The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want.
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures:
He leadeth me beside the still waters.
He restoreth my soul:
He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name’ sake
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil: For thou art with me;
Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.
Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies;
Thou annointest my head with oil; My cup runneth over.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the House of the Lord forever.
I can’t remember the first time I heard this psalm, but I can tell you where I’ve heard it most often: funerals.
Every time someone dies, the 23rd Psalm is read and it always seemed like it was a prayer that God would bring the person who had died to his kingdom. It was like the prayer lead the way.
But as I was thinking about love and loss today, this came to mind.
The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want.
I’m putting my trust in God completely right now. And that is going to be a little tough for me. Over the last few years, my relationship with God has wavered. There are things that He allowed to happen that I couldn’t understand, that I still don’t understand. And while faithful me knows that it’s not my place to understand, human me needs an answer. So now, as I take this step, I have to place my whole self in God’s hands and ask him to hold me, to lead me. I have to allow the Lord to guide me along this path and in this journey. A journey that I know won’t be easy. It will be anything but. But I know that God is going to give me the path, and all I have to do is follow it. There isn’t anything that He won’t provide for me. He’ll give me strength, through his guidance and through the love and prayers of my family and friends and even strangers. He’ll give me hope through the people that I meet and the community and fellowship that we share. And I know He’ll provide anything else I need because that’s what God does. He gives you what you need. You don’t always understand it, and that’s ok. But as I was often told, God is always right on time.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil: For thou art with me;
This is a huge part of the scripture for me, and a crucial one as I go forward. My family is worried. The way any good parents and grandparents would be. As my aunt told me the other day, parents are supposed to worry, it’s what they do. But one of the things that has been tough for me, is their fear has started to creep into me. When I first accepted this opportunity, I knew there would be some danger, but I wasn’t worried. I believe that God will take me where He wants me to go, and keep me safe while I’m doing it.
But for as faithful as both of my parents are, they take their duties of protecting me, their precious gift from God, very seriously. And they aren’t alone. One of my favorite stories in the Bible is when 12-year-old Jesus goes off to the temple and Mary and Joseph have no idea where he is. And when they find him, they respond the way any worried parents would. But Jesus calmly reminds them that he’s in his Father’s house, and they probably should’ve known that was where he was. Of course, I’m paraphrasing, but I think this situation is one that relates to what my parents, and a lot of other racers’ parents, are going through. God gave us to them to watch over on earth. And they’ve been doing that for a while. But God is calling us to do this, and if it’s something He wants us to do, He’ll take care of us when we respond.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the House of the Lord forever.
