Psalms - Songs for the Journey: Psalm 23 - God Restores You! | Pastor Phil Holcomb

Welcome to ECB's weekly sermon podcast. ECB is

an international church in Bangkok, Thailand,

with dozens of nationalities worshiping together.

We invite you to connect with us from wherever

you are through our website ecb .asia or our

mobile app. And now we pray that you are blessed

by this week's sermon. In this series, what we

are doing is we are unpacking five different

uh psalms or poems songs that are collected in

this book that we call uh the psalms and it's

right found right in the middle of your your

bible so if you're new to the faith that's where

you're going to find it and these 150 psalms

are written by people from different times different

eras but what they're all doing is they are using

poetry and songs to connect themselves to god

in this language of prayer So these are to be

sacred companions for us. And so the intent of

this series is this. We would like to offer you

and us as a community five of these songs, and

we're at the last one today. This is like a mini

playlist to get you, if you have not made the

book of Psalms something that shapes and forms

your life, this is made to invite you into that

space. Now, what are some of those that we've

done? We started with Psalm 93 in a proclamation

that God's got you. From there, we turn to Psalm

119. God knows you intimately and he's always

drawing you to himself. Then Psalm 19 that declares

that God can be known. And we see this in the

world around us, things we see and don't see

and experience the fact that God is there and

he's the creator. And then Psalm 147, which is

that God heals you. Before we turn to our psalm

today, I want to pray once again. And we are

putting ourselves in a posture before God saying,

hey, would you please speak to us? Would you

encounter us in this space? We want to be shaped

and formed in the image of Christ. We'd like

you to help us to do that. So would you join

me in prayer? Father, we are thankful for your

word. Thank you that you are a God that wants

to be known and you have done everything possible

to make yourself known to the point of sending

your very son that we just sang about again and

again and again, the visible image of a God that

we cannot see. Thank you. Holy Spirit, for those

who are in Christ, you dwell within us. Would

you empower us to not only see the beauty of

who you are, but to listen well so that we would

be changed going forward from here, that we would

be more like your son Jesus, more like you created

us to be from the beginning. So as we look at

another psalm, a very well -known psalm that

has meant a lot to many of us, we invite you.

You are welcome in this space. Do your work.

We pray this and seal it in the name of Jesus.

Amen. Well, there's a true story from the country

of Turkey, or Turkiye is, I think, the correct

pronunciation of that, that is of some sheep

and some shepherds. And one day, the village

shepherds took hundreds of sheep up into the

mountains, and they got up to a place where the

sheep could graze. And as the day progressed,

the shepherds finally decided that they were

going to go and take a break to have a meal.

So they left the sheep grazing and they went

nearby and began to have this meal together.

But it was at that point that something very

unfortunate happened. This is a true story. One

of the sheep jumped off a cliff. It's about 15

meters down. And one by one, the rest of the

sheep, 1 ,500 of them, followed this sheep. off

the edge of a cliff. How peculiar. What in the

world is happening in this story? So is this

a mass suicide by these animals? And if that's

the case, that's very strange. Or perhaps maybe

this just points to the fact that sheep are really

dumb creatures. Either option is not very good

for us because God's preferred, one of his preferred

metaphors for you and for me to understand who

you are and who I am and who he is in our relationship

is to compare us to sheep. So here's the invitation

then is rather than allow that to come to you

as an insult and to be like, well, I'm not like

that. Allow the shocking comparison. to speak

to the very nature of who you are and to ask

these two questions. Who am I? Who are you? And

how can you live the good life? We want to know

this, right? We struggle to live the good life.

