I want to share with you a song that I’ve been blessed by. It’s called Shepherd by the Parachute Band on their latest CD, Amazing. Have you heard of them? If you don’t have it, I hope you get it. My friend gave it to me for my birthday last December and it’s become my favorite worship album now. The CD isn’t done in a worship album style, but each song is very worshipful. Let me share with you the lyrics to Shepherd:

Lord, when I hear your call
Deep within my spirit cries
Yes, I will follow
Lord, when I start to walk
Through that narrow gate I cry
Yes, I will follow
And in the valley of shadows
No evil will I fear
You are the Shepherd of my heart
I will trust You
And I go wherever You lead me
Safe in Your arms I’ll be alright
How I love You
And I go wherever You lead me, lead me
The Lord is my Shepherd
I shall not want

He maketh me lie down in pastures green

As you can see, it’s based on Psalm 23. God’s really been encouraging me a lot lately through David’s psalms which he wrote while being falsely accused and persecuted by Saul. He was in a terrible situation and yet David’s response was purposeful worship, so full of faith. The song, Shepherd, starts out with a purposeful rhythm of conviction:

Lord —- when I hear your call — deep within my spirit cries — Yes, I will follow!

With the driving beat in that line, I can just imagine David (or any believer going through a trial) confessing his trust in God with an unshakable conviction.

Lord —- when I start to walk —- through that narrow gate I cry —- Yes, I will follow!

I admire David and how he handled his trials. He chose to walk through the narrow gate; he purposed to honor God by doing what was right and reaffirm his faith in the Lord. Even though he had more than one opportunity to take revenge on Saul, he didn’t do so. He honored the Lord by leaving vengeance up to God. I’ve been going through some hard times recently myself. Some of you know why. That time was really hard for me and I was depressed. I turned to sleep, food, movies, computer games to get my mind off it. I knew I should have gone to worship and prayer, but I didn’t always do so. I hope I can learn to be more like David who did spiritual battle with his trials by confessing his trust in his Shepherd.

You are the Shepherd of my heart —- I will trust You

In Psalm 31, David cried out to the Lord to rescue him. But these weren’t just pitiful cries of despair, they were full of faith. I entrust my spirit into Your hand.

Rescue me, LORD, for You are a faithful God. (v. 5).

The true test of our faith is whether we will trust Him when times get tough. Will we be a good little chick and trust God while we peck our way out of that shell? (… as Pastor Wayne talked about this past weekend.) Will we trust God even through the pain? The cool thing is that when we do turn to the Lord and confess our trust in Him despite the hurt, He gives us joy and love.

I am overwhelmed with joy because of Your unfailing love, for You have seen my troubles, and You care about the anguish of my soul (v.7).

When we confess our trust in God, when we truly believe that He is our Deliverer, then we are filled with gratitude and joy. We realize that though storms rage around us, God is still so good and so faithful.

Your goodness is so great! You have stored up great blessings for those who honor You (v. 19).

Because we know He is good and will shelter us, we can enter into praise and worship. This is true worship because it is borne out of faith. The wonderful thing that happens in faith-filled worship is that we get to express our love for the LORD . We know He loves us, so we love Him in response. But not only does He fill us with love and joy when we worship Him in our trials, He also then gives us strength to lead others to do the same. Love the LORD, all you faithful ones! For the LORD protects those who are loyal to Him, but he harshly punishes those who are arrogant.

So be strong and take courage, all of you who put your hope in the LORD! (v. 23-24).

It’s awesome to see in Psalm 31 how David starts out the psalm crying out to God for mercy and by the end he is exhorting others to take courage and put their hope in the Lord. When we choose to trust God, He pours grace in us not only to help us through our struggle, but gives us extra grace to help others, too. I love that principle of sowing and reaping. We may sow a little faith in God to trust Him in our current trial, but God will take that and grow it and multiply it until there is a harvest many times what was sown.

Along those lines, I’ve been learning lately that it doesn’t matter how smart you are. You won’t get anywhere unless you apply yourself. It doesn’t also matter how spiritually gifted you are. Nobody will be blessed unless you use those gifts. It doesn’t even matter how much God loves you. Unless you spend time with God to learn to receive that love, it won’t make a difference in your life. In the same way, it doesn’t even matter how much Christ sacrificed on the cross. If a person never confesses faith in Him and believes on Him as their Savior, they will never know the incredible love Jesus showed them on the cross.

Each time we sow a seed of trust in God, each time we enter into praise and worship despite the tribulation, each time we forgive those who don’t deserve it, each time we break into thanksgiving in spite of tears … each time, we sow a seed that makes a way for God to pour out His multiplying power to not only fill us with His blessing, but also to reap a harvest that will bless the nations. Jesus calls us to be perfect as the Father is perfect. It’s not easy: perfection requires preparation. But as we trust in Him, we will see that God can do all things.

Dear Lord Jesus, increase our faith. You are our Shepherd. You will save us and protect us. You ar the Father who will called us to be Your own. You will never leave us no matter where we go. God, thank You for dying for us on the cross. We don’t and will never deserve that. Thank You for Your unfailing love. Thank You for Your faithfulness. Make us like Joshua, strong and courageous. Lord, as we walk through that narrow gate, deep within our spirit cries: Yes, I will follow!