Where Needs Are Met - The Lord is My Shepherd

Where Needs Are Met —

He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he restores my soul.

Psalm 23:2-3a

In this psalm David enumerates the ways in which the Good Shepherd meets our needs. The first thing He does is to meet the needs of the inner person, the basic needs that we have for nourishment within. The basic needs of a flock of sheep are grass and water. Here is the very picturesque scene of sheep bedded down in grassy meadows, having eaten their fill and now totally satisfied, and then being led by still waters. Sheep are afraid of running water; they will drink only from a quiet pool. A good shepherd, particularly in a semi-arid region such as Palestine, knows where the watering holes are. He knows where the grassy meadows are. And so he leads the sheep into places where they can rest and feed and where they can drink. The picture is one of calm and tranquility, because the basic needs of the sheep are met.

The counterpart in our lives is obvious. It is God who restores the inner person through His Word. As we feed upon the Word of God we see the Lord Jesus there. We draw upon Him, and our inner person is satisfied. The Word of God brings us, first, to the person of Christ. "Beyond the sacred page," the hymn says, "we see thee, Lord." We see Him, and we eat and drink of Him, and we discover Him to be the resource that we need. As Paul says, "Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day" (2 Corinthians 4:16). Our souls are restored. How? As we feed upon Him. As we come to know Him, believe what He says, and act on His word, we discover that the inner person is fed.

A Bible study I led met one evening a week in a fraternity house at Stanford University. Our basic assumption there was that the Bible is the authority. No one really taught the class; we simply opened up the Word, and the men in the group made observations. Last week a student from Austria sat in with us. He shared some of his thinking with us and made a real contribution to the group. Afterward, as we were leaving, he made this comment: "I'm so thankful I could be here tonight, because I discovered that you men have found direct access to God through this book."

Have you discovered that access? In times of deep, dire need, when we cast about for help, it is no farther away than God's Word. Everything we need to nourish the inner person is right there. As Peter says, "His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness" (2 Peter 1:3). Everything we need that relates to life and to living godly lives in the world is available in Him. I wonder if we are employing that resource.

Lord, thank You for Your Word. May it be to me like green pastures and still waters, leaving me fully satisfied in You.

Life Application: Are we learning to find green pastures and still waters in the written Words of God. Do we see there the Good Shepherd who is our Life?

Receive the Daily Devotion by Email from RayStedman.org

No Want - The Lord is my Shepherd

No Want — Psalm 23:1

The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.
Psalm 23:1

Because the Lord is my shepherd, I do not lack anything. He satisfies my needs. That is the place where God wants to bring us. He wants us to be independently dependent upon Him, to need Him alone. It struck me as I was studying this psalm that there are really only two options in life. If the Lord is my shepherd, then I shall not want; but if I am in want, then it is obvious that the Lord is not my shepherd. It is that simple. If emptiness, loneliness, despair, and frustration exist in our lives, then the Lord is not our shepherd. Or if anyone or anything else is shepherding us, we are never satisfied. If our vocation shepherds us, then there is restlessness and feverish activity and frustration. If education is our shepherd, then we are constantly being disillusioned. If another person is our shepherd, we are always disappointed, and ultimately we are left empty. If drug abuse is our shepherd, then "we are wasted," as one rock artist said recently. But if the Lord is our shepherd, David says, we shall not want.

It occurs to me that if Jehovah is to be our shepherd, then we have to begin by recognizing that we are sheep. I don't like that analogy, frankly, because I don't like sheep. I come by my dislike honestly. I used to raise sheep. In high school I was in the 4-H Club, and I had a herd of sheep and goats. Now goats I can abide, because they may be obnoxious, but at least they're smart. Sheep are, beyond question, the most stupid animals on the face of the earth. They are dumb and they are dirty and they are timid and defenseless and helpless. Mine were always getting lost and hurt and snakebitten. They literally do not know enough to come in out of the rain. Sheep are miserable creatures.

And then to have God tell me that I am one! That hurts my feelings. But if I am really honest with myself, I know it is true. I know that I lack wisdom and strength. I'm inclined to be self-destructive. Isaiah said it best: "We all, like sheep, have gone astray; each of us has turned to his own way" (Isaiah 53:6). I know my tendency toward self-indulgent individualism, going my own way and doing my own thing. That's me. I'm a sheep. And if Jesus Christ is to be my shepherd, I have to admit that I need one. It is difficult, but that is where we must start. Once we admit that need, we discover the truth of what David is saying. We shall not want.

