As children of the most of the Most High God we come under His Son’s Shepherding! The world is under a curse with chaos! But we believers are blessed by Christ’s care or watch.
That doesn’t mean we will not go through different trials, times and seasons. But what is does mean we have a Shepherd to always be with us and will not leave us there! He has His part and we have our part but we must be lead by the Shepherd’s understanding:
*Proverbs 3:5-7 KJVS Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. [6] In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. [7] Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the Lord, and depart from evil.
Let’s come to a place of great peace under the Shepherd’s care. We must renew our minds with His Word because what we expect is what we collect:
CORRECT me in love.
DIRECT me in truth.
PROTECT me by promise.
#1 CORRECT me in love.
To come to a place of blessing in this area we must be humble to know we need repentance:
*Romans 3:23 KJVS For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
*Romans 2:4 KJVS Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?
All is all, mankind fell because of Adams sin and we were all born into a sin nature that’s why we had to be born again in Christ! But then our spirit is brand new by the Lord but we must renew our souls by His Word to bring our bodies under subjection! Notice our text or key verses:
*Proverbs 3:5 KJVS Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.
My own understanding will lead me away from the Shepherd’s care! Note “lean not”: (shaw-an) to support oneself – to rest upon.
Everyone of us has trusted in ourselves, our feelings and our wants for support at one time or another! To be under the Shepherd’s care we must see He corrects us in love:
*Proverbs 3:12 KJVS For whom the Lord loveth he correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth.
To ask God to refrain from giving us CORRECTION would be to ask him to love us less! He knows what we need for His best in our lives:
*Jeremiah 29:11 KJVS For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.
#2 DIRECT me in truth.
*Proverbs 3:6 KJVS In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
Too many times in my past I have been directed by others people, feelings or things because I acknowledged them instead of my Shepherd! To acknowledge is like receiving a seed for a harvest: (yaw-dah) means to know by seeing and more:
*Genesis 4:1 KJVS And Adam KNEW (acknowledged) Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the Lord.
Words received produce a harvest of action. Adam and Eve received the words of the serpent and he directed their path to sin, sickness and death. The Lord Jesus is our way back:
*John 14:6 KJVS Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
#3 PROTECT me by promise.
*Proverbs 3:7 KJVS Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the Lord, and depart from evil.
*John 10:27-29 KJVS My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: [28] And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. [29] My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.
As the Lord Shepherded the children of Israel from Egypt to the Promised Land evil was all around them. But as long as they put Him first they we PROTECTED by promise:
*Exodus 40:38 KJVS For the cloud of the Lord was upon the tabernacle by day, and fire was on it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel, throughout all their journeys.
As they followed their Shepherd His presence and PROTECTION became more clear:
*Exodus 40:33-35 KJVS And he reared up the court round about the tabernacle and the altar, and set up the hanging of the court gate. So Moses finished the work. [34] Then a cloud covered the tent of the congregation, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. [35] And Moses was not able to enter into the tent of the congregation, because the cloud abode thereon, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.
The cloud of God speaks of the glory of God upon His Tabernacle. The New Testament tabernacle/temple is the individual believer:
*1 Corinthians 6:19-20 KJVS What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? [20] For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.
And the church, filled with God’s glory;
*1 Corinthians 3:16 KJVS
Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?
*Ephesians 3:21 KJVS Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.