Living in the will of God
Life’s circumstances have a way of drawing us off on tangents – we face many pressures and decisions. We start following shepherds of money, fame, ego etc and all of a sudden we notice that…Goodness & Mercy aren’t following…where are the ‘green pastures’ & ‘still waters’? Our hearts are over-taken with the fear of evil in the Valley of Shadows.
What’s happened? We forgot who our Shepherd was!! How many of us have taken the shepherd job and given it to ourself, and that’s why our heart’s are full anxiety? We need to give the Shepherd His job back and go back to being one of His sheep.
These were the tools used by the shepherd to protect us and to guide us. The rod, a short and blunt weapon, like a club that the shepherd used to protect the sheep from attacking enemy. The staff was used to guide the Sheep in the right path & pull the sheep to safety of they got stuck and needed rescuing.
Now’s here where we may need to correct our definition of receiving the shepherds guidance in our lives. The only time the sheep received a guiding tap from the shepherd’s staff was if they were headed in the wrong direction: No tap meant they were going exactly where the shepherd wanted them to go; No tap meant where they were going and where the shepherd wanted them to go were one and the same thing; No tap meant they were walking in the will of the shepherd.
Now that constitutes a change in thinking for many people who struggle to find the will of God for their lives. The will of God for your life is not an activity that you are meant to be seeking - it is a position of heart. The will of God for your life is to simply maintain an attitude of submission to the Shepherd. The will of God is… ‘Stay close and just start walking in whatever direction looks good to you’. Stop focusing on what you are meant to be ‘doing’ and focus on the Lord who will guide in what you are meant to be doing.
