🙌It's the Friday Call to Worship!🙌

"The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want." (Psalm 23:1) King David wrote this shepherd's song with firsthand experience. Philip Keller is an author who knows the climate David wrote from and has also shepherded people and sheep. In, "A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23", Keller recounts story after story of lifesaving interventions for his flock, one ewe at a time. He unpacks the grueling work of protecting, providing and creating sustainable environments.

His stories made me think differently about Psalm 23:2's claim, "He makes me lie down in green pastures..." I love the imagery of fluffy white sheep lying lazily in luscious green fields. The image is more powerful when the realities of the climate, constant care, and sheep's needs are applied. Keller writes that sheep do not lie down easily. In fact, they will not lie down at all if they are afraid, there is friction among the flock, flies or parasites trouble them, or they are hungry. Rest comes because the shepherd has dealt with fear, friction, flies, and famine.

David says, "You anoint my head with oil." (Ps 23:5). The shepherd's fresh oil kept flies from going into his sheep's noses, causing distraction, irritation and disease. It would soothe wounds and prevent injuries when the sheep would inevitably butt heads. The spiritual use of anointing oil hits different when we know why we need it. The key is the continuous need for the Shepherd - his protecting anointing and continuous care. The Living Word tells us that, if we are in God's flock, we can "lie down and sleep in peace, for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety." (Psalm 4:8) The world will still be the world, but He will provide everything we need in fear, friction, pestilence and poverty.

See if you can find a moment to lie down today and listen to Phil Wickham's Psalm 23.