TThe sight of sheep grazingpeacefully on a grassy hillsidebrings a sense of well-being
to even the most troubled heart.Perhaps it is because of thesymbolism the image carries—helpless, defenseless creatures able to munch contentedly underthe watchful eye of one they havelearned to trust.
Jesus called His followerssheep, and as His sheep we longto comprehend what it means tofind contentment under thewatchful eye of our loving,trustworthy, heavenly Shepherd.
In this excerpt of Psalm 23: TheSong Of A Passionate Heart, authorDavid Roper examines the first twoverses of this well-known psalm.He looks at the importance of theshepherd metaphor throughoutScripture and then gives practicalhelp in experiencing the rest ourShepherd has for us.
TThe problem with most of us is that we have no clear picture of the
God we long to worship.Our image of Him is clouded by the memory ofcold cathedrals and bitterreligions, by pastors orpriests who put the fear ofGod into us, or by all thatwe suffered as children fromfathers who were absent,emotionally detached,brutal, or weak. All of ushave inexact notions of God.
So the question is GodHimself: Who is He? This isthe question to which allothers lead—the questionthat God Himself put intoour hearts. (And if He put itinto our hearts, there mustbe an answer in His heartwaiting to be revealed.)
David gave us acomforting and compellinganswer: “The Lord is myshepherd” (Ps. 23:1).
“Yahweh is my shepherd”is what David actuallywrote, using the name thatGod gave Himself. An older generation of scholarsreferred to the name as the“Ineffable Tetragrammaton”—the unutterable four-letterword. The letters that makeup God’s name (writtenwithout vowels as YHWH)were rarely pronounced bythe Jews for fear of arousingGod’s wrath. Instead, theysubstituted some lesser wordlike Adonai (my Lord) orElohim (the generic name for God).
The term Yahweh,sometimes shortened to Yahin the Old Testament, comesfrom a form of the Hebrewverb “to be.” This suggeststhat God is a self-sufficientGod. But that explanation is cold comfort to me. I prefer David’s description:“Yahweh is my shepherd.”
Shepherd is a modestmetaphor, yet one that isloaded with meaning. Part of
the comparison is theportrayal of a shepherd and his sheep; the other isDavid’s experience and ours.David painted a picture andput us into it. The genius ofthe psalm is that it belongsto us. We can use David‘swords as our own.
David’s openingstatement, “The Lord is myshepherd,” introduces thecontrolling image thatappears throughout thepoem. Each line elaboratesthe symbol, filling out thepicture, showing us how ourShepherd-God leads us tothat place where we shall nolonger want.
DAVID AND THE SHEPHERDMETAPHORDavid himself was ashepherd. He spent much ofhis youth tending his “fewsheep in the desert” (1 Sam.17:28). The desert is one ofthe best places in the worldto learn. There are few
distractions and there is littlethat can be used. In such aplace we’re more inclined tothink about the meaning ofthings than about whatthose things provide.
One day as David waswatching his sheep, the ideacame to him that God waslike a shepherd. He thoughtof the incessant care thatsheep require—theirhelplessness anddefenselessness. He recalled their foolish straying from safe paths and their constant need fora guide. He thought of thetime and patience it took for them to trust him before they would follow. Heremembered the times whenhe led them through dangerand they huddled close athis heels. He pondered thefact that he must think forhis sheep, fight for them,guard them, and find theirpasture and quiet pools. Heremembered their bruisesand scratches that he bound
up, and he marveled at howfrequently he had to rescuethem fromharm. Yet notone of hissheep wasaware of howwell it waswatched. Yes,he mused, God is very muchlike a good shepherd.
Ancient shepherds knew their sheep by name.They were acquainted with all their ways—their peculiarities, theircharacteristic marks, their tendencies, theiridiosyncrasies.
Back then, shepherdsdidn’t drive their sheep; theyled them. At the shepherd’smorning call—a distinctiveguttural sound—each flockwould rise and follow itsmaster to the feedinggrounds. Even if twoshepherds called their flocksat the same time and thesheep were intermingled,they never followed the
wrong shepherd. All daylong the sheep followed
their ownshepherd as hesearched thewildernesslooking forgrassy
meadows and shelteredpools where his flock couldfeed and drink in peace.
