Emily Mishal - Adonai, Ro’i lo Echsar (The Lord is my Shepherd) 23:2:25

dear heavenly father we thank you for

bringing us here this morning we thank

you that your presence is here with us

and I ask Lord that you open our eyes

and ears to hear and see what you want

us to hear today I pray that you use me

as a vessel to share what you want me to

share in Jesus name we pray

amen so we've been doing a series on um

living with trouble um so in January for

those of you who took part in the

wholehearted January reading plan we

read through the Book of John we find in

John 16 a couple of significant things

that Jesus tells us he talks about the

work of the Holy Spirit he talks about

how our sorrow will be turned into Joy

because Jesus Was preparing his

disciples for when he leaves the Earth

and then we read this in John

John 16:33

16:33 or is it Matthew I think I've

written the wrong

anyway I have told you these things so

that in me you may have peace in this

world you will have trouble or

tribulation but take heart I have

overcome the world so the last couple of

weeks we've been looking at the idea of

living with trouble I'm not talking

about living with your kids or your

spouse that's a different kind of

trouble but living with the trials and

the tribulations that all of us face in

life Ben spoke several weeks ago about

why trouble is inevitable for Christians

Steve spoke on finding blessings in our

Brokenness and last week Ben shared on

how we respond to trouble

in John chapter 16 we understand that

John 16 · chapter mention

Jesus is preparing his disciples to be

prepared to experience trouble and how

to navigate it when it

happens today I want to speak on living

with trouble how to navigate the

challenges and the difficulties of Life

how to find peace in the desert of

troubles of life so I've called my

sermon Adonai

Roa and this will make sense later

on how do we find peace when we are

living with trouble the passage says

that in him we may have peace in the

world we will have

trouble but he has overcome the world so

to paraphrase this verse then yes in the

world you'll have trouble you'll have

tribulations but take heart he's

overcome the world so through him we can

have

peace I looked in thesaurus and trouble

can mean a lot of different things

tribul ation stress trials anxiety

suffering woe Misfortune breakdowns

unrest Strife distress problems ordeals

pain hardship misery and many other

things the truth is that we have all

been in times of trouble at least one if

not all of those for me when I think of

times of trouble when I would consider

that I was living in trouble I think the

most helpful thing for me was to know

peace

and here Jesus is telling us that we can

find that in him simple end of

message in trouble find peace in Jesus

it seems so simple but I want to look

today at how we can find peace in the

midst of everything that goes

on I want to read you Psalm

23 The Lord is my shepherd I shall not

want he makes me lie down in Green

Pastures he leads me beside Still Waters

he restores my soul he leads me in Paths

of righteousness for his name's

sake even though 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 they comfort me you

