The Shepherd's Shepherd

King David was a shepherd at heart and, as king, he shepherded the nation of Israel. In a way, his care for his people was a living picture of God's care for us. 

Asaph, in Psalm 78, wrote of how Israel had been unfaithful to God. They lied to Him, rebelled against Him, grieved Him, and refused to believe Him or obey Him. 

When God disciplined them, they crawled back, begging for forgiveness. "But their heart was not steadfast." They wanted symptom relief, not the cure repentance could bring. 

Despite all they had done, God chose to give Israel a good king, and He gave them David.

"So he shepherded them according to the integrity of his heart, and guided them with his skilled hands." Psalm 78:72 nasb

David knew what was important to sheep, and he provided that same care to his people.

Protection.

Provision.

Peace.

Paths of righteousness.

It was a picture of the care God had given to him. 

When I'm overwhelmed with life and the uncertainty of literary pursuits, I try to remember that God offers the same care to me. 

Always vigilant. Always caring. Always prepared to fight off enemies. Always ready with the provision that's needed.

No matter what we face, our God can handle it. He can give us peace in the midst of our trials, victory in our battles, provision in our need. We have only to turn to Him with our whole heart.

Today, let's remember the words of the shepherd boy:

The Lord is my shepherd;

I shall not want.

He makes me lie down in green pastures:

he leads me beside quiet waters.

He restores my soul;

He guides me in the paths of righteousness

For His name's sake. 

Psalm 23:1-3 nasb

God can handle whatever comes our way. He wants to be our shepherd, too, and He will be, if we will follow Him.

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photo courtesy of freeimages.com

In case you missed it, here's the link to yesterday's post: The Sin That Wrecked a King (http://leannahollis.blogspot.com/2016/05/the-sin-that-wrecked-king.html)

#theLordismyshepherd #disciple #follow 

The Wonder Dogs, Wandering, and Getting the Best Snacks

The Wonder Dogs are a little bored with the Hosea project. 

They were thrilled when I first moved my laptop and commentaries to the screened porch to write every day. After a few days, however, they were ready for adventure. 

Yesterday, I let them outside to run around when they got restless. "It'll be time for lunch soon, so don't go far." 

Maggie ran around for a little while then took her favorite spot in the sun. Mamie ran around for a while, then ran around some more.

I stopped for lunch and headed to the kitchen. As I did, I stuck my head out the door and yelled, "Come on, girls. Time for lunch."

Maggie raced for the door.

Mamie did not.

Maggie has a little experience with lunch time, and she likes it. She stayed at my feet while I retrieved roasted chicken from the refrigerator and sliced some to add to my spinach salad. Her big eyes and wagging tail were nearly irresistible (as she knows), so I dropped a few pieces of chicken her way. She gobbled them up and rewarded me with such happy dancing that I gave her a little bit more.

Mamie missed the chicken because she didn't come when called.

When she finally arrived, happy and smiling from her adventure pestering the cat, Mamie went straight to her food bowl. She ate, without any idea that she'd missed the best because she'd been following her own way.

I watched her eat and wondered how many times I've missed God's best because I was following my own way instead of His. How many times I've gotten what I needed instead of the extra God wanted to give because I didn't obey when He called.

Psalm 23 tells us, "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters."

We have those green pastures and quiet waters when we follow the Shepherd who leads us, not when we (like Mamie) go our own way.

Today, let's be the ones who follow close behind our Shepherd, who come when called. It's not just the right thing for disciples to do. It's the only way to position ourselves to receive all the sweetness of relationship with Him. 

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Here's the link to another Wonder Dog story: The Wonder Dogs Run in Circles: The Search for God (http://leannahollis.blogspot.com/2016/02/the-wonder-dogs-run-in-circles-search.html)
Here's the link to yesterday's post: A Gift God Doesn't Already Own (http://leannahollis.blogspot.com/2016/05/a-gift-god-doesnt-already-own.html)
#WonderDogs #WednesdayWisdom #disciple #follow

Finding Christmas: Hidden Paths

Today's topic is one that is seldom discussed, but is the part of discipleship that makes it exciting and fresh. Ever new. It's the topic of hidden (or unknown) paths.