And so if God is comparing us to sheep, is there

something we can learn about their existence

that helps us to know how to live the good life

and to understand who we are? Now, one of the

best passages that captures this is the best

known psalm, Psalm 23. And it begins, the Lord

is my shepherd, I shall not want. We know this

psalm very well. And we're going to turn to this

psalm this morning and look at it not as just

some words of comfort, but a roadmap of spiritual

restoration. It gives an outline, a framework,

if you will, about what it looks like to walk

in a way like a sheep before his or her shepherd

and to be shaped into what we were always intended

to be, the good life. And it's going to do this

in four different stages. But here's what I'd

like us to do before we get to those stages is

I'm going to have you stand back up again and

we are going to read all six verses of this psalm

together as a community. We ready? 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. 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. Go ahead and take

your seats again. By the way, this would have

been the practice of God's people for all of

time is to read his word aloud together like

that. And it's different than when we read it

on our own. The author of this psalm is King

David. From everything we know, it's King David.

And King David has a really, a life that we want

to pay attention to. Why? Because on one level,

he was a shepherd, really a nobody. But on the

other level, he eventually became a powerful

king. He lived in an anonymous way, and he lived

as somebody who everyone knew. He was an artist,

a musician, but he was also a fierce warrior

and led all kinds of battles that were successful.

He was a family man. and brought order not only

to his family, but the nation that he ruled over.

But he also caused incredible disorder, not only

within his family, but in the nation that he

was leading. David was also called a man after

God's own heart, something that any of us would

say, Lord, would you please say that about me?

May that be the case. But David also committed

some sins that were so atrocious, shocking, including

committing adultery with one of his friends and

fellow servants, his spouse. And then to make

things worse, trying to hide this, he ended up

having this friend killed so that he could cover

over what he had done. So when David writes a

psalm, he's not writing from some experience

he wrote or read in a book or heard somebody

talk about. He's writing his direct experiences.

And so for that, I want to invite you to listen

well to that because not only does he have a

wide range of experiences, but he's inspired

by the Holy Spirit to write what he wrote. So

let it speak to us. There's a quote by Dallas

Willard that says the following. It says, self

-sufficiency is the enemy of the soul. We were

made to live in the constant presence of God,

not in the illusion of independence. So self

-sufficiency is the enemy of the soul. We were

made to live in the constant presence of God.

So God confronts our illusion that independence

and the habits we form to maintain this illusion

are gracious, and then he graciously restores

us under that care. And this is what you and

I have in common with a sheep. We are deeply

dependent on our shepherd. We are made to be

intertwined with the God that we follow. So what

was happening with those sheep? We'll get to

that in just a moment. But another way of saying

that Psalm 23, it offers a poetic framework with

four different parts, four different stages of

our spiritual journey. And these stages, all

of us are invited to. To go through them in life.

Now, I want to be clear. We like to break things

up and make them really nice and organized. That's

not how life works, is it? These are all messed

up and intertwined and connected and they circle

through it. And there's this saying that we have

around the leadership team here that is the ing,

ing, ing. What is that saying? It means that

we are always being transformed. So we are being

changed into. So it's an ongoing process. So

you may think, okay, I've got this part of this

stage settled. Let me move to the next stage.

Done. Let's go on to the next. You're going to

have to come back here again and circle through

that and go on to the next one. But the core

thing that you need to hold on to is that God

is more fiercely committed to your transformation

than you are to it. So keep your eyes on the

shepherd as we go forward. And these four points

will be what guides us as we move along. So in

the very first stage, what God is going to invite

you to is an awareness of a life of lack and

what we do when we have this feeling that something

is lacking in our life. Raise your hand if you

feel like something is lacking in your life.

Oh, there's, okay, there we go. It took a little.

Some other people, a little honesty to like sheep.

You need to have one raise their hand and then

the rest will do so. So what David is going to

do in this first part is address this illusion

because that is what actually God does to us.

And Psalm 23 begins in this well -known phrase

that we know, the Lord is my shepherd, I shall

not want. Now, we've talked about this a few

times in the Psalms when it's all capitalized

Lord and anywhere in scripture, it's Yahweh,

which is God's preferred name. It's the one he

gave to Moses, who was a shepherd also in that

situation. And this is identifying a specific

God, the God, the only one and true God is my

shepherd. That's a bold claim. But not only that,

let's add to it that I shall not want. That's

another bold claim, right? Is that a weight on

our shoulders that say, oh, I can't want, I can't

want, I can't want? Or is that something different?