prepare a table before me in the

presence of my enemies you anoint my

head with oil my cup

overflows surely goodness and mercy

shall follow me all the days of my life

and I shall dwell in the house of the

Lord

forever when I picture Psalm 23 I tend

to picture a lush plentiful image of

green grass like this little lamb there

laying in the grass Shady trees sheep

grazing streams running through a

relaxing and peaceful environment a

banquet with all the nicest foods and

the extra trimmings blessings and

abundance

a life spent in the Lord's House so how

does this apply to

trouble we are reassured in verse four

that even though we walk through that

Valley of the shadow of death that he

Comforts us and guides

us Psalm 23 talks about the Lord being

Our Shepherd Ben has shared about this

before in the past about the Lord as our

Shepherd his Shepherd's crook you know

the the little shape of design of the

crook it's designed to hook around the

sheep and pull them back into line

and as God intended it when he spoke of

the shepherd the Sheep walked behind the

shepherd in his safety to where he leads

them I was thinking about this and I

thought about this Psalm David lived in

Bethlehem when he was young and a

shepherd and after being a becoming a

King David conquered

Jerusalem if you look up a picture of

the Judean Wilderness where David wrote

this Psalm it paints a very different

picture than the one I imagine and just

describe to

you for most of the year it looks like

this scattered grass along dry Dusty

paths where sheep must trust their

Shepherd for every

meal the Judean Wilderness is an area

which is semi arid it's desolate there's

a short period of green grass which

grows in the spring after the winter

rain but due to the environment it

Withers away very quickly when the warm

weather arrives for much of the year the

grass is found growing in small toughs

along the path sheep can only eat a

mouthful or two then they need to look

to their Shepherd to direct them to the

next

mouthful the Shepherds must know the

landscape in order to find suitable

pasture for their flock people don't

live here commonly they would mostly

come to seek Refuge or hide away from

from more like cities or

towns in Hebrew when David wrote I shall

not want he used the phrase

lka which is in Hebrew which translates

to nothing will be missing from my life

or I shall not

want he wrote in Psalm 23 Adonai

Roa which means the Lord is my shepherd

I shall not want means the Lord I have

in the Lord I have everything I

need the idea of this verse is that God

doesn't always give you what you want

but he does give you what you need it's

not geography it's

context Psalm 23 1 and 2 the Lord is my

shepherd I have everything I need he

lets me rest in the grass and leads me

be beside the

streams you see the biblical definition

of shepherding means daily guidance not

endless

Fields enough for now not endless

provisions and trusting God as your

Shepherd means trusting that when the

paths are dusty he guides you when the

grass is scattered he leads you when

resources are scarce he

provides sometimes you're not enough is

is actually God's exactly what you

need where reminded of this supply of

daily need several other times in the

Bible Matthew 6:11 Jesus teaches us how

Matthew 6:11

to pray and reminds us to ask each day

give us today our daily bread give us

today what we need to get

through Jesus is asking us to come each

day and ask for what we need to get

through that day not the week you see

here on Earth we get paid monthly or

fortnightly

and this is your work saying here this

is what you

need but you got to make it stretch out

you've got to make it

last it leaves no room for some people

to even get what they need let alone

what they

want you see church on Sunday is good in

fact it's great but God never meant for

us to top up the tank weekly or

fortnightly or monthly and then just try

and make it

last Jesus taught us here to come daily

for what we need to make it through that

day not weekly or monthly or once every

5 years we need to come to him

frequently for each meal to come and say

Lord give me today what I

need in Exodus after Moses LED them out

of Egypt the people were hungry they

were in the desert they had

nothing there the Lord said to Moses

behold I will rain down bread from

heaven for you each day the people are

to go out and gather enough for that day

in Exodus

Exodus 16:4

16:4 so the Israelites did this some

gathered more some gathered less when

they measured it by the Omar he who

gathered much had no excess and he who

gathered little had no

shortfall each one gathered as much as

he needed to

eat sometimes you may feel like you are

wandering in the desert the days and the

weeks and the years go by and you feel

like you're still in that desert but God

promises that he will sustain

you you may reach your limit and think

how much longer can this go on for you

know for 40 years the Israelites ate

Mana every day a daily provision of Mana

by God for 40 years

they ate daily until they came to a land

where they could

settle you know until you can settle

until you can pass through to the other

side of your troubles the Lord will

provide your daily bread your daily

needs enough to just get you

through it is important to understand

that God Made You stronger than you

think you may be in a situation where

you feel helpless or out of control or

overwhelmed or anxious

be broken or down but you are stronger

than you think you are stronger than

other people think you are and you are

stronger than your

circumstances psalm 55:22 reminds us to

Psalms 55:22

cast your burdens on the Lord for he

will sustain

you we are reminded to follow in his

footsteps let the dust from his feet

fall on your your feet you don't have to

memorize the answers or know what to do

just step where he steps love how he

loved and live how he

lived Jesus walked and taught through

the desert you feel closest to him when

you walk in his

steps he tells us in Matthew 19 come and

follow

me I know when Julie shares with us she

likes to give us examples of plants and

trees and water and skies it's very

inspiring Julie so let me try I'm going

to tell you about a tree in the desert

of Israel there's a tree that's called

an acacia

tree the acacia tree is a symbol of

