It shouldn’t really shock to see Yahweh’s consistent, loving, trait – Psalm 23:5-6 concludes with good, covenant, loyalty (or chesed) in hot, overtaking, pursuit (as Joseph was taught in Egypt, as slave, in cell, or with power, from blessing which hunts down there can be no escape: the love is always at work for good).

Needing the Good Shepherd

It’s dark, very dark. You’re scared, very scared. Bleak, black, bad describes your circumstance that surrounds. Perhaps it’s due to stress, depression, unemployment or divorce; or maybe crushing disappointment or frightful loneliness; romance now in ruins, failure in a course, business gone bust, and relentless financial pressures all have a casualty list; guilt for hidden sin, a reputation in tatters, persecution for Jesus, or awful temptations from Satan take their toll on souls; sorrow upon sorrow, family all over the place, sickness protracted or sudden, or staring down both barrels at death – these tear-filled situations have left you utterly bereft. These are just some of countless scenarios which lead saints through shadowlands.

When I was growing up I was terrified of the dark. I can remember one occasion – I can still picture the light on the landing, the mahogany of the banister, and the pattern of the carpet – when my parents had to go away briefly and we were kindly kept at the manse. I was only two or three years old at the time which helps explain my dreadful fear. It seems someone forgot that I always went to sleep with a light outside my door. What terrorized me that night was that the manse family slept in the dark. Sobbing, screaming, shouting were my chief experiences on those nights spent all alone in the dark in that unfamiliar, frightening, place.

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