Well, let's go ahead and look forward to this.

The sheep did not jump off that cliff because

they were dumb or because they were suicidal.

The sheep jumped off that cliff because of something

that was part of their design and an instinct

kicked in at that point. And it's an important

thing for us to pay attention to. And in order

to do that, there's a wonderful book by a shepherd

named Philip Keller. And I came across this book

a number of years ago, and it has been deeply

influential to me. It's a beautiful book. This

man grew up in Kenya, East Africa, and learned

from nomadic shepherds there what it was like

to take care of sheep. Then he moved back to

his home country of Canada and he became a shepherd

full -time. That was his job. And on the weekends,

he was a different kind of shepherd. He was a

pastor, which is the same word for shepherd,

in a church. So he made his income from taking

care of sheep, the animals, and then he did pastoring

as a way to follow what God is saying. He also

had a life with all kinds of ups and downs and

struggles. He lived through... was born, I believe,

in the 30s and so lived through all kinds of

things, including his wife dying of cancer. And

so he doesn't speak to you from some place without

understanding. He speaks to you like King David

with this understanding of what it's like to

be a shepherd. And so this book, A Shepherd Looks

at Psalm 23, it's going to give you a verse -by

-verse, idea -by -idea capturing of what it is.

to be, or to understand Psalm 23 better. So here's

what I'd like to do. I'd like to offer this book

to somebody completely free. If you raise your

hand, I think I just saw you. Go ahead and come

up, and I'll give you the book, and then I'll

tell you the conditions of it. Yeah. Okay. So

here are the conditions of it. You can go ahead

and take a seat. What I'd like you to do is as

you're reading that book and you're just learning

probably more than you ever would like to know

about sheep, later I would love to have a conversation

with you and you just share how the book has

impacted you. And that's for two reasons. One,

because God is going to do a work in and through

you through that book, but it also helps me because

I feel like I know too much about sheep and I

want somebody else to share in that pain as well.

So yeah, there's a lot in there. So Philip explains

the following. He says that when the basic needs

of sheep are not met, they are going to instinctively

act to satisfy those needs. So if there's a path

in front of them, they're going to begin walking

on it in order to try to find something to solve

whatever need they have. Similarly, there's another

instinct. If the sheep that begins moving and

acts upon something does so, and they're a leader

by any means, the other sheep are going to instinctively

follow that one. So what likely happened in Turkey

is the lead sheep, or one of the lead sheep,

all of a sudden was aware that there was a need.

Maybe the grass right in front of him or her

was not to his liking, and he saw a path, and

so he just started following it. And then the

other sheep were like, oh, he's going there,

I'm going to follow him as well. And that's likely

what happened with this tragic event in Turkey.

So to start this psalm with the declaration that

God is my shepherd and that I lack nothing speaks

to a profound choice that you have and that I

have. Who is your shepherd? You and I were never

meant to follow another person. If you are following

a pastor, a shepherd, only follow him as long

as he is following Christ. As Paul says, follow

me as I follow Christ. You are only meant to

follow your true shepherd, God. And this goes

for all other kinds of ways of following. We

follow people all over the place, right? Always

allow God the shepherd to be the one who guides

you in that. Why is this such a problem? Why

do we have this choice? Well, let's go back to

the beginning, a story with Adam and Eve, who

God helps them to realize, or sorry, God's enemy

points out to them that there's something lacking.

And he does this through this tree, right? And

he says, hey, I know that God has put you in

this garden and he said he's taking care of all

of your needs, but let me give you a different

vision. There's something he's keeping from you.

There's something more you need. So mistrust

God, trust me and follow me and you'll see that

your eyes are going to be open. So let's read

the passage from Genesis. It says, now the serpent,

was more crafty than any of the wild animals

that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman,

did God really say you must not eat of any tree

in the garden? Do you notice the lie here? The

truth was there's one tree you're not supposed

to eat of, and instead they took this to a whole

different reality. He said, did God say that

you can't have what you need? When the woman

saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food

and pleasing to the eye and also desirable for

gaining wisdom, wisdom in our own sight as opposed

to God's is a form of mistrust. She took some

and ate it. And now here's the following sheep.

