Any high school election is
just a popularity contest. Hopefully, when these teens are old enough to vote in a general election,
they will also be mature enough to judge candidates on legitimate merits, not on good looks and personality.
That said, in my lifetime, I've observed an increase of popularity
contests among churches, as they try harder and harder to outdo each other in attracting large crowds. Sadly, though, most churches are not increasing the flock with “new believers” but by “transfer” growth, people moving from one church to another. This is sometimes referred to, especially by the 'losing' church, as “stealing
sheep.”
In the Church at Corinth, the sheep were aligning themselves with the most popular shepherds within the local church, causing divisions (1 Cor. 3). While this was condemned by Paul, he did not address any problem with “transfer” growth (after all, there was only one church). In our day, there seems to be an increase of restlessness among the sheep. Is this another sign of our
times?
David's beautiful Psalm 23 is one of the Bible's most well-known passages to believers and non-believers alike. Often read at funerals, it is perceived as a universal message of comfort and hope for all people. But the hope it promises can only by possessed by those who know God as their Shepherd.
In 2006, Barak Obama wrote “The Audacity of Hope,” in which he challenged Americans to have hope in a time of difficulty and uncertainty. Borrowing from the apostle Paul and Franklin D. Roosevelt, he said “In the end it [hope] is God’s greatest gift to us: believing in things not seen, and believing there are better days ahead.” Of a certainty, ‘then’ Senator Obama could not have known how much difficulty and uncertainly lay ahead for the nation over which he would preside. Whatever your politics, you have to admit that his presidency has not been in the best of times. And now, unsurprisingly, he no longer speaks of hope. Without a revelation of God as His Shepherd, how could he?
The metaphor may not be entirely appropriate, but King David’s path to the throne was rocky—his reign full of ups and downs. David came on the scene at a difficult time: a protracted war with the Philistines, political division, and over-taxation had weakened the new-found kingdom. Still David kept entrusting his life to God. For David, there was no question about where to put his trust. “But as for me, I will hope continually” (Psalm 71:14). David knew there was only one place to find hope. What audacity! We should all be so bold.
Two million children a year die for lack of clean water. After a disaster, like a flood in Bangladesh or the earthquake in Haiti, it is common for people to get sick or die from water & sanitation-related diseases like diarrhea & cholera. But finding fresh, clean water has been a problem throughout history.
That significance should not be lost on us in Psalm 23 where David pictures a shepherd leading his sheep to “still waters.” He must do so because 1) sheep will not drink from a moving stream, and 2) if not moved daily, they will continue to drink long after the water has been contaminated by mud and parasites, and their own waste. And they will die.
Jesus promises to satisfy our need for clean water, from a well of living water springing up from inside of us (John 4:14). Where do we find this well? And how do we draw from it? Through our daily quiet time—a quiet and still place with the Lord where we are refreshed by 'drinking in' his Word.
Trying to live in a state of continual fellowship with God without a dedicated time and place to fellowship with Him will not work (Amos 3:3). How quenching it is to the Lord when we ignore our time with Him but drink from the world’s watering holes. But all the time, our Shepherd is trying to lead us to the clean, cleansing water of His Word (Jer. 31:9; John 15:3; Eph. 5:26.) How sad that there are Christians (like water-deprived ‘third-worlders’) who don’t realize they’re drinking fouled waters. The result is deadly.
“A thief comes only to steal and to kill and to destroy. I have come that they may have life” (John 10:10). As many times as I have read and taught this verse, I never fully appreciated how Jesus contrasts Himself with a thief! Some say the word thief in this verse refers to false shepherds who come with selfish motives. Others say it refers to Satan: a thief and murder. Either way contrasts taking and giving. Why? When people experience loss, they see it negatively—as God taking away something they loved.
When someone dies, people will say, “The Lord took him." When someone loses a job, people may say, "Well, the Lord gives; the Lord takes away." And some Christians cynically speak of the church offering as the church or preacher taking their money! Many people reluctantly give themselves to God because of this false view that He is taking away their freedom.
Remember how the Hebrews reacted right after they had crossed over the Red Sea? They sang and danced with great joy because God had given them freedom. But within days, they were complaining that God had taken away their leeks and onion. Like the Israelites, we are tempted to see God’s actions in a negative light. If you are currently struggling with feelings that God has taken away something from you, ask Him to reveal His true nature to you. The more you get to know Him as a giver of good things (James 1:17) the more you will be able to see the abundant life He has given, and is giving, you.
