christian a pasture is not a place but a person, a relationship. No matter where you go in the world if your pastor is with you you carry the delicate grass inside. You can be here in the corner running with so much effort, with so many things, but if your pastor is there by your side, you can still rest there in delicate grass. It is a place inside that you carry and you learn to go there and rest with your pastor. Your shepherd makes you rest there, delicate pastures. Thank God.
In english: it's not a place, it's a person. It is not a place, it is a person. Then he says: "beside still waters he will guide me; he will comfort my soul beside still waters." I also understand that sheep are not super intelligent animals, right? It is said that if a sheep sees other sheep running and jumping off a cliff, one sees others and decides: I am going too, it doesn't sound like fun, they jump too, they are not very intelligent. They can take and drink from any crap of water that comes along. They say that they, a sheep can drink from those terrible waters, be left with parasites and die.
So even if I wanted to drink from certain waters, the shepherd knows, even if this seems to be refreshing in your little sheep's head, this is going to kill you and I cannot allow you to drink from these waters. There are waters that I know that are really healthy for you. Do we know where I'm going? We refresh ourselves, many times we seek to renew ourselves from rotten water, from dirty water because it is there, it is easy to take it, it feels good at the moment but we end up with a terrible stomach ache.
God knows what really refreshes, God knows how to renew your soul. Interesting when it says: it will comfort my soul. It says that soul in Hebrew is a very nice word and we are going to learn Hebrew here, it is the word: nefesh, nefesh is what Adam sighed, nefesh, it sounds like a sigh, right? nefesh, soul is the breath of life within the human being. To refresh or renew the soul that is to refresh the very life of the person.
We are not talking about good, being a little tired and then a little renewed, we are talking about an almost dead being that is rebuilt by the shepherd. I don't know if some have experienced this, you should be dead, you were almost dead but there is a pastor who did not leave you there. There are some who feel almost dead inside already. There is a pastor who does not leave you there.
The image that I have read of some pastors. They say that a sheep can be eating in the tall grass, do you know? heavy grass and fall over and roll over and be upside down what is it called? face up, legs up, all up, back down (laughs) amen? we get the picture? tipped over. And it is said that the sheep cannot straighten themselves when they are completely upside down, they are stuck, they are stuck there, they cannot move anymore and if they remain like this it is super dangerous because they are there with their bellies and the sun and they cook the poor things .
And what the pastor notices is that these are fallen and cannot be straightened, I am going to straighten it. In Hebrew the word is shu, it means to return, to return the soul, to return life. Many of us feel stuck like this and we can't move, we don't know where to go, we can't anymore. Thank God you are not there just kicking with your paws (laughs) you are not there abandoned, there is a shepherd who can turn you around, who can give you back your life, thank God. I depend on that pastor.
We have lived it, right? How many here can share testimonies of that? We are a collection of living miracles here, of Lazarus that has risen from the grave, we know what we are talking about. God can make us renew our hearts and give us new life.
It says that also, "He will also guide me in paths of justice for His Name's sake." paths of justice It means that the shepherd does not let the sheep take a shortcut that seems right to them. He doesn't let the sheep explore a new path that looks more interesting. The roads they are looking for are firm, hard roads where there are carts that have hit the ground and it is firm, and they know that they are not going to break a leg and possibly die like that. So firm paths.
In this psalm, firm paths are compared to paths of justice, of living a just and upright life before God and not a crazy, dangerous life taking shortcuts, a soft and mushi land, God says: no, we are going to look for firm paths. And you know if you are there you are safe because you are on a firm path. I think we know when we are exploring paths that are not firm, we know. We may feel that we are in a place where we should not be doing something that the pastor did not lead us there. Look, there is a pastor who can teach us the paths of justice and His Name is at stake here because the honor of the pastor that matters and for Him to take care of you that you are on the right path gives glory to His honor, His Glory, His fame.
How many are watching us right? Have they told you this after accepting Christ there at work, everyone knows that you already go to Church, you are already a Christian and then you say or do something and they say: but I thought you were a Christian?, have they told you it's?. They are good, they have very perceptive eyes, they see. We want to give a good witness but we are not perfect. We come to the light and confess: I am not perfect. Sometimes this earns even more respect in the end, this transparency that God gives us.
But the ways of the Lord, although safe, are not always easy. Sometimes we do not do well to promise people: if you accept Christ everything will go well in life. Life is going to be all beautiful, all perfect. He then says in verse 4: "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You will be with me; Your rod and your staff will give me breath." When we follow Christ, sometimes He will guide us through dark paths that are not easy, that are hard.
The shepherds say, I am obviously not a Shepherd but I am talking about things that I read, but I read an excellent book that says a Shepherd, analyze Psalm 23. The shepherds say that they have to change the sheep in the summer because the grass dries up like that that the sheep have to go up to higher ground where the earth is melting and there is greener grass there, and then they can eat there more, more, more and after summer when the air gets cold again they have to take them down to lower ground so he has to move the sheep. If we want God to leave us where we are, we are going to die.
Sometimes we have to move, we have to be ready for the changes that God has for our lives. If you stay in this step it will dry up and you die, you have to move. The life of God is dynamic and here León de Judá, not with this I am not saying that you have to be changing churches please, no; I want another grass. What I am saying is that the life of the Christian is not a static life, it is a dynamic life, something that moves.