She also gave some to her husband and he walked

off the cliff as well. Well, who was with her

and he ate it too, right? Both of them are just

as culpable in this situation. They both acted

on their instinct in a way trusting a false shepherd

rather than the true shepherd. And so their eyes

of both of them were opened and they realized

they were naked. Here's this need that they see.

So what did they do? They acted upon that need

and they sewed fig leaves together and made a

covering for themselves. Now, if you know scripture

well, God actually comes and he encounters them

and he calls Adam and Eve out of hiding. And

what is the first thing he does for them? He

makes a covering for them. He makes a covering

for them. Because what he wants to do is confront

our instinct for self -sufficiency. And he's

saying, I will take care of you. I know you were

the one who decided to mistrust me and head in

a different direction. I will be the one to bring

you back home. And that's the psalm that we're

looking at here. So David begins the psalm addressing

this fundamental problem and instinct, one that

you and I actually do share with sheep. To be

our own shepherd or under the care of any other

shepherd than God himself is a disaster. This

is why David in this countercultural and yet

necessary spiritual resistance, he says, the

Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. How does

God actually restore trust in that situation?

Well, he continues on and he says, he makes me

lie down in green pastures and he leads me beside

still waters. This is provision. So in a recognition

of lack, God says, I will provide for your needs.

And I'm going to bless you with that. I'm going

to provide for you. Now, depending on the translation,

this make you lie down, some of you, if you have

your Bibles open or you've been looking through

the app, it may say, lets me lie down in green

pastures. Well, letting and making are two different

things. If you bring them together, you really

have the picture of what David is saying here.

And to do that, you've got to understand sheep.

And this goes back to that book. So the shepherd

Philip. realize that there's four things that

sheep need in order for them to actually lie

down. So if you invited a sheep to come and lie

down and these things were not taken care of,

the sheep will not lie down. You can try to force

that sheep to lie down. It'll just get back up

again. And they're not going to want to do that.

What are those four things? Well, they need to

be free from fear. Free from fear. They need

to be free from friction within the flock, the

group. They need to be free from flies or insects

that bother them, and they need to be free from

hunger. They sound like pretty needy creatures,

don't they? We're kind of needy creatures as

well, aren't we? For a sheep to lie down and

rest, these need to be taken care of, and that's

exactly what the psalmist says here. He makes

me lie down, so he's done the work to make it

so the sheep can lie down in that green pasture.

What does this look like actually as we follow

Jesus? For those of you who have been walking

with him for a season or maybe even if it's new

to you, oftentimes the turning point from when

you, your old life to your new life is characterized

by huge transformation. You're heading in one

direction and it is truly a U -turn in a different

direction. God's word. satiates your hunger like

you've never known before and you just begin

to read it. I've heard brothers and sisters,

especially those who are in countries where they

can't practice their faith and they come upon

a Bible and they just read it and read it and

read it. They're just feasting upon it. It also

speaks to the fact that we're going to have these

incredible feelings of God's love for us in this

season. In the beginning season. And so you hear

baptism stories where it's just profound transformation.

And that is the way God gifts us in this stage.

But he does more than just giving us this rest

in him of this new way of life. He also renews

us. And it says, he leads me besides still waters.

Again, to understand the sheep will not drink

from rushing water. They need the water to be

still, but the water can't be like a pond that

is just sitting there and with lots of parasites

in it because why? Well, a sheep like you and

I is made up of 70 % water. So if they're either

deprived of water, they're going to die soon.

