Psalm 23
1The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
2He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.
3He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
4Yea, 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.
5Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
6Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.
Our pastor spoke on this psalm on Sunday. He emphasized how if you take away the la, la, la dreamy feeling that is often associated with this passage, it can actually paint a picture of just what we will go through if we are truly trusting in Jesus as our Lord and as our shepherd. He allows us to go through some pretty tough times, times where "enemies" are all around us. Yet, we are not to tuck tail and run. We are to trust Him. It won't be comfortable; it won't be fun, but we are to trust Him. I have had more practice at this than I care to think about. Oh, how He must love me! How can I say that when I just finished saying I have been through lots and lots of bad times? I can say that because He has always been there with me, and He has always eventually led me out of those places. I'll give an example from long ago in today's boast:
Long ago, before I knew Jesus as my savior (but He must have known I would be His someday), I was taken captive at knifepoint. I won't go into all the details of how that came about, but I will tell you I was held captive for about eight hours. I was fifteen years old, very promiscuous, and I was a drug addict. That all played into me eventually being held captive by several guys who did not have good intentions for me. One particular guy who was bigger than the rest made the others leave so that he could rape me.
As he began attempting that wicked act while he held a knife to my throat, I found myself saying the "Our Father" over and over as fast as I could utter the words. It was the only part of scripture I knew; I had learned it as a little girl.
The guy trying to rape me kept hitting me over and over across the face telling me to stop saying those words, but I wouldn't stop.I figured if I was going to die, I would want to die praying. I hoped that instead of dying though that He would hear my prayer and rescue me. He did.
The rapist was unable to carry through with what he was attempting to do because my praying non-stop kind of ruined it for him. I thought maybe he would kill me at that point. He didn't. Instead, he drove me to a club where he got some friends of his to drive me to the other side of the city where I lived.
I took them to a location that was not my actual address, but I acted as if I was letting myself into the front door of the house. Thankfully, they drove away. As soon as they were out of sight, I ran as fast as I could to my real address. I was so grateful to be alive!
Of course going through something like that is scary, but I am living proof that the Lord can and will rescue you from the grips of the enemy...no matter who or what that enemy is. I praise God for life with Him! God is awesome!
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