Here in León de Judá, if you want things to stay as they are, you will get frustrated very quickly, right? Once accustomed to the temple in Cambridge we are moving here, once here we are getting into another building, now we are going there. In the English service we start here, then there, then up, then down, everyone is like: what's up? so many new faces say: oh but so many new people, everything new. Everything changing and the life of the Lord is like that.
The processes, the changes of God are not easy, they are deaths that we have to live to enter the highest land and have a fresh vegetable. Sometimes we have to go through certain deaths or paths that scare us. A road they say that sometimes those roads had cliffs, mountains and not much sun came in so sometimes the fog was so thick that the sheep could not see where they were going, they could not see ahead, they had to trust that the shepherd knew where to go. where I was going and that's how our lives are.
If you want God to give you the plan of how everything is going to go, how everything is going to work, forget it, God is not going to give it to you. The Word says that Abraham when God called him to leave his land, his house, his relatives and go to the promised land God did not give him the address of the place; He told her: let's go to the place that I will show you. It says in the book of Hebrews that Abraham obeyed and went and followed the Lord even though he did not know where he was going, but he knew something: he knew who he was following. I don't know where I'm going but I know who's going to direct me so I'm not lost. Is it explained?
I am not wandering aimlessly; there is a shepherd who is guiding me although I don't know where I will be tomorrow I know who will be with me tomorrow. And for this there is security, there is confidence, even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will not fear any evil because You will be with me. We have not heard the word you to you until this part, it is in valleys of the shadow of death that we know Christ you to you, trust, stick to Him more than ever. You will be with me, your rod and your staff will give me encouragement. I can't see you in the mist but I can feel your rod, I can feel your staff.
Now this is not always pleasant; what is a rod? it's a stick, it's a rod. It hits him hard. They used the shepherds to discipline the sheep, to give them a good smack from time to time, my favorite word smack. If you start to get out of the way and get where you shouldn't, he's going to hit you because he loves you, he's going to discipline you, if he doesn't discipline you, you're not a son, you're not a daughter. How many of us have known the discipline of the Lord? The Lord's discipline is not to humiliate us, it is not to leave us on the ground, it is to save us, to restore us.
Satan comes to kill, steal and destroy but Jesus came to give us life and life in abundance. It is a discipline that gives us life and joy out of love, not for anything else, but thank God the rod is not only used with the sheep, it is used with the bear that comes to eat the sheep. It is said that shepherds can use this rod as a dangerous weapon. David killed wild animals: lion, bear with his rod. You know that as Christians there are some beasts that are hunting you, am I saying it right? hunting, they are looking for you, they are looking for your soul.
Some of us were very useful to Satan before we met Christ and Satan does not want to make God easy for us. He says I don't let go easy and he fires some of his uglier demons to hunt us down and some of you know what I'm talking about but thank God I have a pastor who has a stick, he's got a tough stick and He can hit that demon coming against me as David said to the giant: you come to me with a javelin and a sword but I come to you in the name of Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel whom you have offended and he ran towards that giant for he knew that the giant with him was greater than the giant against him.
Jehovah is my shepherd, his rod gives me encouragement but also his staff. I understand that the staff, I don't know the words but it's the other instrument that has this, oh thank you that thing, I'm going to call this staff, staff. And this is something they say that the same shepherd uses to support himself but also to catch a sheep that is trapped in a tree where the fishing does not have to be there, or if the fishing is in water with this, or if it is newborn what He carries it with it and puts it there closer to his mother so that the shepherd's smell doesn't hit him and confuse his mother and I don't know what but they use this to move the sheep, to move them and to comfort them.
I have heard there in that book of the vision of a shepherd who walks next to his sheep with his staff touching the sheep, just touching it like hand to hand almost, right? God walks by your side and even when you can't see it, maybe you can feel it. His rod and his staff can give you encouragement. Even in the darkest path where He lets you walk if you are with Him you don't have to worry thank God.
Now the psalm changes. How many of us know that Psalm 23 is not just about sheep and shepherds? there's another thing. He later says: "you dress a table in front of my distressers". The metaphor changes from a shepherd with sheep to a homeowner, a host who receives at his table. Not as a sheep but as a person. This is not talking about sheep at the table, there is nothing wrong with that but this is not what the psalmist is saying. But it says that: You God are like my shepherd but you are also like a host at home. You dress a table before me in the presence of my distressers.
Think about the meaning of the table for you. We already talked about the sentimental places in your life that we can think of where you really felt calm and in your place. Or I also imagine that we all have memories of certain tables and certain smells of certain foods that filled the space. Even from a block you can sometimes smell what is being prepared in the house. Have you had this experience? walking. I remember once in Honduras on a rooftop with the fragrances of food wafting up and the sight of Tegucigalpa there in front of me. Some beautiful tables with dear people, with food.
Jesus said: I am at the door knocking, if someone hears My Voice and opens the door I will enter and eat with him and he with me. God wants to be at table with us and has prepared a table for us. And he knows that there is another table, at the table is that intimacy with God, that enjoyment of fellowship with Christ, with our Pastor before, but there is also a table that awaits us in heaven. Did you know? I believe that we are not going to be disembodied spirits floating in the air forever. Maybe for a little while because when I die my body will remain on Earth, my soul will float and will be in the Presence of God, thank God, but there will come a day when a trumpet will sound and the dead will rise and die. they will resurrect, they will have new bodies and there we will all eat dinner together, at the banquet of the bride of the Lamb of I don't know what there will be a beautiful banquet prepared and there is room for you.