If they drink polluted water, they will die eventually

as it slowly attacks them going forward. And

here's the thing about sheep too. They will follow

one another in that instinct behavior where they

say if a sheep is in front and ends up coming

upon some water and ends up urinating in that

water and keeping on walking, the sheep behind

will just drink straight from that water. It's

disgusting. And within that then there's these

parasites that begin to kill the sheep. So a

good shepherd knows this and he leads them to

still water where they can lie down and where

they can enjoy the water that he has prepared

for them. Now, what does this look like for us

as followers of Jesus? Well, for those who follow

Jesus, who find ourselves to consider him to

be our shepherd, we have the indwelling spirit

within us that renews us. Moment by moment, day

by day, reality by reality of what we used to

be and what he's calling us to. And the scriptures

picture this as flowing water that just brings

life into a space. And that's often an unseen

way within us. And this is part of God's provision

to us. So for those who declare that the Lord

is my shepherd, things have changed drastically.

Their life has been renewed. And so asking you

a question this morning, can you declare I lack

nothing? I lack nothing. It's okay if you can't

because your need is actually a way that the

shepherd turns your attention to him to continue

to provide for you. So when you are aware of

something that is lacking, turn to the shepherd.

That sheep and turkey, if he had turned to the

shepherd, it would have been drastically different

for all of them. Even though the shepherd was

a little ways off, if he had turned to him, it

could have changed the whole day going forward.

So turn to your shepherd in that. Well, you may

ask, well, this sounds like the good life. Look

at the sheep back here in this green pasture.

Why would I want to go anywhere else? I'm just

going to sit here and continue to consume and

enjoy God's provision over and over and over

again. But there's a problem with that. God does

not want us to stay just receiving from him.

He wants to take us on a journey of deeper intimacy

with him. And just like sheep, there's a reason

for them needing to leave the green pastures

at a certain time, which we will get to next.

He's going to take us from comfort -based faith

to a different way of engaging with him. And

I want you to listen to this. Comfort -based

faith is longing for life now at the cost of

intimacy with the life giver. It comes at the

cost of intimacy with the life giver. So the

good shepherd, he's fully committed to restoring

us. He's going to take us to where he can begin

to restore intimacy with him. And here's how

it starts. It says, he restores my soul. Great.

I'm so glad, God, you've restored my soul and

he leads me in paths of righteousness for his

name's sake. Back to the book and understanding

a lot about sheep. Sheep will continue, as I

said before, to just gorge themselves. If they

are in a green pasture, they will eat and they

will eat and they will eat and they will return

to their same routines that have brought them

this nourishment again and again and again. Now,

if I go to the same path and I come back and

then I go to the same path, I'm going to end

up making a rut in the ground, right? I'm going

to make a divot there. And while I'm doing it,

I'm also eating a lot, which means I'm getting

bigger than I'm designed to be. And one of the

things that the shepherd wants to do is lead

us out of these green pastures, not only to care

for the ground, but also because it's good for

us to go out. We need to do this. Now, we don't

know exactly what David is talking about here,

but Philip tells us or gives us an insight into

sheep that is possibly what is happening here

with the idea of restoring a soul. Here's what

it is. If I go again and again as a sheep and

I'm getting larger and larger and continuing

to eat, sheep will actually fall down. And because

of the way they are designed, they are not meant

to be very large. They will end up on their back.

unable to turn back over. Now, it sounds kind

of funny, but I'm going to show you what ends

up happening with it, and then we're going to

talk about it. So they've fallen in this thing.

They end up on their back like this, and then

all they can do is just move their legs, and

they're like this, right? And they frantically

do that in their own self -sufficiency, trying

to turn themselves right side up. But they can't.

They can't. They need the shepherd to come and

restore them, turn them right side up, and lead

them to paths of righteousness for whose namesake?

For the shepherd's namesake, because he knows

what you need better than you know what you need.

And he's going to lead us in that way. So here's

what my invitation is. Why did I just do that?

Because I want an image to stick in your minds

every time you think, man, God, I remember back

to those days. when everything in my life was

changing so fast and I loved it, let me just

go back there. Because he's leading you on to

something else. And what is it that he's leading

you on to? He is leading you away from the green

pastures into something else, which is the dark

valley. And in order to do that, let's talk about

a few other things here. A good shepherd doesn't

just join the sheep. where they want to go, but

he leads them to where they need to go. As we

practice the way of Jesus, it's common to find

ourselves stuck in those ruts, but he's going

to call us out from them because he loves us.