When I was a youth, it seemed to me that the "exciting" part of discipleship was missing in the church. Where were the miracles? Where was the life of the apostles in modern-day believers? 

I was told those miracles were just "to get the church up and running". That seemed a ridiculous way for a god to do business. How much god-ness could there be if there was only enough of the good stuff for one century? 

It tooks years, and considerable wandering from my faith, before I found that the God of the first century is also the God of this century. His power is in no way diminished. He has saved miracles for me. For our generation.

Isaiah speaks of one of these delights of discipleship in Isaiah 42:16 nasb. 

"And I will lead the blind by a way they do not know,

In paths they do not know I will guide them. 

I will make darkness into light before them

And rugged places into plains.

These are the things I will do,

And I will not leave them undone."

Disciples are supposed  to follow God into places we don't know and trust Him to lead us and help us. It's where the best fruit is hidden. 

Unknown paths are where the most fun happens.

It sounds frightening to be led about like a blind man, but this business of being led on an unknown path is not like that at all. By hidden or unknown, I mean a path I'm not expecting. 

For example, buying a farm and cattle when I'd never even touched a cow. I spent a quarter of a century raising cattle and I did it because God leveled the plains and shed light in my darkness. He helped me. 

When a cow reached up to grab some leaves off a tree and got her neck stuck in the vee of the tree, I didn't know what to do. I asked God and He helped me. We got her head free and she lived to raise more calves. 

 Leaving medicine to write and make pottery was another of those paths I did not know.

I didn't know how to make pottery or sell pottery, but God helped me. I wasn't a great success (by the world's standards) at being a potter, but I kept food on my table, a roof over our heads, and I was accepted into juried shows because of my designs.

During that time, I reared my son. He learned to care for livestock, take responsibility, help others, live frugally, be a good steward. Many of the good things I see in him now were deeply planted during that time. I cared for Sam, my neighbor, who had brain surgery and a difficult recovery. I cared for my mother, who faced loss of sight and moving from the town in which she'd lived for more than a half-century. None of those things would have been done as well (or at all) if I had not followed the path I did not know.

God made rugged places into plains and I traversed them because He helped me find my way.

Writing fiction has been the same kind of adventure. I was definitely the blind being led in a way I did not know when I began. But God. God has made darkness into light and rugged places into plains. The best part is this journey is only just beginning. Who knows where this will lead? Only God.

At sixty years old, I'm still having adventures with God on a daily basis. When I'm ninety, I expect He will still be leading me through paths I do not know. He will still be making darkness into light and rugged places into plains. 

Why can I be sure of that? Because I am not content to walk only paths I know. Where's the fun in that? Where's the God-adventure in that?

There's one key element in this unknown path journey. Surrender. (You might want to read these two blog posts again: Importance of Surrender and Ongoing Surrender to prepare for the next step.)

This Christmas, do something incredibly daring. Surrender to His ways. Ask God to lead you in a way you do not know. 

He may not call you to raise cattle or care for the sick or write a book, but He will lead and it will be worth it. 

The most fun and the sweetest times are waiting on the path He has chosen. They can be yours.

If you follow.

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In case you missed any of the past week's posts, here are the links: Finding Christmas: Making Choices that Count, Finding Christmas: Truth, Tradition, and Choice,  Finding Christmas: The Joy of Relationship, Finding Christmas: The Word of God, Finding Christmas: The Importance of Surrender,  Finding Christmas: Separating Truth and Fiction, and Finding Christmas: Ongoing Surrender.

The most read post of the last week: Finding Christmas: When Life is Less than Perfect

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 #Advent #keepChristinChristmas #MerryChristmas #JesusChrist #disciple #surrender #hiddenpaths #follow

photo courtesy of freeimages.com