beauty and resilience it has the ability

to adapt for symbiotic relationships and

to provide essential resources for both

wildlife and human communities

the acacia tree teaches us something

profound about surviving life's hardest

moments not just surviving but

thriving this is the tree that the

Prophet Jeremiah had in mind when he

said this in Jeremiah 7: 7 to8 blessed

is the man who trusts the Lord whose

hope is in the Lord for he shall be as a

tree planted By the Waters that spreads

out its roots by the river and shall not

fear when heat comes its leaf shall be

green it shall not be anxious in the

year of drought and neither will it

cease from yielding fruit you see the

acacia tree has roots that cannot be

shaken you can see in this picture where

the stream has passed when there's rain

you can see lines where the stream

passes there's a firmness to its roots

that give it

permanence these trees don't just

survive the desert the drought the

trials the dry years of life life they

thrive on it creating shelter and shade

in the area around them Acasia trees

don't just exist they

ensure they don't just survive they

sustain this particular photo which is

hard to see of there's acacia trees and

this is in the iny Nature Reserve in

Israel in the judan desert Judean desert

this is what we read about in the

Bible if that doesn't Fascinate You it

should these are the this is the

environment that is described to us in

the Bible the acacia tree serves as a

habitat in this desert ecosystem of the

Middle East different animals eat all

parts of the acacia tree and they're one

of the few plants that can provide green

foliage even in the dry

seasons without this tree many creatures

would become extinct in

Israel large animals benefit from its

shade God instructed Moses to make the

Ark of the Covenant with acacia

wood do you know that it's believed when

Jesus was crucified his crown of thorns

would have been made from the branches

of this tree which is covered with

strong

thorns in the same way God has built you

for this he has built you with a

capacity to have Roots deep enough in

him to sustain you with the strength to

withstand trials and inbuilt defenses to

survive the harshest

desert you have roots that can go deeper

than fear strength that runs stronger

than anxiety and a foundation that is

firmer than your

feelings how through the Shepherd that

guides

you see Jesus our God who leads you

gives you Green Pastures in the

springtime where you can walk wander and

be

refreshed the same God who leads you

through the Summers the Wilderness the

desert when you have nothing left to

give leading you step by step to the

next mouthful feeding you just enough to

get you through until you are able to

make it through the desert to be

restored he guides us to give us

peace when all you can see is dryness or

hardship or Trouble When You See No Way

Out no change on the horizon this is

where God guides you step by step and

speaks to you word by

word I'll teach you another Hebrew word

the word for Desert is midbar which

comes from the root word daba which

means to

speak if you think about that the desert

is not just where we struggle but it's

where God speaks even in the desolate

difficult and deserted desert even there

God can and often does speak to us your

hardest season might actually be Holy

Ground there are numbers of people

throughout the Bible from Abraham to

Jesus himself every major biblical

figurehead really who God chose to speak

to in their hardest places in their

deserts Moses was led through the desert

in preparation of what was to

come Elijah spent time in the wilderness

John the Baptist lived in the wilderness

even Jesus himself was led into the

Wilderness by the

spirit now your desert may look a bit

different than that of the Judean

Wilderness or the Middle Eastern sand

Junes but the principle is the same your

desert may be overwhelming anxiety maybe

it's suffocating fear or crushing

uncertainty maybe it's worry that drains

away maybe it's an empty house or a

hospital

room perhaps it's a counselor's office

or just a waiting

season you see deserts are not detours

they are Divine appointments your

struggle is not wasted it is where

wisdom

speaks don't just ask God when when you

will get out of the desert but ask him

what you will get out of the desert

instead of asking why am I here ask what

are you trying to show me because

sometimes God speaks loudest when life

feels hardest he wants you to be still

and listen for his voice in your desert

in your times of

trial sometimes when God speaks to us we

don't like what he says

how many times have you found yourself

in a Wilderness and realized that you

actually need to face a hard

thing a tough decision an irreversible

diagnosis a person who has wronged us

maybe a person who you've wronged a job

that you don't like a ministry that's

failed you see often God leads us to

face the thing that we most want to run

away from

in Genesis we read the story of Abraham

and Sarah and

Hagar when Hagar ran away from Sarah the

angel of the Lord told her to go back

that she must go back and face the

mistress who treated her

harshly God asked her to do a really

hard thing and she did it God told Hagar

to go back but he did not leave her

without the comfort of

Hope the Angel of the Lord promised her

that the child she had will grow up and

be the father of many and that Hagar's

pain and sacrifice would not be in

vain and in response Hagar this escaped

slave a foreigner a

woman gives God his first recorded name

in the Bible Elroy the God who

sees years later Hagar has another

encounter with God in the wilderness

when she and son is sent away from

Abraham and

Sarah dying of thirst in the desert

Hagar is led to a spring of water and

told once again that God has not

forgotten

her you see God remains faithful even to

those who are kicked out harshly treated

or forgotten why because he never

forgets if you feel alone in a

Wilderness today God sees you God knows

you God offers you hope in the Life

Death and resurrection of

Jesus just

listen God speaks in the wilderness be

still know that he is God Psalm 4610

says be still and know that I am

God the Hebrew word for be still is Rafa

and the meaning of this word literally

means to let go to relax

to cease

striving to sink down be weak let

