God Is Our Shepherd, Savior, and Friend

I pray that you start every day with God. I chose to read daily devotions from Our Daily Bread. Today's devotion is titled "With Us in the Valley." James Banks wrote this devotion. The scripture reading is from Psalm 23. The key verse is, "I will fear no evil, for you are with me." Psalm 23:4. My beloved brothers and sisters in Christ; before I write, I first pray to God to guide my words to serve as spiritual food and guidance. I desire God to be my sole source of writing. All the credit goes to God, not me. I am his humble servant. I thank God that He led me to use Our Daily Bread Ministries to inspire comments and witnessing.

Background:

In the Old Testament, we're accustomed to the writers using metaphors to describe God, and in most cases, those metaphors are of inanimate objects. Psalm 23 is one of the most prominent passages in the Old Testament where a personal metaphor is used to describe God as the Shepherd. In a culture rooted in agriculture (including shepherding), the nature of the relationship between a sheep and its shepherd would be well known, making this word picture a fitting way to understand how deeply our God cares for us.

My Comments to You:

I am comforted to know that Jesus is with me. He knows me in and out, and there is nothing I can hide from Him. His perfect faithfulness and kindness keep me spiritually, physically, mentally, and emotionally safe.

It is reassuring to know that the almighty God who "brought forth the whole world" (Psalm 90:2) is so compassionate that He walks with us through even the most difficult places. Whether our situation turns better or worse, we can turn to our Shepherd, Savior, and Friend. The Lord is so good that death itself is vanquished, and we will "dwell in the house of the Lord forever" (Psalm 23:6).

Reflect:

How does it comfort you to know that Jesus our Shepherd is always with you? How can you share that hope with someone today?

My Prayer for Us:

My Shepherd, thank You for Your perfect faithfulness and kindness to us. Help us to stay near You today.

Our Daily bread Ministries (2021/10/05) With Us in the Valley, James Banks, retrieved from www.odb.org 05/10/2021 With Us in the Valley.