God's New Year's Wish for You

Oh, the inexpressible longings of the Lord Jesus for us, His oft bewildered and distraught earthbound refugees. In Psalm 23, most often read at funerals, (but why?) He presents His blessings to us in the most attractive way, to excite a desire to possess them.

"The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want." The God who made all things, knows all things, sees all things, He is my shepherd. I am a sheep. Sheep don't know much. If not led, they are lost. If not fed, they don't know what to eat. But they do know the Shepherd's voice. So, knowing Him, they do not WANT which, in this verse means, "to have need of." Our needs will be supplied. Not our unsanctified desires, (more ice cream, a certain car, etc.), but our needs, as God sees them: what God gives us in who we are, at this place in time. These are enough, in fact, more than enough. We are not in want because He is giving us all we need.

"He maketh me to lie down in green pastures." He gives food for our souls. It is delicious, nutritious. It is beautiful and alive. It is green. It is the perfect food for sheep. Primarily, it is His word, but the green pastures are also anything else that nourishes our mind, body, spirit.

"He leadeth me besides the still waters." This speaks of His leading in our lives: the experiences He allows to happen to us, the circumstances that surround us in the situation we are born into. God is God, the supreme, the all-knowing Shepherd, the Master Guide, Personal Trainer who skillfully maneuvers us through the plethora of possibilities that will sharpen our countenance, refine and ennoble us, and create in us the very image of Himself.

"He restoreth my soul." All who consecrate soul, body and spirit to God will be constantly receiving a new endowment of physical and mental power. The inexhaustible supplies of heaven are at their command. Christ gives them the breath of His own spirit, the life of His own life. The Holy Spirit puts forth its highest energies to work in mind and heart. The grace of God enlarges and multiplies their faculties, and every perfection of the divine nature comes to their assistance. Through co-operation with Christ, they are complete in Him, and in their human weakness they are enabled to do the deeds of Omnipotence.

"He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake." He does all the above in order to exalt His name. Not because He is a proud, tyrannical dictator, but because His name is the only name given by which we can be saved.

"Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me." Though Satan works to hinder the purposes of God to make men free, pure and holy, yet through the blood shed for us there are triumphs to be achieved that will glorify God and astound men's hearts, capturing them in the love of God. We need not fear. We need not be enslaved. We need not be unsatisfied, grumbling and ugly. We need not fall in the dark shadows. Christ has cast up the broad candle of Himself, making us productive, upright and powerful. He is our sufficiency. And He is God.

"Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies." Speaking of the unparalleled ordeal of being removed from His Father's presence, Jesus said: "Dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet. I may tell all my bones." Then he breaks into glorious praise: "Ye that fear the Lord, praise him… The meek shall eat and be satisfied." Psalm 22. We will be satisfied. With the devil raging all around us, actively seeking our destruction, through persecution and pestilence, we will be eating at the Shepherd's table, delighting in His goodness, satisfied. Our heads will be anointed with oil, our cups running over.

"Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life…" Praise, like clear, flowing streams, will be the language of our lives. "…and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever." Even while stranded here, with the dismal economy, the threat of nuclear holocaust, the disintegrating environment, we dwell in heavenly places in Christ. With such promises, how could 2009 be anything but glorious? Make no resolution, but to give yourself wholly to Him.