Meditating on, “The Lord is my shepherd….” Ps. 23:1
Praise you, Lord Jesus, that you are the great Shepherd of the universe. You are wise, powerful, all knowing, all seeing, all present. You are the One who breathed the stars, who gathered them into the Milky Way, who hung the earth on nothing, who brings the dawn each day. You are the One who sets up and takes down rulers, who controls the flow of history, who will bring all existence to an end.
Your power is infinite: what we see in hurricanes, tornadoes and tsunamis is a tiny bit of your might. We cannot begin to imagine a power that could create a galaxy like the Milky Way: 100,000 light years in diameter, containing billions of stars, many much bigger than our sun. You simply spoke and they came into existence.
Your power and attention to detail is unbelievable. To make carbon-based life possible, you created the sun a million times larger than the earth, burning at just the right and incredible temperature. You placed the earth at exactly the right distance from the sun, so it won’t be too hot or too cold. You put it in an orbit just the right shape so summer is long enough for crops and winter isn’t so long that people would starve. You spun the earth at the optimal speed so night isn’t so long that we’d freeze, and day isn’t so long that we’d get too tired. And you tilted the earth at exactly the right angle to make the different climates. You did everything perfectly.
In this you show what a wise, strong, good and trustable Shepherd you are. I praise you for the wonder of your Character, seen in your being the Creator, the Redeemer, our Savior, Provider, Protector and Great Guide.
You are Love, you are Light, you are Life. And you have declared yourself to be my Shepherd: you wanted me as your sheep; you chose me before the foundation of the world; you arranged all the influences I needed in life so I could come to you.
What I actually deserve, as a rebellious sinner, is continual punishment, rejection, suffering, failure, hopelessness, despair, death and eternity in Hell apart from you.
However, you had mercy on me, you wanted me as your child. So, you suffered, died and rose again to make it possible that I would be your sheep. You called me, you cleansed and transformed me, you claimed me as your own, you commissioned me to special service and you cherish me.
I stand before you now dearly loved, deeply cared for, doted on and delighted in. In you, Lord Jesus, I am fully forgiven, fully loved, fully accepted, fully yours. I revel in your love, I bask in your desire for an ever-expanding relationship with me. I rejoice in your unconditional, deep, rich acceptance of me as your child, your sheep, your beloved.
I bow before you in awe and reverence; I rise up today to return your love in obedience to your Word, to walk in the joy of being yours, to reflect the light of your love to those around me, living in the perspective of Psalm 73:25: “Whom have I in heaven but you and earth has nothing I desire besides you.”
