Our Journey With God
Psalms 23:1-6
1 Peter 2:21, 25
PROLOGUE
John Bunyan, in his “Pilgrim’s Progress”, has made many people realized that Christianity is not just a religion –in fact, it is not- it’s more than a religion, it’s a way of life, or maybe in this case I would like to say, it is someone’s journey with God and to God [God’s heart].
The word “journey” basically means: one day walk! Or, in other meaning is simply to make a day-by-day journey with God. Folks, it’s talking about our daily life with God!
ILL. – One day many preachers gather together in an important meeting One of the events in that meeting is the reading of Psalms 23 by the youngest and the oldest pastor who attend into that meeting. When the time has come for the reading, the youngest pastor come forward to the pulpit, then he begin to reads Psalms 23 with a marvelous voice and expression, so, when he finish it every one make a standing applause for him. Now it’s the time for the oldest pastor, and here he is, an old man, with a stick and still need someone to help him to take him to the pulpit. “Wow, he’s too old to read the Bible, he hardly blind. It will be a long and boring moment for all of us,” everyone think. Then, this old man begins to open his Bible as soon as he arrives at the pulpit. He puts his glasses; he needs to bend down so he can read his bible good enough. “Th… th… ththeee… LLLorrrd i…i…is my, my Shhhepherd, I… I… ssssh… shalllll not wa…wa…wa…nt.” And everyone begin to laugh at him, “Oh he is so nice, but he also so funny!” But this old man keep reading his Bible, “He ma… ma… kkethh mmmeee t…t…to lie d..d…down in gre…greeeenn pas…pas…pas…tu…ture. Hhhee l..l..lea…leadeth m…m…me be…be…side th…th…theeee still wa..wa..wa..ter.” Everyone begin to become quite, somehow they all can feel the presence of The Lord begin to fill that place. And it’s become so quite, until the only voice that everyone can hear is this old man’s voice. You can hear this old man voice, “Yea, th..th..th..ough I wa…wa..wa..lk [quite]…” And in that quite room you can hear this old man begins to cry, you also can see his tears flows from his old eyes – oh, so beautiful -. And everyone begin to cry with him. And that old man never finished his reading, because everyone crying and praising God.
My beloved, the young preacher read Psalms 23 with a beautiful voice and makes it a beautiful poem; BUT the old preacher reads Psalms 23 with a beautiful heart and makes it as his own life with his own God. Bible not just an art, The Bible is God’s love letter, it’s talking about our personal experiences with God.
There are 6 things we need to know about our journey with God in Psalms 23:
1. What we need to bring before we make a journey? (v.1) Things you must learn before make a journey.
Before you make a travel, you always need to check some important things to take with you. Before we begin our journey with God, there are some important lessons we must learn:
1.1. God must owns you! "The Lord is my Shepherd..."
Is God really your Shepherd? Do you trust Him to lead every step of your life? This is a very important decision before we begin our Christianity journey with Him. Israel, in the Old Testament, failed to recognize this important message; they did not prepare to trust Him. Will you make the same mistake they made? Peter said, "Follow His steps!" Just follow His footprints that He left for us! He walks in front of us, He leads our journey. How can we know which footprints is His? Simple, His footprints had blood on it. Put your feet on those blooding footprints! Walk in His redemptive power every day!
1.2. We must own God! "I shall not want."
It means to be satisfy by Him alone, and let He be the answer for all our need. I do NOT say that God must answers all your needs, BUT I do say that God must be the answer of all your needs. There is a different between them. If God must answer all our needs, it means our satisfaction is base on the fulfillment of all our needs. If Jesus can’t solve my problem, then I shall find other "gods" who can. BUT, if God IS the answer for our entire problem, it means our satisfaction is base on Him.
Don’t walk alone in your own strength, your own abilities, in your own passion and for your own purpose; walk WITH God; do not depart from Him, from His love and His power.
"He is all I need; He is all I need, Jesus all I need...”
2. Our journey: a happy moment (vv. 2-3)
2.1. "He maketh me to lie down in green pastures..." - God’s protection
He covers us with His Word [green pastures]. Its not said that the flocks eat the green pastures, but they lie down, covered by the green pastures. A wonderful fact is: sheep will only lie down in green pastures if their stomach was full.
If you full with the Word, you will find God’s protection in it. This is His promise for us! Oh, such a blessing!
John 1:1-4, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him [included you and me]; and without Him was not any thing made that was made. IN HIM WAS LIFE; AND THE LIFE WAS THE LIGHT OF MEN. Where is your life? It’s in God, in the Word, IN JESUS!
2.2. "He leadeth me beside still waters." - God’s refreshing power
Psalms 1:1-3, “he meditates day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruits in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.”
Not just live in His words, but also meditate it day and night, and it will refresh your spirit and soul, AND you will prosper! Are you tired these days? Come and be planted beside His Living Water!
2.3. "He restoreth my soul..." - God’s restoration
Matt 11:28-30, “COME unto Me, all ye that labour and heavy laden, and I will give you rest…. And ye shall find rest unto your souls…”
You are in His perfect rest! Brother, are you in labour and heavy laden? Do you know why? Because you are far from Jesus. That’s why He said, “COME unto Me!” How many people these days are in great depression and fear, they spend millions just to find the calmness in their lives, they use drugs, alcohol, sex, go to psychiatric, they try everything they can. Beloved, I have a sure medication for you today, and it’s for free! ACCEPT JESUS, COME TO HIM, AND YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOUL! With all the terrors that happened recently, we surely needed to come to Him closer, and let His peace rule our life.
