He Will Guide You

Psalm 23:1 THE LORD is my Shepherd [to feed, guide, and shield me], I shall not lack.
Yesterday we talked about the Lord being our Shepherd, and how as the One responsible for our well-being, He feeds us. The next responsibility of the shepherd is to guide. Again we can look to the Word to see instances of God guiding those who will listen to Him. Abraham was guided by Go and so prospered. In Genesis 12:1-3 1NOW [in Haran] the Lord said to Abram, Go for yourself [for your own advantage] away from your country, from your relatives and your father’s house, to the land that I will show you. 2And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you [with abundant increase of favors] and make your name famous and distinguished, and you will be a blessing [dispensing good to others].  3And I will bless those who bless you [who confer prosperity or happiness upon you] and curse him who curses or uses insolent language toward you; in you will all the families and kindred of the earth be blessed [and by you they will bless themselves].
God spoke to him and said, “it’s time for you to move to another place.” Abraham obeyed and was blessed throughout his life. In Genesis 26:1-3 Abraham’s son Isaac was guided by God.  1AND THERE was a famine in the land… And Isaac went to Gerar…..    2And the Lord appeared to him and said, Do not go down to Egypt; live in the land of which I will tell you. 3Dwell temporarily in this land, and I will be with you and will favor you with blessings; for to you and to your descendants I will give all these lands, and I will perform the oath which I swore to Abraham your father.  Just like his father, Isaac obeyed the leading of God and was indeed blessed.
God is always there to guide us but if we don’t follow His direction, we may not receive the benefits of His leading.  What if Isaac had said, “I know you said not to go to Egypt, but I want to live there. It doesn’t make sense so I think I’ll do what I want to do.” He wouldn’t have received the prosperity and provision that he got by being obedient to God’s voice.  He would have struggled through the famine like everyone else. Instead he followed God’s guidance and it tells us in Genesis 26:12-14 12Then Isaac sowed seed in that land and received in the same year a hundred times as much as he had planted, and the Lord favored him with blessings.  13And the man became great and gained more and more until he became very wealthy and distinguished;   14He owned flocks, herds, and a great supply of servants, and the Philistines envied him. Even in the midst of a famine he prospered!
God’s guidance can be found in His word. Proverbs 6:20-23 20My son, keep your father’s [God-given] commandment and forsake not the law of [God] your mother [taught you]. 21Bind them continually upon your heart and tie them about your neck.  22When you go, they [the words of your parents’ God] shall lead you; when you sleep, they shall keep you; and when you waken, they shall talk with you. 23For the commandment is a lamp, and the whole teaching [of the law] is light, and reproofs of discipline are the way of life. As your Shepherd, the Lord will lead you, guide you, and set you on the right path for your life. Follow His leading and you will reap all of His benefits.

He Will Feed You

Psalm 23:1 THE LORD is my Shepherd [to feed, guide, and shield me], I shall not lack.

In this Psalm David refers to the Lord as his shepherd. A shepherd is not only someone who looks after sheep, but can also be defined as someone who is responsible for caring for and guiding a group of people. The Lord is the one who takes care of us. He feeds us, guides us and shields us. Throughout the Bible you can find instances of how God literally fed His people. Think about the children of Israel. As they journeyed through the desert in Exodus 16:14-15 14And when the dew had gone, behold, upon the face of the wilderness there lay a fine, round and flakelike thing, as fine as hoarfrost on the ground. 15When the Israelites saw it, they said one to another, Manna [What is it?]. For they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, This is the bread which the Lord has given you to eat. A little later in verse 35 it says 35And the Israelites ate manna forty years, until they came to a habitable land; they ate the manna until they came to the border of the land of Canaan. For forty years God sent manna from heaven to feed the people each day.

In 1 Kings 17 we see the story of Elijah, a prophet of God. He was living in a time of famine and in verses 2-6 2And the word of the Lord came to him, saying, 3Go from here and turn east and hide yourself by the brook Cherith, east of the Jordan. 4You shall drink of the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there.  5So he did according to the word of the Lord; he went and dwelt by the brook Cherith, east of the Jordan.  6And the ravens brought him bread and flesh in the morning and bread and flesh in the evening, and he drank of the brook. When the brook dried up God sent him to a widow woman and they were provided for until the famine was over. In the New Testament in Matthew 14:19-21  19Then He ordered the crowds to recline on the grass; and He took the five loaves and the two fish, and, looking up to heaven, He gave thanks and blessed and broke the loaves and handed the pieces to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people.  20And they all ate and were satisfied. And they picked up twelve small hand] baskets full of the broken pieces left over.  21And those who ate were about 5,000 men, not including women and children. Whether it was food from the sky, delivered by birds or something made from nothing, the Lord has always provided for His flock, and He will continue to provide for me and you.

My husband always says, “if He made bread fall out of the sky for the Israelites, then He’ll make Chik-Fil-A fall out of the sky for me!” I always laugh but the other day we got a phone call from a friend asking us if we liked salmon. Apparently a freezer truck had broken down on the highway and they needed to give away all of the salmon before it thawed and was ruined. They showed up at our front door with a huge case of restaurant quality fish! In the midst of the financial instability, economic hardship, and the uneasiness that we may see and feel in the natural, isn’t it good to know that our Shepherd, our Heavenly Father will always provide for us?