2-25-2016

 Good Morning All!!     

    Psalm 23:6; “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord  forever.”

    They are critical to the herd.  Sheep dogs do an incredible task in keeping the herd together.  Sheep are difficult animal to work with.  To put it politely, they aren’t too bright.  They have no concept of a lead animal.  Cattle will have one cow become the top cow and wherever that cow goes the rest will follow.  With cattle, you really only need to keep the lead cow moving and the rest will get there; but sheep, they aren’t that smart.  So whereas you can drive cattle, you have to lead sheep.  So the shepherd is out front of the herd, calling out the names of the sheep trying to get them to come as he calls. 

     So the sheep dogs serve a tremendous purpose.  The shepherd can’t be everywhere so he uses these highly trained dogs to do the trick.  These dogs would work closely with the shepherd and not miss or fail a command.  They would chase off predators and keep wayward sheep from wandering too far afield.  They work to keep the herd together and to keep it safe.  The dogs work well together and just as a real shepherd uses dogs to assist him; we can see that Jesus uses “sheep dogs” as well.

    In our verse we read of goodness and mercy following us all the days of our lives.  This may sound like a lazy stroll in the park.  Goodness and mercy just follow us around.  But in actuality, we can read this much like they are the shepherd’s trusted dogs.  Jesus uses two sheep dogs named “Goodness” and “Mercy” and these sheep dogs mean business and work at it.  Where we miss the intensity is in the word follow.  The actual word used is a Hebrew word that is radaph.  Its meaning is more along the lines of being chased or pursued or hunted.  In the totality of our life, all the days of my life, The Spirit of Jesus is chasing us in the form of God’s great goodness and mercy calling us back to the flock trying to keep us in the flock.

    God doesn’t use anger or threats.  He doesn’t attack us with vile assaults rather he uses his love and his grace to bring us home, to re-kindle in us the desire to follow him.  He uses the Spirit to keep reminding us of the peace that we have with him and the peace we can experience in our lives when we remain in his Word.  When we falter and fall behind, God’s grace brings us back; “Goodness” and “Mercy” are at work pursuing us and chasing us away from what harms and bringing us back to what heals.  God’s love never quits and never ceases to call you home.

Father, in you we have all hope.  In you we have all that we need.  Keep us moving in your flock.  Keep us safe and secure in all that we do.  Guide us to your loving arms.  Defend us by your power and shield us with your grace.  In your mercy and lovingkindness draw us back to you.  In the precious name of Jesus we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret