| J.R. Miller D.D. | Page 5 |
It was not the exclusive privilege of David to say, “The Lord is my shepherd.” It is our privilege too. Religion is an individual matter. Each one comes to Christ for himself, and it is a personal relation which is established between Christ and each believing soul. Every one has all of Christ for his own, just as truly as if he were the only believer. Each one can say, “The Lord is my shepherd. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures. He leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul.” If we can say this little word my with our heart, as we go over this psalm, claiming all of God for our own, then have we learned the great lesson which binds us to God and God to us. This is the faith that saves. It is not only taking Christ and all the blessings of his redemption for our own; it is also the surrender of our life, with all its powers and affections, to him. It means infinite blessing from God; but it means also unquestioning obedience, implicit following, the losing of our life in Christ.
Wonderful is the first assurance of this psalm: “I shall not want.” We need not try to define or limit this word. We need not say that it includes only spiritual wants. Do you think our Shepherd would provide for the wants of our soul, and then pay no heed to our common, daily physical needs? The assurance means that all our wants will be supplied, the wants of our body and the wants of our soul. St. Paul puts the same assurance into very strong words in one of his epistles: “My God shall fulfil every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” The same promise is written over and over again in the Bible. We have it in one glorious sentence of the Master’s, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” We need have only one care, that we put the first thing first, – faithfulness to God. Then all else we need for both worlds will be supplied.
Yet we must make sure that we do not fail in our part. God will never fail us; but we forget, sometimes, in our rejoicing over such an assurance, that we must fulfil our part if we would claim the divine promise. It will not always be easy. Tomorrow it may mean a distasteful task, a disagreeable duty, a costly sacrifice for one who does not seem worthy. Life is full of sore testings of our willingness to follow the Good Shepherd. We have not the slightest right to claim this assurance, unless we have taken Christ as the guide of our life.
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