God’s Sheepdogs

The words of Psalm 23 are very familiar to all of us. Yet, unless we read that psalm through the eyes of a sheep, we will miss its magnificent message. Remember how it concludes? “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever” (KJV).

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On Patting Birds

In a cartoon strip some years ago a little guy was taking heat from his sister and friends for a newly found “calling”—patting birds on the head. The distressed birds would approach, lower their little feathered pates to be patted, sigh deeply, and walk away satisfied. It brought him no end of fulfillment—in spite of the teasing he took from others. “What’s wrong with patting birds on the head?” he wanted to know. “What’s wrong with it?” his embarrassed friends replied, “No one else does it!”

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Encouragement

When you stop to analyze the concept, “encourage” takes on new meaning. It’s the act of inspiring others with renewed courage, spirit, or hope. When we encourage others we spur them on, we stimulate and affirm them.

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Life’s Arrows

Having just held a memorial service for a friend several years younger than I who had died with liver cancer, I have been thinking about how to respond when struck by an arrow of affliction. Not a little irritating dart, but an arrow plunged deeply.

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An Advocate

The Book of Job drips with mystery. The sobs of the man and the silence of his God form a strange combination. From the start, there are surprises and anomalies. Job is portrayed for us as “blameless, upright, fearing God and turning away from evil” (1:1) . . . and yet the bottom drops out of his world. He loses everything except his life and his wife. How strange of God to permit one of His own to become the victim of a devil-inspired plot to reduce him to putty.

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Permission Granted

Paul jumped all over the Galatians for allowing a handful of legalistic Judaizers to invade their lives and clip their wings. Remember his rebuke? “It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery . . . . For you were called to freedom, brethren” (Galatians 5:1, 13).

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Disciplines of Durability

Tucked away in the folds of Hebrews 11 is a two-word biography worth a second glance: “he endured” (11:27). The “he” refers to Moses. Moses was the one who hung tough, who refused to give in or give up, who decided that no amount of odds against him would cause him to surrender. He had staying power. He possessed the disciplines of durability.

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God’s Delivery Service

I don’t know where you are today, but I have a sneaky suspicion that you, like me, might have a few intruders crowding into your life and could use some divine reinforcements. If so, don’t hesitate to call for help. Tell your Father that you are running out of hope and energy and ideas . . . that you need “not . . . words taught by human wisdom, but . . . those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words . . . . For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he will instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ” (1 Cor. 2:13, 16).

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Low Tides

The smoky tones of Peggy Lee’s voice occasionally blow across my mind: “Is that all . . . is that all there is?” With no bitterness intended, I ask that haunting question in the backwash of certain situations. How much like the tide we are!

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