The Lord Is My Shepherd
Christianity is reality. The words in the Word are reality. Jesus Christ himself is the way, the truth and the life. The Christian journey is filled with uncertainty and we Christians are helpless and in need of a shepherd. However, in Christ, our helplessness is our best prayer. He hears our heart’s desire as soon as we pray with humility with a heart of helplessness. His strength is made perfect in our weakness. David cried out for his shepherd’s help in Psalm 23 and the Lord heard him and delivered him.
Yesterday Pete, Suzan, and their son Chris met with the neuro-oncologist at UCLA to review the results of Suzan’s latest MRI. They looked at the image of the new cancers that were spreading throughout Suzan’s brain. The oncologist said to Pete and Suzan, “how aggressively do you want to treat this. One option is to put a port into her skull and then inject treatments directly into her brain. She won’t feel a thing because there are no pain receptors in her brain. The second path is to do nothing. If we intervene with Chemo and other treatments we may be able to extend her life maybe even a couple or three years.” Suzan had said to Pete and Chris, “if it comes to keeping me alive on life support or “pulling the plug,” don’t do anything heroic to keep me alive.” Pete’s response was, “What about me? I’ll miss you every day.” Suzan’s answer was, “The Lord will comfort you if I’m not there. I’m ready to go and be with my Lord.” Suzan reminded Pete, “we’ve had 49 good years together and our children are walking with the Lord. Your ministry is thriving and lives are being changed as a result of God working with you and through you. If you go down the path of suffering and pain, God said, “I’ll protect you in ways you will never know otherwise.”
God has prepared Pete and his son Chris for the second path. They have had many months to prepare for the pain of potentially losing Suzan. The neuro-oncologist said, “if you do nothing, she may have two months.” The best way to experience the life of faith is to, “let go and let God.” As Jehoshephat said in 2 Chronicles at the end of his long prayer, “We have no battle plan and we don’t know what to do, but Lord we’re in your hands.” The prophet answered Jehoshephat’s prayer and said, “Put the choir on the front lines when you go into the battle. The songs of praise and worship will go before you and the Lord will fight the battle for you.”
Pete and Chris prayed with Suzan for God to give them unity to put Suzan’s future in God’s hands. There was an indescribable peace in the room after the prayer. Two weeks ago when Suzan and Pete heard the results of her MRI showing that her cancer had returned with a vengeance, the Lord answered Pete’s prayer in Psalm 131 with three short verses. “LORD, my heart is not haughty, nor mine eyes lofty: neither do I exercise myself in great matters, or in things too high for me.
Surely I have behaved and quieted myself, as a child that is weaned of his mother: my soul is even as a weaned child.
Let Israel hope in the LORD from henceforth and for ever.”
What Pete heard was, “Pete and Suzan put your hope and trust in the Lord. Pete’s response was, “Our strength is only in you, Lord. We don’t concern our hearts with matters too great, too difficult, and too overwhelming for us to handle. Remind us, “don’t look unto what you’ve lost.” Instead Lord, calm and quiet our heart. Jesus said to his disciples in the midst of the storm, “peace be still.” In the hospital room yesterday, peace came when Pete, Suzan, and Chris put Suzan’s life in the hands of the Lord.
Pete and Suzan’s niece whom they raised as a daughter said to Suzan, “mom, you’ve been the best mother a daughter could ever ask for.” Like a weaned child who no longer cries for her mother’s milk, the Lord weans us away from relying on others whom we love. At that point, we find our way to the place where we lean only on Him.
The problem with most of us is that we have no clear picture of the God whom we long to worship. Our heart’s desire is that we may come to know him. Jesus said, “My sheep hear my voice and they know me and they follow me and I give unto them eternal life. Neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.” David paints a picture in Psalm 23 of his longing to know the Lord. As a shepherd himself, David penned these words that we can all relate to: “The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want.” The shepherd led his sheep. He did not drive them. When we wonder away, the shepherd will brake our legs and then carry us as a little lamb around his shoulders until we heal. When God uses pain to break our hearts, when he heals our broken heart, we as sheep will not leave our shepherd’s side. The ultimate lesson in this life is “all I need is thee.” We can be thankful and praise him as he leads us from the turbulence of this life to the quiet waters and into the path of righteousness for his name’s sake.
While we grieve at the suffering and the mortality of those we love, we grieve not as others who have no hope. As God said to Paul, “my strength is made perfect in thy weakness, my grace is sufficient for thee.” Psalm 23 concludes, “Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. For thou art with me, thy rod and thy staff they comfort me… Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”
May God richly bless you!
Your brother in Christ,
Michael