Psalm 23:6a
“Surely goodness and
mercy shall follow me all the days of my life…”
She has been looking for a new job. Right now she drives
over an hour to work in traffic. She
wants to work closer to home. She wants more time with her family. She wants to
get more involved in the church. You
would think this is what God would want for her. She has had all sorts of
interviews. None of them turned into a
job. Instead she got a promotion where
she works right now. She got moved into
a position with even more responsibility that she had before. Sure the pay is better, but now she is away
from her family even more. Or what of
the man who worked for the same company for years. He had been a loyal
employee. He had been a hard worker. He
was planning on working there till he retired. Then one day he went to work and
they told him to go home. He didn’t have a job there anymore. How can this be God’s plan? What happened to “Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my
life?”
It really is much easier to speak of God’s goodness and mercy when things are
going well. If my health is good… if I
am making good money… if my family is healthy… if my friends like me then its
not hard to be confident that goodness and
mercy will follow me all the days of my life. But what about when your body breaks
down? What do you say when you can only
stand by helplessly and watch your spouse die?
Where does that faith come from when you are crippled or in pain every
day of your life? What is your reaction
when you are out of work and can’t pay your bills? What happens if your children are struggling
at school or in trouble, or angry with God? What do you say when suddenly, without good
reason, a friend hurts you? There are
times that test a person’s faith.
This was true even for our shepherd. Jesus lived the perfect life. He really is the son with whom God is well
pleased. Yet now His Father’s plan for
him is to endure unbelievable suffering. God’s plan is for Jesus to be
arrested, beaten, whipped, convicted falsely and then crucified. No wonder Jesus told His disciples, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the
point of death.” No wonder He
prayed, “My Father, if it is possible
may this cup be taken from me.” Yet
it wasn’t possible. The cross is God’s will for Jesus. How is Jesus to accept this? How is Jesus to trust
in God’s goodness and mercy in the face of the cross? Yet He does.
“My Father, if it is not possible
for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done!” Jesus could pray those words because His
faith was not founded on the goodness of His circumstances. His faith was in something that never changes
no matter how life changes. His faith
was and is in the goodness and mercy of His Father. .
The same is true for you and me. Our faith doesn’t depend on how well life is
going at the moment. Our faith depends
on the trustworthiness of our God and shepherd.
I have seen two separate herds, both in pastures where the grass was all
used up. One herd looked scrawny and
underfed. The other looked fat and well
fed. What made the difference? The
second herd had a rancher who brought it feed and hay to make up for the lack
of grass. That’s how our shepherd Jesus
is. He takes care of us even when we
find ourselves in poor pasture… in difficult times. He is after all the shepherd who endured the
agony in the garden, the beatings of the soldiers, the lies of His enemies, the
crown of thorns. Jesus is the one who
was nailed to the cross for the sins of the world. He endured all that because
He loves us. Then on the third day He
was raised to life again so that we might have life everlasting. That’s a shepherd whose goodness and mercy
you can trust when times are good and when days are hard. After all if God did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all how will He
not also along with Him freely give us all things? Because of His love He made us members of
His flock in baptism. Because of His
love He hears, and answers all our prayers.
Because of His love He feeds our faith with His body and blood in Holy
Communion. Because of the love of our
shepherd crucified for us we have a deep confidence that God’s plans for us are
always good… even on the bad days. Because
Jesus is our shepherd that’s how we are certain that goodness and mercy will follow us all the days of our lives! Amen!
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