A Prayer to Be Gently Led
By Jessica Van Roekel
“He’ll have a tendency his flock like a shepherd; he’ll collect the lambs in his arms; he’ll carry them in his bosom, and gently lead these which can be with younger.” – Isaiah 40:11, ESV
“The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not need,” writes the Psalmist and I recite it to remind myself of God’s nice care of me. It’s a comforting reminder when the load of obligations lies heavy on my shoulders. There’s a lot we’re known as to look after and far we don’t know. We will think about we do, and we are able to placed on a educated façade, but when we fail to depend on our Shepherd to steer us, we lose the way in which. Do you know sheep have to be directed to good pasture and have to be moved to new pasture after they’ve exhausted the vitamins within the present subject? They’ll’t discover the most effective pasture with out route, and they might overstay if their shepherd didn’t intervene. God strikes us to new pastures when wanted, however in our stubbornness, we typically resist.
As we speak’s verse calls us to behold the loving shepherd. A shepherd carries a rod and workers, a instrument to defend, and a instrument to rescue. The lambs are the weakest and youngest who want particular care. They aren’t slung over the shoulder however carried near the shepherd’s chest. Charles Spurgeon writes, “The shoulders are for energy, the again for pressure, however the bosom is the seat of affection.” God, our shepherd, loves us, gathers us to him, and gently leads us. The Previous Testomony carries the shepherd metaphor into the New Testomony. Abel was the sacrificed shepherd, Jacob, the working shepherd, Joseph the persecuted and exalted shepherd, Moses, the deliverer shepherd, and David, the Shepherd King. These shepherds level us to Jesus.
John 10:11 states, “I’m the great shepherd. The nice shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” Together with, “Now might the God of peace who introduced once more from the lifeless our Lord Jesus, the good shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the everlasting covenant,” from Hebrews 13:20 and 1 Peter 5:4, “And when the chief Shepherd seems, you’ll obtain the unfading crown of glory.” Jesus is the Good Shepherd, the Nice Shepherd, and the Chief Shepherd.
Whereas Isaiah refers to God’s limitless knowledge, greatness, and majesty in chapter 40, he pauses to remind us of God’s want and skill to look after us in a private method. God, our Shepherd, rescues, protects, and retains us near him. We’ve got no must worry besides after we go our personal method, which leads us out of the Good Shepherd’s steerage and safety. Even then, he opens his arms to the exiled, the misplaced, and the unbiased to assemble them shut. God, whose arms help the weak, is there to information and gently lead us. The Hebrew time period for this phrase means to guard, maintain, or information to a watering place. Life will be scattered with potholes, detours, deserts, and breakdowns. However after we permit God to hold us near his coronary heart, he brings us to a spot of refreshment and guides us from pasture to pasture.
Let’s pray:
Heavenly Father,
We’d like you greater than ever. We face challenges each day. Typically, we lose our method as a result of we don’t need to observe you thru the desert to get to the following refreshing place you may have for us. Different instances, we wander off as a result of we expect we all know greatest. Forgive us for selecting our independence over-dependence on you. Rescue us. Maintain us. Lead us to refreshment. Collect us to you, we who go our personal method, and shepherd us. Thanks for main us gently. Thanks for carrying us after we’re too weak to go on. We’d like your tenderness within the hardships of life. Seek for us after we get misplaced, and allow us to be discovered by you. You’re so nice, and nothing compares to you. In you, we discover our method, and so we place our care in your fingers. We belief you to guard us together with your rod and information us together with your workers. Gently lead us to the place you need us to go.
In Jesus’ identify, amen.
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Jessica Van Roekel loves the upside-down lifetime of following Jesus as she journeys to wholeness by means of brokenness. As an creator, speaker, and worship chief, she makes use of her items and experiences to share God’s transformative energy to rescue, restore, and renew. She longs so that you can know that rejection doesn’t need to outline or decide your future when positioned in God’s therapeutic fingers. Discover out extra reframingrejectionbook.
Associated Useful resource: Bear in mind God’s Enduring Love for You on this Guided Meditation on Psalm 100!
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