Jesus said: I am not going to take the fruit of life until I do it with you again in the Kingdom of my Father, I believe that this is literal, we are going to drink and eat together again, there is a table. But now in this life there is a table, a banquet that we can eat wherever we go, no matter what is happening, there is a meal that can be encouraging and nourishing us. But you know that there is a language here that is very interesting, it is a technical language of the temple. The word for table that is used here in this psalm is the same word that is used for table in the temple that was in the holy place and the word to prepare table is a language that was used with the priest putting certain things on the table especially certain bread that was called the bread of the Presence.
So I think that David is comparing the relationship with the pastor and the banquet with the experience of worshiping God in the temple, of worshiping Him. When you come here to Church and worship God it is a time of intimacy with your Pastor, you have already entered the field with your Pastor and now you are eating with the Lord. It is a worship experience but it is not easy. Look what it says: "You prepare a table in front of me" where? "in the presence of my distressers."
It is during a battle, the enemies are around but this will not take away from the fact that I am going to eat in front of You even though there are enemies, even though there are fights. What many do: in times of struggle they move away from the Church, they move away from the Lord. They say: I'm in the fight, I shouldn't congregate, I don't want to be a hypocrite. Thank God we don't want to be hypocritical, but the worst thing you can do when you're in the fight is to walk away from the Church. We eat in the presence of our distressers, if there are distressers, it is even more important to come to the house of the Lord and eat there.
Could be. I remember there was a moment in David's life, he was running with his men; he there with a terrible hunger, his men fainting from hunger and enter the temple and ask the priest: is there anything to eat here? and he says: there is only consecrated bread, the bread of the Presence and David said: give it to us, I am an anointed Priest King. He knew he had the authority, give me that bread. They ate the bread of the Presence but there were enemies there looking and watching and David knew. Although it was in the presence of my distressors I ate the bread of the Presence of God, I will not give up.
And there is another interpretation of that that I would like to give before finishing. It could be a banquet of a King who has conquered enemies and they are eating a victory banquet, that could be another interpretation. You can have enemies that you have defeated and eat before them, even though you are there I know that in Christ I am more than a victor. That's another interpretation, right? Enemy or not you can eat in the Presence of God.
And it says that He anoints the head with oil and the cup overflows. There is abundant life in Christ. The enemy has come to steal and kill and destroy but God has come so that you may have life and life in abundance. I thank God for the way I have observed that in people's lives. People who came devastated with unthinkable struggles and then oil is noticed on their head. They are clothed with a new glory, a new joy, a new hope, that is what God promises for us.
And then finishing he says: "Surely good and mercy will follow me all the days of my life." I want to stop there for a moment. The word there certainly good and mercy will follow me. A better word would be, it's going to haunt me every day of my life because it's an ugly word that's used there. It's a word for an enemy looking for you. I don't know if there are people here who have felt persecuted in life, who have felt that no matter where you go, a hit awaits you. Pastor Roberto preaches about that sometimes, right? Where does the next hit come from?
And we expect bad, we expect negative things in life. For some of us we have been told words of curses from people; you will never amount to anything, you are a loser, nothing will go well for you and bad things follow us at least for those who do not have a pastor. Because it says here: now two other people are going to persecute me, goodness and mercy are going to persecute me, they are going to look for me until they find me.
It is such a strong persecution that good will reach me even if I try to run and hide from God, God's good will reach me there, God's mercy. There is a word in Hebrew, hezet, which is the merciful love of God. God's merciful, forgiving, patient love will seek me out and will find me even though I am hidden, even though I run from Him, He will seek me out.
The Word says that you don't have to expect bad in life nothing else. The Word says: I know very well the plans I have for you, plans for good and not for evil, plans to give you the end you expect. We can have another perspective in life because there is a good and mercy that follows us. You can be here, you can be in France, you can be in Peru, on the street, at home and at work; good and mercy follow you there and they will find you.
You can turn around and know that there are no monsters following anything else, the demons can't find you. I look back, forward and up, it is good and the mercy of God I cannot hide from it. And it says at the end: "And in the house of Jehovah I will dwell for long days." You are in the house of Jehovah right now. At some point you have wanted to give up and leave the Church, leave the ways of the Lord, but where will we go? Who else has words of eternal life? I will dwell in the house of the Lord for long days. God's house is your house now. You belong here. You belong, there is a secluded place for you.
Thank God. It is not a building, it is a community. It is a relationship with God. The temple of Jehovah that now also awaits us in heaven as Jesus said: not only will you be in the house of God in earthly life but also in the next life. He said: do not let your heart be troubled in the house of My Father there are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you, so I am going to prepare a dwelling for you, and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and take you to Myself so that wherever I am you may also be.
God was. He prepared a place for us, he will look for us one day and we will be in the house of God forever but not only then, here you are also at home. You have a place, it is your Father's place, you have a Shepherd, you are not alone, you are not lost, you are not helpless, you have a Shepherd who is with you, knows you by name and He is faithful, He is faithful.
So Psalm 23 says, "The Lord is my shepherd and I shall not want. In soft pastures he will make me rest; beside still waters he will shepherd me. He will comfort my soul; he will guide me in paths of righteousness for His Name's sake. Although 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 give me breath, you prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies, you anoint my head with oil, my cup overflows, surely good and mercy will follow me all the days of my life and in the house of Jehovah I will dwell for long days." Amen, amen.
