God loves when we spend quality time with Him. Why can I say this with authority? Well for one, in the popular story of Mary and Martha, the words of Jesus are very revealing. When Mary spent time at the feet of Jesus listening to His words and Martha, who was busy serving got frustrated with Mary, Jesus responded to Martha by saying, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken from her.” That “one thing” was spending time at the feet of Jesus as Mary did. So, don’t be distracted; practice spending time at the feet of the master.
I hope you are being blessed by spending time on Psalm 23:1(a). Ask God to make your time with Him extra special. We have now looked at “The” and “Lord”. Today we look at “is”. Here are your 4 questions to answer:
- How would you describe the tense of the phrase (e.g., past, present or future)?
- What time period do you think the Psalmist intends to cover?
- What kind of emotion do you believe the word “is” evoked for David?
- What kind of comfort do you take from your preceding answers?
Remember if you feel led, please share your thoughts with the group by posting a comment. The comments already posted have been truly inspiring.
March 12, 2014 at 11:12 pm
1. The tense would be definitely present.
2. I think present covers everything in the spiritual realm. David could have said, based on experience: The Lord was my shepherd, the Lord is my shepherd and the Lord will be my shepherd. However, it is enough for him to say the Lord is my shepherd. It is the eternal present of God, because He is not limited by time like us humans.
3. In the original language, Hebrew, there is no “is” because the verb to be is not used in present. I just wonder why. So the Hebrew would read: Adonai roi – Lord my shepherd. I just try to think why this happens in this language, maybe there is no need to use the verb to be, because you are what you are. So in this sense, I am Carolina would be I Carolina, kind of saying I and Carolina is the same thing. I would think of it as the essence, so Adonai (is my) shepherd would be like saying that the essence of Adonai is shepherd, that Adonai and shepherd are the same thing, that the essence of God is that of being a shepherd.
4. God is who He is, He never changes through the ages, He is a shepherd by nature, that is His essence, and as a shepherd He will take care of his flocks. He will always remain the same. I can trust in the unchanging God.