Lord, though I am a sheep who is prone to wander, come and be my shepherd today. Bring me to that place where I can say, "The Lord is my shepherd I shall not be in want"
Life Application: If emptiness, loneliness, despair, frustration, hopelessness, or wants exist in our lives, then the Lord is not our shepherd. Can we recognize His call to rescue us?

Receive the Daily Devotion by Email from RayStedman.org

Coronavirus and How to Pray for Victims

Here are the latest figures for the Coronavirus outbreak. Be warned: these figures change daily, and specifically hourly. As of 16 February there are worldwide 71,000 cases. There are 1,770 deaths. The novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) is affecting 29 countries and territories around the world. China has 63,866 cases, followed by 259 cases in Japan and 56 In Hong Kong. Clearly Asia, where the virus originated, is taking the brunt of the toll. Still 26 other countries have reported deaths and people infected as well.

One of the latest concerns is for health care workers who are daily exposed to this virus. In China, six health workers have died and 1,716 have been infected since the outbreak began. Local authorities are struggling to provide enough protective equipment, such as respiratory masks, goggles, and protective suits in hospitals. Some medical workers have been quarantined. On 7 February the plight facing medical workers was highlighted with the death of Doctor Li Wenliang, the doctor at Wuhan Central Hospital who tried to warn others about the virus on 30 December. At that time, the Chinese government attempted to hush up the story, fearing a panic. Eventually, they realized that the country needed to be notified of the severity of the situation and take immediate precautions. The result has been a virtual shutdown of much of the country’s industry and transportation. Many streets remain eerily empty of their usual noisy bustle.

The economic impact in Asia of the virus has been devastating: global airline revenue has fallen, China’s car sales are expected to fall more than 10 percent in the first half of the year, and Singapore’s economy is expected to fall into a recession. Cruise ships in the region have been stopped. The Diamond Princess is in quarantine in Yokohama, Japan with 218 crew and passengers testing positive for the virus. The spread of the virus worldwide in such a short time certainly proves that what happens globally affects all of us – be it for good or for evil. (Source - BBC)

Let us pray fervently for:

Health care workers who continue to work, treat their patients, and try to alleviate their suffering at great risks to their own lives. We thank God for their loyalty and devotion to their calling. We pray for their protection. (The Bible, James 5:14-15).

Those in authority in each affected country to have wisdom and compassion in understanding the gravity of the virus, and knowledge on how to intervene in the most appropriate ways (The Bible, 1 Timothy 2:1-4).

Those infected with the Coronavirus to obtain the appropriate care and recover fully (The Bible James 5:16).

The Gospel message that Jesus died to take away the sins of the world to be known – rapidly, multiplying quickly, and touching individuals all over the world, bringing many into the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world (The Bible, Acts 17:6).

The Future Church

How different will the world of 2050 be compared with today? We can’t know, but we can project some possibilities based on what is happening now. This can shape our prayers.

Some projections for 2050:

• One third of the world will still call itself ‘Christian.’

• Islam will grow fast (because of high birthrates) and will become almost the same size as the Christian community.

• Every other faith community – Hindus, Buddhists, followers of Chinese religions – will be a smaller slice of the population than today.

• The non-religious part of the world will also shrink because of low birthrates.

• There will the same number of under- 15s as there are today (around two billion), but over-60s will climb from under a billion today to more than two billion in 2050.

• Half the world lives in a city today; in 2050 that could be two-thirds.

• Four out of ten Christians will live in sub-Saharan Africa, and eight out of ten will be from the Global South. The growth or decline of a faith community is mostly due to birthrates and not

conversions.

How will the world be different in 2050? Apart from all the unknowable things (including plague or war or mass turnings to Christ) it looks like the Church should expect a world with many more Muslims, elderly people and city dwellers.

• Christ has been building his Church for 50 generations. Pray that in this coming generation the Church will grow wider and deeper than ever before.

Church in Africa Today

In Africa today, the burden of poverty has eased in the last 20 years. Mother and child health, take-up of primary education, and access to clean water and electricity have been transformed in most countries. Deaths from malaria have halved, and the AIDS epidemic is being tamed. But this follows decades of stagnation. Africa is still the poorest continent. Thirty-seven of the world’s 40 poorest countries are African – a lingering injustice.