He wants to confront our instinct for comfort

and bring us to something new. And he's going

to do that, actually, in a special way. But before,

let's look back at these three verses. What word

has been circled? He. In this part of the poem,

the shepherd or the sheep is looking at the shepherd

and saying, he's doing this for me. He's doing

this for me. He's doing this for me. There's

a relationship there, right? But it's kind of

like he's far out there. He's helping me. But

something changes when we get to the next portion

of scripture. It says, even though I walk through

the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear

no evil for you. Are with me. Do you notice the

change there? It's not he's helping me. It's

you are right here beside me. You are with me.

Your rod and your staff comfort me. They're with

me right here. Now a rod and a staff, they're

symbols of both authority and the ability to

guide. And so it's saying, yes, even though I

go through the valley of shadow of death and

I don't understand why I'm here and my fear has

been activated in this place. that you are with

me and you're drawing me into an intimate relationship

with you even in this space. If I'm left in the

pasture where I'm just gorging myself, I don't

really need God. But if he leads me into that

valley, a dark valley where it's just me and

I'm afraid and I'm alone and I don't know what

is next, his presence becomes something that

is deeply important to me and I cling on to him

in that. To help us understand this, there's

an author, Alicia Britt Scholey, who tells the

story of her own father. They lived in the southern

part of the United States where there's these

really strong thunderstorms. So these are storms

that your house is shaking. There can be tornadoes.

There's different things like this. It can be

terrifying, especially as a child. Lightning

coming across the sky. Now, for any of you who

work with kids or who have children, if a child

is scared, saying, don't be scared. How successful

is that? Don't have fear. They're actually probably

going to fixate on it even more. But what Alicia

tells is that what her father would do to help

her overcome the fear is he would lead her outside

onto the porch, and they would sit together,

the dad and the daughter right there, in the

middle of the storm just raging around them.

And because of his presence there, things changed.

And she came to the point where now when she

hears a storm, goes through a storm, she's reminded

of that experience, of the gift of the presence

of her father being there with her. Valleys are

not pointless detours or bugs in the operating

system of life. They are features of our journey

and they're part of the path. We don't sign up

for them. We don't run to the... closest dark

valley in order to force our restoration to go

forward. But there will be seasons in our life

where we will end up in a dark valley. And that

doesn't mean that there's something wrong with

the journey. That means God is doing a new thing

in that space with you. So our instinct when

facing fear in the valley is to try harder to

get back to the green pastures of providence.

But remember that the valley is an invitation

for intimacy with God. And who accompanies you

in that valley? Jesus himself. John describes

it this way. He says, perfect love casts out

fear. Not trying really hard to not be fearful,

but perfect love casts out fear. The only one

who can give you the perfect love that you were

designed for is the shepherd himself. So draw

near to him. And that is what helps your fears

to begin to go away. So this is where trust forged

in green pastures and still waters deepens into

relationship as we cling to our shepherd. And

God invites you to allow your fear to awaken

that awareness, not to feel bad about your fear,

not to try harder and beat yourself up over it,

but realize that that's an invitation to turn

to him. Well, the journey of restoration continues,

confronting another aspect of our tendency of

self -sufficiency. And in this stage, perhaps

a continuation of the valley we've journeyed

through, we're now confronted with the illusion

of control. What does control look like within

our lives? Well, control looks like things that

we can shape and form and change in order to

pursue the good life that we're all longing for.

So I'm going to do everything I possibly can

to fix relationships around me because I want

peace and harmony. And God asks for that, right?