Father: thank you for the privilege of having our pastor and I ask you in the Name of Jesus to be that Voice of Yours speaking to me, speaking to all of us and You know what each one needs to hear better than me and I ask you to be You speaking to each one in their own way, in the privacy of their hearts, in the privacy of their thoughts; that they know that there is a God who is speaking to them. Lord we open our hearts to You; we are yours Lord marked, part of Your flock in Jesus Name, amen.
The simplicity of knowing that Jehovah is my shepherd. Simplicity. Do you know that Christianity is not that complicated? It's hard because there are temptations, there are sacrifices that have to be made, but in the end we make it very complicated when everything boils down to this: Jehovah is my shepherd. I don't know if there are some here who analyze a lot, who worry a lot, who work hard. Any people here who think too much? It's like having a car on ice and it doesn't move and you think: well, maybe if I push the gasoline a little harder it will work, right? And what about those tires?
Many of us are like this in our thoughts, in our worries we are all entangled and we try to solve our own problems, we try to find our way out of the labyrinth we find ourselves in when everything boils down to following a shepherd who knows us by name. Simplicity of heart
There is a very beautiful psalm that speaks of that simplicity, that innocence that God calls us to have. Psalm 131 says: "Jehovah: my heart has not been puffed up nor my eyes lifted up, nor have I walked in greatness or in things too sublime for me. In truth I have behaved and have silenced my soul like a child weaned from its mother, My soul is like a weaned child. Wait on the LORD, O Israel, from now on and forever."
In english is: I do not myself with great matters or things that are too complicated for me. Sometimes we have to take a little vacation from the problem and say: Lord I don't know but You know in some way You can do Your Will in the world as You have always done.
It's interesting; spiritual maturity is a journey turned upside down, no matter how mature we become, the simpler and more like children we are. I don't know if I explain myself. We are very complicated when we are new to Christ, we are very sophisticated and we think we know how to run our lives. I have seen in some old people those who have walked with Christ for decades many, many years. Although they are so wise, so intelligent with everything they have learned in life, those who have truly walked with Christ are so children at heart, so innocent, so simple. You can see in his eyes a clean look. It's like crystal clear water because there are no turns. There are no shadows. They have learned to trust Christ as their shepherd.
Jesus said to Peter: "When you were young you went where you wanted but when you are old you will go where you do not want to go, where another will guide you and you will stretch out your hands like a child and perhaps you will be dressed in a way that you would not have wanted" speaking of his sacrifice to death because Peter ended his life as a child saying: Lord, tell me where and I am going. There are no questions, there are no complications, you are my shepherd, I am your old lady, period. Simplicity of heart
And also knowing that God is your personalized shepherd. Normally I have learned very well as a father of two small children the word "mio" or "mia". Mía was the first Spanish word my daughter learned. He learned all the commands: go, give me, this commanded like one, two years but fluent Spanish with that. Mine normally the word mine is a bad thing right? It is selfish?.
Me looking for my son in preschool one day he goes out with a friend of his and says: he is my dad with a little attitude, right? and the little friend says: she's my mom and they kind of start fighting, she's not my dad, she's not my mom and one says like: relax, it's all right, right? But normally it's selfish to say: "it's my dad" is it selfish? no?, yes and no. Yes it's selfish of mine but sometimes it's good to be selfish. When you are a child with your dad you can be selfish "he's my dad" and with your shepherd you can be selfish "you know what? You are my shepherd and I am your sheep and I need you. I'm not so noble that I think I don't care need". My shepherd.
He knows you by name. Know your situation. We are sometimes very private people, we suffer in private, we have a personal drama that hardly anyone knows what we are experiencing; there is someone who knows what you are living and He loves you just the way you are. He understands you.
Sometimes we look in the mirror and say to myself: I don't even understand myself but there is a God who does understand; He is your shepherd, my shepherd, my shepherd. That almost violence, that clinging to Him. I will lack nothing, Jehovah is my shepherd I will lack nothing, I will have what I need to live I will lack nothing. There is a confidence of God's provision, Jehovah Jireh; He knows what I need and he's not going to leave me there. This is not a guarantee that you will not cross some deserts.
Do you know what happened to the Israelites? God called them upon leaving Egypt and before entering the promised land to go through a desert and they had nothing to eat, and they did not endure it in silence, right? they did not suffer in silence. Do we have any people here that don't suffer in silence very well? They complained to God, they complained to Moses but he still gave them bread, a miraculous bread. You know the story right?
They were in the desert, they had nothing to eat, and they went out one morning and saw something white as frost on the sand, as if calcified, and someone accumulated a little bit of it and there is always a crazy person who says: well, why don't we eat this? But what is it? I don't know what it is, do you know what "what is" means in Hebrew? manna. What is this? - manna, what is this? I don't know but I'm going to try eating it, and then they were looking: ¿se va a morir?, and the guy eating it: you know, not bad, ¿a qué sabe?. Well it tastes like nothing but I don't know, I don't know, it's not garlic and onion like in Egypt but we live on it. God does not promise tasty food even if we are going to arrive at a dinner that He prepares for us but He does sustain you.
The Word says that: "the one who accumulated a lot did not have too much and the one who collected little had enough" each one had what they needed, manna in the desert. We all know the story of the widow of Sarepta, this name; This is one of our Pastor Roberto's favorite stories, he preaches this every few years. A widow who had a son who had almost nothing to live on, it was a time of famine on Earth and she only had a little bit of sand and a little bit of oil and a prophet Elisha came and told her: cook me some bread. She says: well we were going to cook with this little that we have and then die here.