2.4. "He leadeth me..." - God’s direction
Many people follow the wrong paths, wrong direction. They take the paths of self-righteousness, self-help, self-awareness, self-esteem, self-love, self-determination, and more “self, self, self”. But Jesus directs us in the path of righteousness for His NAME’S sake! John 14 said His name is “the WAY, the TRUTH and the LIFE”. His WAY is TRUTH and brings us into eternal LIFE with Him. His destination is LIFE, follow His steps, and follow Jesus’ direction in your life, and you will find The Real Life!
3. Our journey: a dark moment
"Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me."
If in Psalms 23:2-3, like a "beautiful mountain" experience; but in this verse 4, like a "dark valley" experience Eccl. 3:1,4, "To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven... A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance," After the wonderful experience we had with God, now, we will walk through the dark moment in our life. This must be a part of our life.
Every one of us must have been through the dark moment in our life. There are 3 things happen to every one when they are in this "valley experience":
First, they always want this moment to pass as soon as possible.
David said, "Though I WALK through the valley..." Wait a second, does he WALK? If I can, I would like to change this "WALK" with "RUN". Who wants to have sorrow and painful and heartache in their lives? No one, Amen for that! BUT, if we have to go through that moment, and when it happens, all that we want is: let it finish as soon as possible.
What is David’s secret so he can "walked", even in the darkest moment of his life? How can he stand to face "the nightmare" of his life?
Psalms 84:5-7, "Blessed is the man WHOSE STRENGTH is in Thee; in whose HEART are the ways of them. Who passing through the valley of Baca make it a well; the rain also filleth the pools. THEY GO FROM STRENGTH TO STRENGTH, every one of them in Zion appeareth before God." His secret is: to put his strength in God! He can makes the "valley of Baca [tears]" into fountains of waters. If we put our strength in God, then, we still have our joy in every moment of our life. He maintains the strength of his life by meeting God daily in his life. Folks, when everything in your life seems to give up on you, don’t you [dare] to give up ion God, because He never gives up on you! He is your only hope! He is your strength! He is your joy! He’s not change, both in good times and in bad times!
Second, they are in great fear.
Somehow, fear always follows all the problems we have; fear always follows everything that we don’t know how to handle.
Folks, fear is not just some normal feeling, fear is a terror from Satan. SATAN IS THE REAL TERRORIST! Listen to what David said, "I will fear no EVIL." Look in your bible, Gen 3:8-10; 2 Tim 1:7; Heb 2:15; 1 Pet 3:14; 1 John 4:18; ALL the fear is from Satan, he puts the SPIRIT OF FEAR! No one can make us afraid, accept we allow the Evil come to our minds and put his terror in us.
Fear always destroys:
- Our love (1 John 4:18)
- Our faith (Matt 8:26)
- Our hope (1 Thess 4:13)
How can I say, "I will fear no evil"? Ps 23:4, "for Thou art with me." Is Lord Jesus with you? If yes, you don’t have to be afraid anymore.
Listen; as I said before, we fear for something that we don’t know how to handle that thing. When we don’t find a way out for our problems, we are afraid! But when we do know the answer, we are not afraid anymore. Am I right? Now, think carefully, what is the answer for your financial problems? What is the answer for your family, or love, problems? What is the answer for your loneliness? What is your answer? JESUS! If Jesus is the answer for all your problems, YOU DON"T HAVE TO BE AFRAID. David said, as long as "The Answer" is with me, I don’t have to be afraid! He died for me on the cross, and He bore all my weaknesses, my sickness, my loneliness, my failure, and all my sins away! I don’t have to be afraid anymore. Now, it’s all up to you. You going to be afraid, or you going to say, "Satan, I rebuke all the terror that you put in my head in the name of Jesus Christ, my Lord!"
Third, they are in great distress.
When people are in their problem, they always in great depression, so they will be need a comforter. They need someone to be a friend for them. David said that his comforters are "Thy rod and Thy staff". I would agree with Rev. Derek Prince about what is the rod and the staff is. Mr. Prince said that "rod" is talking about God’s discipline, and "staff" is talking about God’s caring. Just if we can see that in all the hardships and tribulation we faced, God also works together (Rom 8:28) to bring goodness for our life, and it will be a great comfort for us; because we know that He never leaves us alone, He just want to teaches us something.
1 Peter 1:7 said, "That the trial of your faith, being much MORE PRECIOUS THAN OF GOLD that perished, though it be TRIED WITH FIRE, might be found PRAISE and HONOUR and GLORY at the appearing of Jesus Christ." And also in James 1:2-4, "My Brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worked patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be PERFECT and ENTIRE, WANTING NOTHING. “Every trial in our life is going to bring us into the perfection, entire, and wanting nothing. Right now, we still not perfect yet, we still not entire yet, we still lack on something; so He works with ALL circumstances in our life, so He can brings His purposes in us. Perfect before Him, and entire, and wanting nothing accept Himself, and to be found praise and honor and glory before The Lord, our God! This is our comforter, when we meet hardships in our life.
God blesses you!
