Looking to the Shepherd

written by Sam Jones

Concerning comfort, there is a great truth found in Psalm 23:1 "The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want." This truth is not an easy one to bear, but it is a great truth nonetheless. The truth in Psalm 23:1 concerning comfort is this: as long as we recognize God as our Shepherd we will have comfort and contentment. This is not a truth that is easy to bear when you are going through a difficult circumstance, but it is one of the greatest comforts you can find once you grasp this truth. God is our Shepherd, He is our caregiver. It is God who is taking care of us no matter how great the difficulty. In my life, this verse has been both one of the greatest comforts and challenges to me in some of the darkest nights. Through the miscarriages that Sarah and I have had, it was this verse that constantly came to my mind. This verse challenged me to consider if I was truly recognizing God as my caregiver (Shepherd) or if I had wandered onto some foreign pasture through rebellion in my heart. This verse gives a clear promise; because God is my Shepherd I will not want! This promise is not based upon what is raging around, rather it is based upon if God is our Shepherd and if we recognize God as our Shepherd.

For God to be our Shepherd we must accept Jesus Christ as our Savior. We must do what it says in Romans 10:9 "That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved." This is the greatest comfort you can have in life; knowing that you are saved from your sin and now have eternal life! In order to be content in every circumstance, and I believe comfort has a lot to do with contentment, we must recognize God as our Shepherd. I know that in this verse it doesn't say to recognize God as our Shepherd and then we will not want, but we must admit this is what David is doing in the Psalm and that we are to follow his example if we are to get the same result. To recognize God as our Shepherd we must rely upon Him and rest in the fact that He is leading us with a better purpose than we could design. I will be the first to admit that this is brutally difficult when you are going through hardships. My first reaction to having a miscarriage was not to recognize God's leading, it was to question in a sinful manner what God was doing. I could point out deadbeat dad after deadbeat dad, I could point out godless father after godless father, and I could try to justify to God why I should have a child, but the reality was God was leading in a specific way and His way is always best.

I have already touched on some of the ways God was moving and working, I would rather focus this post on how I simply needed to trust that God was doing His job Shepherding rightly. To go along with Psalm 23:1, in driving this principle home in my life God also brought a recurring hymn to my mind; that hymn was He Leadeth Me specifically the verse that states, "Lord, I would place my hand in Thine, Nor ever murmur nor repine; Content, whatever lot I see, Since ’tis my God that leadeth me." Why can we be content and not want? It is because we recognize God as our Shepherd and the One who is leading us in life (this also means we must follow Him) that will bring contentment and a lack of wanting. To recognize God as our Shepherd and that He is rightly leading us in the difficulties of life we must have a right value placed upon Him. It is only when we let go of our life and let God take control as He sees fit that we will have God valued rightly in our life. To recognize God as our Shepherd is to also recognize ourselves as sheep. This brings a lot of relief when our life is falling apart for we know that it is simply our responsibility to listen to our Great Shepherd as He directs our path.

The comfort that comes from having God as our Shepherd is explained throughout Psalm 23. We can rest assured that He only leads us beside still waters and green pasture, this doesn't mean life will always be easy, but it does mean that our Shepherd, not our circumstances, is where we find our comfort. We know that God, as our Shepherd, will restore our soul and will not lead us to sin, but rather will always lead us to dwell in righteousness. Even in death’s shadow we can be comforted because of God's rod and staff. A shepherd used his rod and staff to fend off those who would seek to destroy his sheep and to count his sheep at the end of the day. This brings great comfort for we know God will fight for us and has taken account of what state we are in. As God's sheep, we know God personally cares about where we are in life and keeps constant tabs on the state we are in. Even in the presence of our enemies, we can say with David that our cup runs over, not because there is no trouble (in fact it could be staring at you from across the table), but because we know who our Shepherd is! It is only when we realize Who our Shepherd is we can rightly say, "Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life!" It is my hope that as you seek comfort you would let the truth of Psalm 23:1 sink into your life and be comforted! "The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want."

The People in Comfort

As of June 2018, the United Nations estimates that there are 7.6 billion people on planet earth. So why does it
sometimes feel like we are all by ourselves and have to pull ourselves through alone?

One of the loneliest places to be is in the middle of a trial all by yourself. There are many points in time then you are
in the midst of a trying circumstance when it can feel like absolutely no one knows what you are going through, the pain
you feel, or thoughts in your head. The fact of the matter is none of that matters. With 7.6 billion people on this earth,
there is for sure at least one person around you that wants to help you and want to comfort you. I would like to go over
the people that were involved in my life when I needed comfort most and give some ideas as to where to find these loving
people.

First up is my husband. Sam has been my best friend for seven years now.
Five years ago when we got married I had no Idea that I would depend on his
friendship as much as his unconditional love for me. Throughout our
miscarriages and now years of infertility, as I have visited times of sadness,
frustration, bitternss, and jealousy, he has always been there to lovingly steer
my attitude back towards Christ. Does your best friend do this? Sam is not
perfect. He is a sinner just like me and you, but he is very humble and
heavenly minded (and will probably hate that I am saying all of this for
everyone to read). Through our struggles, Sam has always been someone
that I can count on to have something to tell me from his quiet time with God.
He constantly encourages me to refocus my mind on what God has given us
and the task that are at hand. I encourage you to find a friend like this and to
be a friend like this!

Next up is my family. Both my mom and my mother-in-law have
been wonderful as I talk through what has happened. They have
both prayed with me and pointed me back to realizing that God is
in control. My sisters have been there to listen to me when I just

need someone to listen. My dad and my father-in-law have both
expressed their concern just by asking how Sam and I were doing
Sometimes comfort comes in knowing that people care about you!

God was very gracious to Sam and I in giving us another couple that have been our “infertility friends”.
Though we praise the Lord that they do have a child now, for the first part of both of our marriages we went
through similar thought and feelings. This was a couple that we turned to when we needed to talk about something.
There have been many long nights of conversation, many tears, many laughs, and many prayers between us and
them. They have been a couple that has pointed Sam and I back to Christ and God’s plan for us when we both
needed it! My friendship with Sam is something that I treasure, but there is a high value placed on our friendship
with this couple as well. I encourage you as a couple to find another couple that can be your friend. There are
things that Sam does not understand about the way that I think and feel because God did not design him to think
and feel that way. There is great benefit in being able to talk with another woman about this and have her completely
understand what I’m saying.

The last on my list is the most important person involved in the comfort process. Proverbs 18:24 says “A man who
has friends must himself be friendly, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.” If you believe that you are a
sinner on your way to hell, that Jesus came and lived a perfect life, died on the cross for your sins, was buried, and
rose again, and have asked Jesus Christ to forgive you from your sins, you are never alone. If this is your story, you have
a friend that sticks closer than a brother. You cannot see Him right now, but He is always there. I have found great
comfort that.

I want to leave you with the words of a good old hymn, What a Friend we have in Jesus. They say:

What a friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear!

What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer!

O what peace we often forfeit, o what needless pain we bear,

All because we do not carry everything to God in prayer.