Eliseo says: do it but you will see that the jug will not wear out, there is a phrase in Spanish that is very nice, I don't know but the jug, the oil container is not going to empty in all the dry weather we have, you will always have . She would spill oil and there was always a little more, she would scoop up sand and there would always be a little more. Isn't it sand? (laughs) wait a minute sand is on the beach wait a minute flour? how many years am I here? well sometimes it's like eating sand I guess. What a barbarity, what a barbarity you guys all know what I mean right? Oh no.
Where was I? there is always enough, right? Some of you have really lived it, right? There are some of you and I have heard testimonies that have lived through unthinkable times, struggles that you did not think how you were going to survive but here you are, here you are, you survived, right? God took care of you, God provided and here you are He is the same. Jehovah who was your shepherd is still your shepherd and you will lack nothing, right?
There are some young people here who have not yet had to live by faith but you are having some of you having your first experiences with the Lord. I really liked hearing the testimony of a young man in the ministry in English who did not know how he was going to pay for the semester, he thought that perhaps he was not going to be able to, and God miraculously provided up to the penny the money for tuition, a nineteen-year-old boy.
And I know that God gives him little miracles like that, and he's not that little, but he gives him these miracles so that he can start writing his own spiritual story, right? let him know: God has been faithful in my life, He has given me what I needed and He is the same yesterday, today and forever.
I remember when I began to study in the seminary to be a Pastor, my mom and dad were a little worried, how are you going to make a living being a Pastor? because I don't know, the priest gives them what they need but I said: don't worry mom Jehovah is my shepherd, I will lack nothing. She says: how cute; worried. And I remember that one day I had to pay for a semester and a few thousand dollars and some things, and I was saving and working in those days and I had a vacation and I worked extra hours at my job, and a lot, a lot to save money . And I felt from the Lord that I had to take a few days off to serve Him in certain things, even though it meant earning less, I felt from the Lord to tithe what I had received and give an offering something like that.
Then I go to the school office and I had written everything that I had in my account down to the penny and there was something, eleven hundred and cents and the lady at the desk looks and says: look how you calculated it before, it's all this, but you already have five cents more, you were wrong. I was like, are you kidding me? right now (laughs). It was my student life but it wasn't what some really live, hard.
But I learned at that moment, I felt the Lord saying: remember, remember that! I am your provider, I am going to take care of you and yours, let me take care of you and I felt that God did it with that precision to teach me something, so that I would learn to trust Jehovah as a shepherd that I will lack nothing. Jehovah will provide you with what you need thanks to Him.
It also says in this psalm: "In places of delicate pastures he will make me rest." Why does God have to make us rest? is it not natural rest? I want to sleep all the time, you don't have to make me do it. Rest is something that many times we resist doing. We live in a hectic society.
We are running with the phone always there texting, doing one and the other multitasking, right? always active, always accelerated. God is saying: look, lower the revs a little, we're going to go a little slower, we're going to go slow. I don't know if it frustrates you sometimes walking with a person who is walking very slowly in front of you and you are in a hurry, gotta go driving. Look, God forces us sometimes, slow it down, slow it down. That is why it is so important that we spend time with children who, although they run, do everything slowly, with elderly people who move a little slower, with people who have special needs and need time, remind us of the importance of slow-down, of slowing down. of life a little. Let our pastor force us to rest a little.
I understand that sheep if you leave them alone they eat and eat the same and rest in the dirtiest places and get sick. They need the shepherd to force them to move to new pastures, to delicate pastures and force them to rest when it is time to do so. The Hebrew is clear; there is a force that is being put with the sheep. Let God rest you a little, let God calm you down a little it's gonna be ok, let him calm you down. Jehovah is my shepherd, Jehovah is my shepherd, I will not lack anything.
There is a break. Jesus said: come to me all who are labored and loaded and I will give you rest. Amen. Take My yoke upon you, for I am meek and humble of heart, and you will find rest for your souls. Only in Christ. We are people the word in English is restless, restless. There is only rest in Him, there is no rest in anything else. God invites us to enjoy that but how? when life is so hard, when you are working two jobs running from here to there. He says there are delicate pastures that He knows and He can put you there.
You know that this morning I was remembering a trip that God gave me with a scholarship to travel to Latin America to learn a little bit of Spanish, obviously not enough, but a little bit of Spanish. And I traveled and got to know delicate grasses in many countries, right? I got into trouble this morning because I mentioned some countries and not all, forgive me. But I was remembering a town in the Dominican Republic, Jarabacoa, so fresh and green, and I was walking on a path in the forest, there I found a waterfall and I said: oh Lord, I feel so good here so far from everything.
I remember when I traveled in Guatemala I was in Quiché for a while in the children's ministry wandering alone and I went to a lake there, Lake Atitlán that has some beautiful volcanoes around it and I stayed with a family that spoke Zutuhil, a family really indigenous, right? they killed a chicken for me and everything. And there, in that lake, that place, the sun enters through the clouds. Do you know when the sun enters through the clouds and you see rays and it's as if God himself were coming through the clouds? and I got into the lake with my friend who had invited me, and we were there bathing in the lake and I felt: oh I'm staying here, goodbye Boston. I ate one of the richest tortillas of my life there, ground by hand.
There are such beautiful places but all countries have them. I understand that in Argentina there are some vineyards in Mendoza, in the south of Chile I have heard about some islands that are like heaven on Earth. I've heard of beautiful places, I can't mention every country right? but I said in the morning I have a lot of people in the English service who live in the Caribbean islands, Barbados, Tartola, northern Honduras, so I feel compelled as a Pastor to take a cruise to these islands and get to know them, right? to be able to understand where my people come from (laughs) what a sin, joke joke.
