Grains of Sand

Pixabay, Public Domain There are so many meaningful pictures in Psalm 23. But perhaps the first part of Psalm 23:6 is the greatest. “ Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life… ” (KJV) Life is not good or merciful a lot of the time. So what is the shepherd telling us here? In the world of the Old Testament, lambs were destined for slaughter, especially those bred on the hills outside of Jerusalem. From their perspective, if they had one, life was not good or merciful. Their end was as a sacrifice on the altar in the temple. Lamb after lamb, year after year, decade after decade. Then came the Great Shepherd Who, strangely enough, was also the last lamb required to go to slaughter. John the Baptist introduced his cousin, Jesus, with these prophetic words: “ Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world .” The writer to the Hebrews notes: “ …we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all…by one sacrifice he m...

lovelinesfromgod (Google Images) There is something to be said for actually being party to a conversation in order to understand what the speakers are really trying to convey. Take this example from 1 Chronicles 19. David is busy defeating Israel’s enemies. In this case he is faced with both the Ammonites and their allies, the Arameans. He splits his forces, sending Joab off to deal with the Arameans and Abishai to rout the Ammonites. The deal is that if Joab is in trouble Abishai will come to his rescue and if Abishai has problems Joab will come and lend a hand. Joab then makes this interesting statement: “ Be strong and let us fight bravely for our people and the cities of our God. The Lord will do what is good in his sight ” (1 Chronicles 19:13). This is where it might be important to be present, not simply to hear what Joab is saying, but to read his body language. Skeptics could say that Joab’s language suggests a kind of fatalism, something like “ what will be, will be .” Oth...