go Release

Control

surrender think about that it's not

forcing calm but it's freeing

control it's not ignoring the storms but

it's releasing the

grip Lou Giglio said God's plan for your

life far exceeds the circumstances of

your day you see true peace is not about

perfect circumstances or controlled

outcomes or managed

anxiety true peace is about letting God

handle what overwhelms you trusting his

strength more than your

control and finding rest in releasing

control

you see God's peace flows strongest

through a surrendered

heart choose his peace over your control

trust his plan over your

Panic it's important to remember that

God wants us to rely on him to come to

him and to be guided by him but he does

warn us to keep knowing him we're

reminded in Hosea 13: 5 and 6 how God

has been so good to us us and will

always help us in the

wilderness but he also reminds us of the

importance of not drifting away after

the trouble

stops there are troubles in life God

wants us to come and seek him in the

desert because he has that lifegiving

source to sustain you he will lead you

step by step mouthful by mouthful to

keep you going through the trouble and

the torment the challenges and the

stress because he wants you to be strong

like a acacia tree roots deeply planted

in him so that when the drought comes

and it will when the outcomes cannot be

controlled when the worry overwhelms you

you can stand strong in him and how do

we do it be still be still and know give

up that

control as the saying goes let go and

let God

there will be troubles in life it's

normal every single one of us has faced

troubles challenges deserts in our life

my trouble is different to your trouble

your trouble is different to their

trouble and their trouble is different

to someone else's trouble it cannot be

compared it's not a

competition it's about saying God I need

you to guide me

through as many of you know I live with

metastatic breast cancer that's my my

trouble that's my desert but I choose to

walk close with him I allow the dust of

his sandals to fall on my

feet when it's hard I depend on

him for my next mouthful each day when

it's bearable I stay close to him

because I know that I need him this is

what God is talking about when he says

have peace in

me in this world you will have trouble

but take heart I have overcome the

world we all go through it every single

one of us we're told in John 10:10 that

John 10:10

the enemy comes to steal kill and

destroy it's rather depressing to hear

the enemy will steal anything of

importance to you but we are promised

that while the enemy comes to steal kill

and destroy God has come so that you may

have life and have life

abundantly not your every want but your

every need

I want to be cancer free but I need to

get through each day and God gives me

what I need it's not to say he can't

give me what I want as well that is the

hope that keeps us striving in him but

he gives us what we need he doesn't take

the trouble away you see no matter what

has caused the desert that you're in no

matter where your troubles come from if

you come to God he will help guide you

in your

trouble in Isaiah 57 it says I have seen

what they do but I will heal them anyway

I will lead them I will comfort those

who mourn bringing words of praise to

their lips may they have abundant peace

both near and far said the Lord who

heals

them it doesn't matter what your trouble

is how big or how small whose fault or

who's

innocent if you come to the Good

Shepherd he will lead lead you through

when you live with trouble he will guide

you I think of the 12 apostles between

Adelaide and Melbourne along the coast

they these towering stacks of limestone

Rock the patient waves over time has

transformed that solid

Cliff do you see beauty isn't formed by

force God often transforms us not

through the Sudden Impact but through

con constant contact with him Isaiah

Isaiah 43:19

43:19 tells us behold I am doing a new

thing now it Springs forth do you not

perceive it I will make a way in the

wilderness and rivers in the

desert see sometimes it is hard to see

sometimes it looks like a desert with

not a blade of grass in

sight God is renewing you slowly over

time God is repairing you slowly over a

time God is chipping away at us when we

don't realize it when we're caught in

our troubles and our trials he slowly

transforms

us as the waves possess the stone yields

when water flows shapes emerge when

contact continues change

happens if mere water can shape that

hard rock Limestone on our Coast how

much more can God's word shape our

hearts

how do we see transformation how do we

see relief through patient surrender and

constant connection with

him we looked at this verse I have told

you these things that in me you may have

peace in this world you will have

trouble but take heart I have overcome

the

world for me this is Psalms

23 not just for the rest and the green

grass pictures that everyone

imagines but Psalm 23 in the context of

the Bible in the Desert of Judea in the

wilderness Adonai Ro iska the Lord is my

shepherd I have all that I need in him I

have all that I need Adonai wrote El

iska let's read it again and hear his

incredible promise of how to live in

trouble and find

peace the Lord is my shepherd

I have all that I need he lets me rest

in Green

Meadows he leads me beside peaceful

streams he renews my strength he guides

me along right

paths brings honor to his

name even when I walk through the

darkest Valley I will not be afraid for

you are close Beside Me Your Rod and

your staff protect and comfort me you

prepare A Feast for me in the presence

of my

enemies you honor Me by anointing my

head with oil my cup overflows with

blessings surely your goodness and

unfailing love will pursue me all the

days of my life and I will live in the

house of the Lord

forever I want to close by playing you a

short song It's a video clip of this

Psalm

23 I want you to watch it let it sink

into your heart and I want you to get it

into your spirit even though you may

face troubles Adonai

Ro the Lord is my shepherd I shall not

want the Lord is my shepherd my guide in

him I have everything I need and I lack

nothing you can play that video

[Music]

Adonai is a Shepherd who Faithfully

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