But seriously we have people from beautiful islands. Dominica an island also there. But each country has its place and all of us have known true places of delicate pastures where we feel that here I can rest, whatever it is for you each of us have such places. And sometimes when it's fifteen degrees and we're walking in Roxbury we feel far away from our happy place, far away. I feel ay Fajardo is very far from here, Barranquilla, Santa Marta is very far from here.
And I told him in the morning that for a Christian a pasture is not a place but a person, a relationship. No matter where you go in the world if your pastor is with you you carry the delicate grass inside. You can be here in the corner running with so much effort, with so many things, but if your pastor is there by your side, you can still rest there in delicate grass. It is a place inside that you carry and you learn to go there and rest with your pastor. Your shepherd makes you rest there, delicate pastures. Thank God.
In english: it's not a place, it's a person. It is not a place, it is a person. Then he says: "beside still waters he will guide me; he will comfort my soul beside still waters." I also understand that sheep are not super intelligent animals, right? It is said that if a sheep sees other sheep running and jumping off a cliff, one sees others and decides: I am going too, it doesn't sound like fun, they jump too, they are not very intelligent. They can take and drink from any crap of water that comes along. They say that they, a sheep can drink from those terrible waters, be left with parasites and die.
So even if I wanted to drink from certain waters, the shepherd knows, even if this seems to be refreshing in your little sheep's head, this is going to kill you and I cannot allow you to drink from these waters. There are waters that I know that are really healthy for you. Do we know where I'm going? We refresh ourselves, many times we seek to renew ourselves from rotten water, from dirty water because it is there, it is easy to take it, it feels good at the moment but we end up with a terrible stomach ache.
God knows what really refreshes, God knows how to renew your soul. Interesting when it says: it will comfort my soul. It says that soul in Hebrew is a very nice word and we are going to learn Hebrew here, it is the word: nefesh, nefesh is what Adam sighed, nefesh, it sounds like a sigh, right? nefesh, soul is the breath of life within the human being. To refresh or renew the soul that is to refresh the very life of the person.
We are not talking about good, being a little tired and then a little renewed, we are talking about an almost dead being that is rebuilt by the shepherd. I don't know if some have experienced this, you should be dead, you were almost dead but there is a pastor who did not leave you there. There are some who feel almost dead inside already. There is a pastor who does not leave you there.
The image that I have read of some pastors. They say that a sheep can be eating in the tall grass, do you know? heavy grass and fall over and roll over and be upside down what is it called? face up, legs up, all up, back down (laughs) amen? we get the picture? tipped over. And it is said that the sheep cannot straighten themselves when they are completely upside down, they are stuck, they are stuck there, they cannot move anymore and if they remain like this it is super dangerous because they are there with their bellies and the sun and they cook the poor things .
And what the pastor notices is that these are fallen and cannot be straightened, I am going to straighten it. In Hebrew the word is shu, it means to return, to return the soul, to return life. Many of us feel stuck like this and we can't move, we don't know where to go, we can't anymore. Thank God you are not there just kicking with your paws (laughs) you are not there abandoned, there is a shepherd who can turn you around, who can give you back your life, thank God. I depend on that pastor.
We have lived it, right? How many here can share testimonies of that? We are a collection of living miracles here, of Lazarus that has risen from the grave, we know what we are talking about. God can make us renew our hearts and give us new life.
It says that also, "He will also guide me in paths of justice for His Name's sake." paths of justice It means that the shepherd does not let the sheep take a shortcut that seems right to them. He doesn't let the sheep explore a new path that looks more interesting. The roads they are looking for are firm, hard roads where there are carts that have hit the ground and it is firm, and they know that they are not going to break a leg and possibly die like that. So firm paths.
In this psalm, firm paths are compared to paths of justice, of living a just and upright life before God and not a crazy, dangerous life taking shortcuts, a soft and mushi land, God says: no, we are going to look for firm paths. And you know if you are there you are safe because you are on a firm path. I think we know when we are exploring paths that are not firm, we know. We may feel that we are in a place where we should not be doing something that the pastor did not lead us there. Look, there is a pastor who can teach us the paths of justice and His Name is at stake here because the honor of the pastor that matters and for Him to take care of you that you are on the right path gives glory to His honor, His Glory, His fame.
How many are watching us right? Have they told you this after accepting Christ there at work, everyone knows that you already go to Church, you are already a Christian and then you say or do something and they say: but I thought you were a Christian?, have they told you it's?. They are good, they have very perceptive eyes, they see. We want to give a good witness but we are not perfect. We come to the light and confess: I am not perfect. Sometimes this earns even more respect in the end, this transparency that God gives us.
But the ways of the Lord, although safe, are not always easy. Sometimes we do not do well to promise people: if you accept Christ everything will go well in life. Life is going to be all beautiful, all perfect. He then says in verse 4: "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You will be with me; Your rod and your staff will give me breath." When we follow Christ, sometimes He will guide us through dark paths that are not easy, that are hard.
The shepherds say, I am obviously not a Shepherd but I am talking about things that I read, but I read an excellent book that says a Shepherd, analyze Psalm 23. The shepherds say that they have to change the sheep in the summer because the grass dries up like that that the sheep have to go up to higher ground where the earth is melting and there is greener grass there, and then they can eat there more, more, more and after summer when the air gets cold again they have to take them down to lower ground so he has to move the sheep. If we want God to leave us where we are, we are going to die.
