Feeling Good Feelings

On a scale of 1 to 10, how is your life going? Is your life like a war or like a bed of roses?

There is an older song called "I Believe In You" by The Kry that goes:

Since I've learned

Life's a battlefield

And I'm a soldier

When marching through

The evil under fire

You remain my shield

In my darkest hour

Yes, I know life ain't no bed of roses

So as I go I will hold to You again

I want to talk about Psalm 22 and Psalm 24.

Psalm 22 is about the suffering servant and Psalm 24 is about the conquering king that is to come. In other words, Psalm 22 is when life starts as we believe in the suffering servant, and Psalm 24 is when we will forever worship the conquering king.

All that to say, today's passage, Psalm 23, is about the in-between theology of life. It teaches us how to live our daily lives in Christ from birth to death.

And one thing we are to understand about the in-between of life is that life is war. In verses 4 and 5, we see this:

Even though I walk through the dark valley, I will fear no evil. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.

God says here that there is a live scheming enemy as we go through life.

However, as we go through the war of life, God is personally shepherding us. The Psalmist says, The Lord is my shepherd. This is why Jesus rocks! Because through it all, we will get even more personal with God and God becomes more personal to us.

Friend, are you walking through the dark valley these days? Are enemies surrounding you as you try to live for Jesus? I want to remind you today that Jesus is your shepherd. Life is an opportunity to get even deeper with God and for God to go deeper into your life. As you live daily in Psalm 23, have hope that Psalm 24 is coming!

The rest of the song by The Kry is the hope that we have through the battlefield of life:

Years ago

When I said I'll follow You

I didn't know

What it meant to

Take my cross and go against the flow

To deny myself

To lose my life to gain it all

From the mountain tops

To the depths of the sea

I will always trust in You

Though the world may

Label me a fool

I believe in You

Amen.

Pastor Sean

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