Follow Me

 Have you ever played the game Follow The Leader before? It's pretty fun if you haven't and a great one to play with children! In the game, people have to form a single file line. The person at the front of the line is the line leader and will do certain actions. Everyone else in the line has to do exactly what the leader does. This means that the people need to be watching the leader closely and keep their eyes forward in order to know what to do. In Psalm 23, David talks about following God. In verse 1, he talks about God being His Shepherd. A shepherd is someone who leads, guides and takes care of the sheep. A shepherd and sheep have a close relationship with each other and spend a lot of time with each other. David was able to call his Shepherd because he had a relationship with God and spent time with Him. We can say that too when we know God for ourselves. As we move to verse 2, it talks about how God will lead him to pasture and still waters. Pasture is an area set aside where animals graze at. When animals graze, they feed on the growing grasses and plants there. As God's children (His sheep), we should be growing and becoming more mature- in our faith, relationships, attitudes, perspectives. We can lie down and rest in God's promises and presence. We can be still and know He is God. We don't always have to be busy, we can rest our mind and body. We need our rest to grow and do what God has called us to do. This is something I have to constantly remind myself and work on daily. It's in the rest that we can become restored as verse 3 of Psalm 23 talks about. Our Shepherd can and will restore us. We get tired, anxious, weary, overwhelmed and confused (we've definitely felt all of these in this year!), but God wants to make us whole and new. We have the low moments, the valley experiences. A valley is a lowland between a mountain or hill. We all have felt those moments when we get down. But here's the good news: we don't have to stay in the valley! David said in verse 4 that he is going to walk through the valley. Through means I'm not staying there. David wasn't planning to stay there and neither should we! He knew He could rely on his Shepherd to take him through. He knew he didn't have to fear any evil. In verse 5 of Psalm 23, David is so bold that he declares God will prepare a table before him in the presence of his enemies. David knew not everyone was for him. Can I told you a secret (but probably not so much!)??! Not everyone is for us either. David was able to face them because he knew who he was. God has chosen and set apart David. We too can face those against us when we know who we are in God. God's got us! As Psalm 23 comes to an end in verse 6, David talks about how goodness and mercy will follow him all the days of his life and he will be in God's house forever. God's goodness and mercy keeps being shown to us daily and for that we can be thankful for. David wanted to be in God's presence forever. He knew God would never leave him and He won't leave us either. He is our Good Shepherd! God will not lead us wrong, but will lead us to what's right and good. We have to make sure we are listening and following His instructions. In the Follow The Leader game talked about at the beginning, you may miss a movement if you get distracted or turn to look another way. We too need to watch out for distractions (such as social media, how many likes/follows we get on social media, past mistakes, etc.) that will cause us to miss the current instructions God is giving us. In our daily living, let's do our best to follow and live for God. Let's keep on His path!!