Africa’s youth are a fifth of all the young people in the world and they may grow to be a third by 2050. These young people as disciples of Jesus could be a power for good; unemployed and angry they could be the fuel for civil wars. Africa’s Church is a light to the world. Already, one in four of the world’s Christians is an African. This could rise to four in 10 by 2050. In great prayer meetings, in faithfulness to the Bible, in starting new churches at home and overseas, Africans are changing the world.

• Pray for wise, honest leaders in every African sphere, in politics, church and business.
• Pray for Africa’s women. More than a third suffer domestic violence, and they are denied equality almost everywhere: in education, health-care, employment.
• Pray for a great turning to Christ in Africa’s many Muslim peoples.

Sources: Africa Development Bank; Pew Research Center; Status of Global Christianity 2018; Human Development Report 2018; Operation World.

Praying for the World is a free weekly prayer guide to inspire and inform the whole Church to pray for the whole world. Visit www.lausanne.org/pray to start any week. Created through

the partnership of Operation World and the Lausanne Movement.

Christian Persecution in Christian Colombia?

Would you be surprised to know that a country where more than 90% of the people claim to be Christian is also one of the top 50 countries where it is the most dangerous to follow Jesus? Open Doors, an organization that tracks persecution of the church puts out a yearly list of the 50 most dangerous countries to follow Jesus – in 2019’s “Watch List,” the country of Columbia, in South America, comes in at #47. How can a country that is almost entirely “Christian” still be a dangerous place to be a follower of Jesus?

One of the main reasons that Christians in Columbia are targeted is because they choose to genuinely follow Jesus. Even though a historic peace agreement between the government and anti-government rebels was signed after more than 50 years of fighting, there are troubling signs that the peace deal is not working as well as hoped, and in September of this year the president of Columbia launched a new crackdown against the opposition groups.

So, what does a government conflict have to do with Christians? These anti-government groups often rely on brutal guerilla warfare to survive, and plenty of illegal activity to fund themselves, such a drug production and trafficking. When someone from one of these groups, or someone who lives where they have control begins to truly follow Jesus, they won’t take part in any drug deals anymore, and will encourage others not to do it. Those who have participated in the violence will denounce it, and will try to defend the weak and the powerless. In areas where everyone has to pay protection money, some pastors will refuse to do so on behalf of their churches, and will encourage young men not to join these groups. As you may imagine, decisions like these “ruin” the business. The situation is serious: at least four pastors in Columbia have been assassinated this year already. A recent study by the mayor’s office in the capital city of Bogotá show that over a 3-year period almost 13% of all pastors in the capital city have received death threats.

Another challenging issue unrelated to the drug cartels is that even with the majority of the people at least claiming to be “Christian,” a significant minority of people are indigenous, following ancestral beliefs, including witchcraft. When people from these groups come to faith in Jesus, they face significant persecution from their communities, which can include harassment, threats and violence.

Pray for believers in Columbia, both for those making bold stands against the guerilla groups and drug cartels and also for those who are persecuted by their own indigenous communities. Pray for peace in the country, and an end to the injustices that exist there!

The State of our World Today - 2020

If the world was a village of 100 people, 33 would claim to be Christians; 24 would be Muslims, 14 Hindus, 7 Buddhists, 6 would follow Chinese religions, 11 would be non-religious and there would be a handful of others.

The proportion of the world that claims to be Christian has been much the same for a century or more. But many things have changed through that time:

1. The Church has spread more widely. There are now groups of believers in every country.

2. The Christian faith has grown much stronger in the Global South. Millions of Christians have
been born across Africa and Asia. Many cultural Catholics in Latin America have met Christ in
Pentecostal, charismatic and other evangelical churches.

3. In its former heartlands, particularly in Europe, the Christian movement has declined.

4. Pentecostals and charismatics have changed the composition of the Church. Almost zero in 1900,
they now make up more than a third of all Christians.

5. The Church has grown despite opposition and persecution in countries like China, India, Sudan,
Vietnam, Iran, Algeria, Albania and Mongolia.

6. Some of the fiercest persecution has been followed by the largest church growth. The Cultural
Revolution in China was a deadly attack on all religions. Fifty years later, around
100 million Chinese have joined the Church, the greatest turning to the Christian faith in history (so
far).

7. Thousands of people have turned to Christ in Muslim countries in the last 30 years. This has
never happened before.

Let us pray that this year we will ‘always give ourselves fully to the work of the Lord, knowing
that our labour in the Lord is not in vain’ (see 1 Corinthians 15:56).

Information from Praying for the World