Sometimes we have to move, we have to be ready for the changes that God has for our lives. If you stay in this step it will dry up and you die, you have to move. The life of God is dynamic and here León de Judá, not with this I am not saying that you have to be changing churches please, no; I want another grass. What I am saying is that the life of the Christian is not a static life, it is a dynamic life, something that moves.
Here in León de Judá, if you want things to stay as they are, you will get frustrated very quickly, right? Once accustomed to the temple in Cambridge we are moving here, once here we are getting into another building, now we are going there. In the English service we start here, then there, then up, then down, everyone is like: what's up? so many new faces say: oh but so many new people, everything new. Everything changing and the life of the Lord is like that.
The processes, the changes of God are not easy, they are deaths that we have to live to enter the highest land and have a fresh vegetable. Sometimes we have to go through certain deaths or paths that scare us. A road they say that sometimes those roads had cliffs, mountains and not much sun came in so sometimes the fog was so thick that the sheep could not see where they were going, they could not see ahead, they had to trust that the shepherd knew where to go. where I was going and that's how our lives are.
If you want God to give you the plan of how everything is going to go, how everything is going to work, forget it, God is not going to give it to you. The Word says that Abraham when God called him to leave his land, his house, his relatives and go to the promised land God did not give him the address of the place; He told her: let's go to the place that I will show you. It says in the book of Hebrews that Abraham obeyed and went and followed the Lord even though he did not know where he was going, but he knew something: he knew who he was following. I don't know where I'm going but I know who's going to direct me so I'm not lost. Is it explained?
I am not wandering aimlessly; there is a shepherd who is guiding me although I don't know where I will be tomorrow I know who will be with me tomorrow. And for this there is security, there is confidence, even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will not fear any evil because You will be with me. We have not heard the word you to you until this part, it is in valleys of the shadow of death that we know Christ you to you, trust, stick to Him more than ever. You will be with me, your rod and your staff will give me encouragement. I can't see you in the mist but I can feel your rod, I can feel your staff.
Now this is not always pleasant; what is a rod? it's a stick, it's a rod. It hits him hard. They used the shepherds to discipline the sheep, to give them a good smack from time to time, my favorite word smack. If you start to get out of the way and get where you shouldn't, he's going to hit you because he loves you, he's going to discipline you, if he doesn't discipline you, you're not a son, you're not a daughter. How many of us have known the discipline of the Lord? The Lord's discipline is not to humiliate us, it is not to leave us on the ground, it is to save us, to restore us.
Satan comes to kill, steal and destroy but Jesus came to give us life and life in abundance. It is a discipline that gives us life and joy out of love, not for anything else, but thank God the rod is not only used with the sheep, it is used with the bear that comes to eat the sheep. It is said that shepherds can use this rod as a dangerous weapon. David killed wild animals: lion, bear with his rod. You know that as Christians there are some beasts that are hunting you, am I saying it right? hunting, they are looking for you, they are looking for your soul.
Some of us were very useful to Satan before we met Christ and Satan does not want to make God easy for us. He says I don't let go easy and he fires some of his uglier demons to hunt us down and some of you know what I'm talking about but thank God I have a pastor who has a stick, he's got a tough stick and He can hit that demon coming against me as David said to the giant: you come to me with a javelin and a sword but I come to you in the name of Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel whom you have offended and he ran towards that giant for he knew that the giant with him was greater than the giant against him.
Jehovah is my shepherd, his rod gives me encouragement but also his staff. I understand that the staff, I don't know the words but it's the other instrument that has this, oh thank you that thing, I'm going to call this staff, staff. And this is something they say that the same shepherd uses to support himself but also to catch a sheep that is trapped in a tree where the fishing does not have to be there, or if the fishing is in water with this, or if it is newborn what He carries it with it and puts it there closer to his mother so that the shepherd's smell doesn't hit him and confuse his mother and I don't know what but they use this to move the sheep, to move them and to comfort them.
I have heard there in that book of the vision of a shepherd who walks next to his sheep with his staff touching the sheep, just touching it like hand to hand almost, right? God walks by your side and even when you can't see it, maybe you can feel it. His rod and his staff can give you encouragement. Even in the darkest path where He lets you walk if you are with Him you don't have to worry thank God.
Now the psalm changes. How many of us know that Psalm 23 is not just about sheep and shepherds? there's another thing. He later says: "you dress a table in front of my distressers". The metaphor changes from a shepherd with sheep to a homeowner, a host who receives at his table. Not as a sheep but as a person. This is not talking about sheep at the table, there is nothing wrong with that but this is not what the psalmist is saying. But it says that: You God are like my shepherd but you are also like a host at home. You dress a table before me in the presence of my distressers.
Think about the meaning of the table for you. We already talked about the sentimental places in your life that we can think of where you really felt calm and in your place. Or I also imagine that we all have memories of certain tables and certain smells of certain foods that filled the space. Even from a block you can sometimes smell what is being prepared in the house. Have you had this experience? walking. I remember once in Honduras on a rooftop with the fragrances of food wafting up and the sight of Tegucigalpa there in front of me. Some beautiful tables with dear people, with food.
