Today I am thankful that God knows the end from the beginning. When I am in frightening circumstances and I don't know how things are going to turn out, I quickly remind myself of this. It all goes back to believing that "The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want" and all the goodness that follows that thought in Psalm 23. In recent years, as I've walked the creek during my prayer times, the Lord has taken me to that Psalm so many times. As I've walked, He has dissected and expanded my understanding of it, line by line. I didn't realize that it was possible to think deeply about one verse of scripture for 3.5 miles, but it is!
As I've looked back through my journals, I've noticed that the Lord has prepared me for every single disruption to my otherwise easy life. We were betrayed in ministry. The Lord prepared me 6 months in advance. I got cancer. The Lord prepared me in advance and when I heard that word, there was no fear. We had a devastating car accident that nearly killed two of our children and for months before that happened the Lord had been building and strengthening me so that I could still say, "the Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want." I suffered a grave personal loss and the Lord said "...put your hope in the Lord, for with the Lord is unfailing love and with him is full (plenteous, abundant) redemption."
I can't tell you how many times, the Lord has spoken verses to me right before something terrible happens in my life and it's those verses that I cling to, meditate on, pray to Him, and choose to believe when what I see and feel with my natural senses is screaming the exact opposite. I've learned to recognize His voice and to take notice to what He's saying. You see, He knows what He is going to do. He's not afraid to say it. He's going to show Himself strong, He's going to flex those spiritual muscles and lay the devil flat to prove to me His love and power if I will just believe what He said. "The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want." He's going to prove He is who He says He is to draw me nearer and cause me to stand in amazement at what He can do as I sing "The Lord is my shepherd. i shall not want! I put my hope in Him and He abundantly redeems!"
Above all things, the Lord just wants us to trust Him. We all say that we do, but for me, when the rubber hit the road and road was long and hard, I realized that I had some growing to do in that. When I grew weary in the journey and just felt that I couldn't take one more step, I was faced with two options-give up or trust. I was forced to face what I really believed about God, about His love, about His goodness, about His power and yes, about His very existence. I hated every single minute of that journey. It stole from me. It ate at me. It tried to destroy me and almost did but as I dug deep, I discovered that there is water, even in the deepest of valleys and the driest of deserts. "The Lord (truly) is my (good, good) shepherd! I shall not want! (Not ever). Blessed be the name of my Lord!