And I try as much as possible to be successful

in whatever job or career I have because I want

stability and I can provide for the needs of

those around me and myself. And that seems to

be a good way to control life as well. We can

try to control our relationship with God. And

we can do this by going back to the same patterns

and routines and keep working at it and saying,

this is going to be what changes me. But the

song takes a turn in this stanza and it moves

to something different. And we have here that

you prepare a table before me in the presence

of my enemy. My cup overflows. You annoy my head

with oil. These are beautiful pictures, but what

is in the middle of it? The enemy. This is an

invitation for us to learn to feast even when

life is not fixed. To feast even when life is

not fixed. And the only way to do that is to

journey along with the Savior who comes and restores

you. There's a well -known story of a lady named

Corrie ten Boom who wrote a number of books.

She lived through the time of World War II. She

and her family worked to the risk of their lives

to help to rescue Jews from going to the concentration

camps. So much so that at one point she actually

was caught, the family, and they were sent off

to those same camps that they were trying to

rescue people from. And she recounts a story

of being in one of those camps and at one point

the guards made all of the prisoners strip down

completely naked and walk in front of them for

whatever reason, something to do with the concentration

camp and the way they were controlling it. Completely

humiliating, right? Her sister later ends up

dying and amazingly, Corrie is freed at the end

of the war. She ends up traveling around the

world preaching a message of forgiveness and

reconciliation. That's what God has asked us

to do is to forgive as we forgive those who have

trespassed against us. But she tells this story

of being in a setting like this and she's presenting

the message. And it's in Germany. So she's in

enemy territory after the war, but in enemy territory.

And she presents this story and this message

of reconciliation. And they end up walking out

at the end, kind of this somber attitude. But

one person walks towards her. And he comes up

to the front. And she realizes this was one of

the guards who was there when she and the rest

were required to walk naked in front of them.

And the guy comes up and he says, you know, you

probably don't remember me or recognize me, but

I was one of the guards at the camp that you

told about and I just want to ask for your forgiveness.

Oof. Oof. So Corrie Ten Boom is sitting there

in the presence of her physical enemy who represents

all of the way that she was violated in life.

And she's standing there. And she says, I froze.

That's the key to this. Because if she could

do it in her own might, then that control continues

again and again and again. If we can make our

spiritual formation happen, then that's actually

just us doing it and we're not acting very sheep

-like. So instead what she did is she went to

move her hand and she just said, God, would you

help me? God, would you help me? And he prepared

a table. before her in the presence of her enemy.

Not just a couple crumbs, but a feast for her

to have, which she describes this overwhelming

feeling of not just being able to reach out and

shake his hand, but for her whole being wanting

to forgive her enemy. That can only happen because

of God acting within you. And it's in this stage

that you are asked to do things that you cannot

do on your own because if you can, you're going

to depend on your control. And so you face things

where you say, God, would you be the one to do

this? I look back on my own life and I have a

story with this where, especially compared to

Corey, it seems quite... It pales in comparison.

But I had a friend, a colleague of mine, who

in a meeting ended up accusing me of something

and betraying me in a way that was deeply painful

and hurtful. And I remember that evening going

back home, and I spent the whole night tossing

and turning, activating every ounce of control

that I could possibly do to try to fix what had

happened. Thinking, okay, tomorrow I'm going

to call him, we're going to do this, and then

I'm going to go back to the meeting the next

week, and I'm thinking about all these things.

And then it would go to, well, it can't really

be fixed over, so I'm going to forgive him, forgive

him, forgive him. I woke up the next morning,

or really just continued on because I really

didn't sleep much, was exhausted by all my efforts

of trying to do this. And I remember waking up

and sitting in this chair before my shepherd,

and my hands were genuinely clenched. And it

was a symbol of kind of where I was. And I was

like, I can't do this. I can't do this. But even

me saying that to God was all that was needed

for the Holy Spirit to then help me to lift my

hands away from them being clenched and slowly

open. And again, also this feeling of like, I

want to forgive him. I tried all night long and

I couldn't solve it myself. But one act of the

Holy Spirit, the good shepherd working within

us, and it brings about a transformation we can

never do ourselves. And that's what it looks

like to move us from control to receiving, receiving

from him. And it's here that we turn to the final

stage, the final stage of where the good shepherd

is going to lead us. And this isn't really a

stage. This is our end goal. It's what we call

the telos. which isn't just, I'm just trying

to get here. It means I was designed for living

life in this way to get to this end. So what

is that end? That end is that surely goodness

and mercy will follow me all the days of my life.