Jesus said: I am at the door knocking, if someone hears My Voice and opens the door I will enter and eat with him and he with me. God wants to be at table with us and has prepared a table for us. And he knows that there is another table, at the table is that intimacy with God, that enjoyment of fellowship with Christ, with our Pastor before, but there is also a table that awaits us in heaven. Did you know? I believe that we are not going to be disembodied spirits floating in the air forever. Maybe for a little while because when I die my body will remain on Earth, my soul will float and will be in the Presence of God, thank God, but there will come a day when a trumpet will sound and the dead will rise and die. they will resurrect, they will have new bodies and there we will all eat dinner together, at the banquet of the bride of the Lamb of I don't know what there will be a beautiful banquet prepared and there is room for you.
Jesus said: I am not going to take the fruit of life until I do it with you again in the Kingdom of my Father, I believe that this is literal, we are going to drink and eat together again, there is a table. But now in this life there is a table, a banquet that we can eat wherever we go, no matter what is happening, there is a meal that can be encouraging and nourishing us. But you know that there is a language here that is very interesting, it is a technical language of the temple. The word for table that is used here in this psalm is the same word that is used for table in the temple that was in the holy place and the word to prepare table is a language that was used with the priest putting certain things on the table especially certain bread that was called the bread of the Presence.
So I think that David is comparing the relationship with the pastor and the banquet with the experience of worshiping God in the temple, of worshiping Him. When you come here to Church and worship God it is a time of intimacy with your Pastor, you have already entered the field with your Pastor and now you are eating with the Lord. It is a worship experience but it is not easy. Look what it says: "You prepare a table in front of me" where? "in the presence of my distressers."
It is during a battle, the enemies are around but this will not take away from the fact that I am going to eat in front of You even though there are enemies, even though there are fights. What many do: in times of struggle they move away from the Church, they move away from the Lord. They say: I'm in the fight, I shouldn't congregate, I don't want to be a hypocrite. Thank God we don't want to be hypocritical, but the worst thing you can do when you're in the fight is to walk away from the Church. We eat in the presence of our distressers, if there are distressers, it is even more important to come to the house of the Lord and eat there.
Could be. I remember there was a moment in David's life, he was running with his men; he there with a terrible hunger, his men fainting from hunger and enter the temple and ask the priest: is there anything to eat here? and he says: there is only consecrated bread, the bread of the Presence and David said: give it to us, I am an anointed Priest King. He knew he had the authority, give me that bread. They ate the bread of the Presence but there were enemies there looking and watching and David knew. Although it was in the presence of my distressors I ate the bread of the Presence of God, I will not give up.
And there is another interpretation of that that I would like to give before finishing. It could be a banquet of a King who has conquered enemies and they are eating a victory banquet, that could be another interpretation. You can have enemies that you have defeated and eat before them, even though you are there I know that in Christ I am more than a victor. That's another interpretation, right? Enemy or not you can eat in the Presence of God.
And it says that He anoints the head with oil and the cup overflows. There is abundant life in Christ. The enemy has come to steal and kill and destroy but God has come so that you may have life and life in abundance. I thank God for the way I have observed that in people's lives. People who came devastated with unthinkable struggles and then oil is noticed on their head. They are clothed with a new glory, a new joy, a new hope, that is what God promises for us.
And then finishing he says: "Surely good and mercy will follow me all the days of my life." I want to stop there for a moment. The word there certainly good and mercy will follow me. A better word would be, it's going to haunt me every day of my life because it's an ugly word that's used there. It's a word for an enemy looking for you. I don't know if there are people here who have felt persecuted in life, who have felt that no matter where you go, a hit awaits you. Pastor Roberto preaches about that sometimes, right? Where does the next hit come from?
And we expect bad, we expect negative things in life. For some of us we have been told words of curses from people; you will never amount to anything, you are a loser, nothing will go well for you and bad things follow us at least for those who do not have a pastor. Because it says here: now two other people are going to persecute me, goodness and mercy are going to persecute me, they are going to look for me until they find me.
It is such a strong persecution that good will reach me even if I try to run and hide from God, God's good will reach me there, God's mercy. There is a word in Hebrew, hezet, which is the merciful love of God. God's merciful, forgiving, patient love will seek me out and will find me even though I am hidden, even though I run from Him, He will seek me out.
The Word says that you don't have to expect bad in life nothing else. The Word says: I know very well the plans I have for you, plans for good and not for evil, plans to give you the end you expect. We can have another perspective in life because there is a good and mercy that follows us. You can be here, you can be in France, you can be in Peru, on the street, at home and at work; good and mercy follow you there and they will find you.
You can turn around and know that there are no monsters following anything else, the demons can't find you. I look back, forward and up, it is good and the mercy of God I cannot hide from it. And it says at the end: "And in the house of Jehovah I will dwell for long days." You are in the house of Jehovah right now. At some point you have wanted to give up and leave the Church, leave the ways of the Lord, but where will we go? Who else has words of eternal life? I will dwell in the house of the Lord for long days. God's house is your house now. You belong here. You belong, there is a secluded place for you.
Thank God. It is not a building, it is a community. It is a relationship with God. The temple of Jehovah that now also awaits us in heaven as Jesus said: not only will you be in the house of God in earthly life but also in the next life. He said: do not let your heart be troubled in the house of My Father there are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you, so I am going to prepare a dwelling for you, and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and take you to Myself so that wherever I am you may also be.
God was. He prepared a place for us, he will look for us one day and we will be in the house of God forever but not only then, here you are also at home. You have a place, it is your Father's place, you have a Shepherd, you are not alone, you are not lost, you are not helpless, you have a Shepherd who is with you, knows you by name and He is faithful, He is faithful.
