For so long I would hear or read the 23rd Psalm and think, oh yeah, I know this. This is the one often read at funerals. Familiarity with the words that I had committed to memory as a child had produced a barrier to hearing their rich meaning.
Shepherds and sheep have little to do with my day to day life. It all seems so idyllic and pastoral and frankly irrelevant that I find it easy to dismiss the words without much thought.
And yet, for centuries, readers of Scripture have found much comfort and encouragement from this passage, so I knew there were riches to be mined from within these words.
I was recently challenged to re-write this Psalm in my own words. I realized as I did this how unwilling I am as a sheep. I don’t know if you are like me in that way, reluctant to follow, wanting to do things my way, and always ready with contingency plans, rather than trusting in the Good Shepherd? But through reflecting and wrestling with my stubbornness while considering this Psalm, I have found renewed meaning in this ancient writing. May these words do the same for you.
PSALM 23 FOR THE NON-FOLLOWERS
Kicking and screaming and only partially willing,
I go forward.
Defiant, questioning and afraid,
Nevertheless, I follow the one who leads.
Straining and tuning my ear to hear the voice
Who frustratingly speaks in silence and nudgings.
“Do not be afraid, I will go with you”,
All of the unknowns before me keep me hesitant and halting,
Yet still I go on.
Forward into depths never probed and darkness avoided,
Unearthing skeletons from days long past.
Wrestling and begging for blessings,
emerging softened and partially lame.
Now I see the sun rising overwriting the night with warmth and color.
Freedom is found here within the following,
Gladness within trust.
I am filled and free.
Despite how I fight against following the One who leads me, I know it is here that I will find goodness, growth, healing, and blessing. It is in the continual laying down of my life that I will ultimately find it. If you are stubborn like I am, resistant to being a follower, I hope you find encouragement here.