And I shall dwell in the house of the Lord for

a little bit of time. No, for ever, forever and

ever. But this isn't something I'm just holding

onto and waiting. For that to happen, this is

the feast that I begin to experience now in the

presence of God, a God who is actually intimately

connected with me, a union with him, where in

the words of Romans 12, I have been transformed

so much in the likeness of Christ that the way

I think and move and am shaped is according to

the good, perfect, and pleasing will of God himself.

And so David reflects on this final journey with

this celebration at the end. He's taken me there.

He will continue to take me there. And in the

end, that will be my final place. It's a place

of me being a beloved son. I'm no longer a visitor

receiving something from him, a visitor who then

knows him a little bit more. I am now a beloved

child of God. And that's sheep -like nature to

come into that position. So there we have it.

We've gone through the four different stages.

And as I said at the beginning, please do not

think, okay, I'm going to try to move through

these systematically because what have you just

done? Activated your desire to control this.

That is not sheep -like behavior. Sheep -like

behavior is to say, shepherd, what's next? Take

me there. Move me there. Shape me in that way.

Like sheep, As Isaiah says, we have all wandered

off and we've all gone in our own way and we've

all inched closer and closer towards that cliff.

But as we become trapped in these sinful habits

and the self -sufficiency, the shepherd is pursuing

us. He's acting on our behalf. He's changing

things and he's inviting us to come and follow

him. And that's what Psalms 23 declares so beautifully,

so poetically, that you can come and turn to

him as a good shepherd. And why can you turn

to him as a good shepherd? Because Jesus not

only is that shepherd, he was also the perfect

sheep. He came into this world in the middle

of everything being out of control, and he modeled

what it looks like to be completely dependent

on the Father. And he modeled again and again,

no matter if he was in a season of high or a

season of low, when everything was taken care

of or when he was in a valley. He modeled what

it was like to turn to his father again and again

and again. And he even prepared a table and he

feasted in the presence of his disciples, one

of which would be the ultimate enemy and betray

him. And he feasted with those disciples who

would in that night betray him by leaving him

to figure out things by himself. But he wasn't

by himself. He was with his father. So he could

feast with them in that place. And then, of course,

we know the story. He was crucified on your behalf

and on my behalf so that we could be reconciled

to our shepherd and declare the Lord is my shepherd.

I shall not want. So here is my invitation for

us in the next two minutes. Just wanted to be

quiet in here. And I want you to take this up

with your shepherd. You can use the words from

Psalm 23 and just say, Lord, what is it that

you would like to do with me next? Be careful

not to go into this saying, okay, let me see

what I think he wants me to do. Because again,

you've activated your desire to control. And

instead say, Lord, would you move me? Would you

shape me according to your word in this space?

God, we turn our attention once again to you,

our good shepherd. Jesus, you came and you identified

yourself as the good shepherd, one who would

lay down his very life for the sheep. And you

did it. And then you rose victoriously, not only

as the lamb, but the lion. And you hold all power

and control and authority. And so, yes, this

life is filled with all kinds of experiences

as the Psalms declare. And so we cling to you

and we ask that we would be aware of your presence

restoring us again and again and again. And that

we would turn each day in that way to say, Lord,

I'm here again. Have your way with me. Shape

me, form me. You're the shepherd and I'm the

sheep. Do your work, your good work. And we can

rest assured, as we proclaimed in song earlier,

that he who began a good work in us will take

it to a point of completion. And so for myself,

for my brothers and sisters here today, for anyone

listening online or for those who will join in

later, we ask that you would continue to shape

and form us, and we know that you will do so

through the power of your Holy Spirit, forming

us to be like Christ. Thank you for being a shepherd

that we can trust with our very being. We love

you, God. In Jesus name. Amen. Thank you for

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