At certain times of theyear, it became necessary tomove the flocks deeper intothe wilderness, a desolatewasteland where predatorslurked. But the sheep werealways well-guarded.Shepherds carried a “rod” (a heavy club) on their beltsand a shepherd’s staff intheir hands. The staff had acrook that was used toextricate the sheep fromperilous places or to restrainthem from wandering away.The club was a weapon toward off beasts. David said:
sheep from the flock, Iwent after it, struck it andrescued the sheep from itsmouth (1 Sam. 17:34-35).Throughout the day
each shepherd stayed closeto his sheep, watching themcarefully and protectingthem from the slightestharm. When one sheepstrayed, the shepherdsearched for it until it wasfound. Then he laid it acrosshis shoulders and brought itback home. At the end ofthe day, each shepherd ledhis flock to the safety of thefold and slept across thegateway to protect them.
A good shepherd neverleft his sheep alone. Theywould have been lostwithout him. His presencewas their assurance.
It’s this good shepherdthat David envisioned as hecomposed each line ofPsalm 23.
OTHERS WHO USEDTHE SHEPHERDMETAPHOR FOR GOD
Jacob: God AcceptsUs. The patriarch Jacobwas a shepherd and the first person in the Bible tomake use of the shepherdmetaphor for God. As he laydying, he looked back overhis life and summed it upwith these words: “God. . . has been my shepherdall my life to this day”(Gen. 48:15).
Jacob was born with a difficult disposition.Gripping his twin brother’sheel at birth, he continuedthroughout his life to try totrip him up and get ahead ofhim. In fact, Jacob’s wholelife was characterized bywheeling, double-dealing,grasping, grabbing, andjerking people around togain selfish advantage. YetGod was not ashamed to becalled “the God of Jacob”
Jacob is reminiscent ofthose who come into lifewith a pervasive tendency to go wrong. They inhabitinherited hells—saddledfrom birth with insecurities,insanities, and sinfulpredilections. They areaddicted to food, sex,alcohol, drugs, spending,gambling, or working. Theyhave disturbed and difficultpersonalities, and have, asC. S. Lewis said, a “hardmachine to drive.”
God knows our tiresomestories. He understands thelatent forces and all thesources and possibilities ofevil in our natures. He seesthe hurt and the heartbreakthat others cannot see andthat cannot be explained,even to our closest friends.He’s aware of the reasonsfor our moodiness, ourtemper tantrums, our selfishindulgences. Others may beput off by our disposition,
but God never turns away.He sees beyond theprickliness to the brokenheart. His understanding isinfinite.
How damaged we are orhow far wrong we’ve gonedoesn’t make a difference toHim. Our vileness does notalter His character. He iseternal love—the sameyesterday, today, forever. We are not what He wantsus to be, but we are notunwanted. If we will haveHim, He will be ourshepherd.
Fredrick Buechnermarvels at the folly of Godto welcome “lamebrains andmisfits and nit-pickers andholier-than-thous andstuffed shirts and odd ducksand egomaniacs andmilquetoasts and closetsensualists,” but that’s theway He is. Whatever we are,wherever we are, His heartis open to us.
Isaiah: God KnowsUs Intimately. Isaiahenvisioned a stellarShepherd who each nightcalled out His star-flock byname:
Lift your eyes and look tothe heavens: Who createdall these? He who bringsout the starry host one byone, and calls them eachby name. Because of Hisgreat power and mightystrength, not one of themis missing (Isa. 40:26).It’s not by chance that
the stars have their assignedorbits and placesin the universe.They do not riseat random, nordo they wanderhaphazardlythrough space.They rise atGod’s beck andcall. He bringsout the starryhost one by one and callsthem each by name. Notone is forgotten. Not one
is overlooked. Not one is leftbehind.
It’s a terrible thing to beunknown. We live in fearthat we will never be knownenough—that others willnever know who we reallyare, what our dreams are,and where our thoughts aretaking us. Yet we havenothing to fear. God knowsevery one of His sheep byname.
He’s aware of eachpersonality and peculiarity.There are the little ones thathave to be carried, the
cripples thatcan’t keep up,the nursing ewesthat won’t behurried, the oldsheep that canbarely get along.There are thebellwethers thatalways want tobe out front, the
bullies that butt and push toget their way, the timid ones(the sheepish) that are afraid
to follow, the black sheepthat are always theexception. There are thosewho graze their way intolostness and others moredeliberately on the lam. TheGood Shepherd knows us all.
The Sovereign Lord comeswith power, and His armrules for Him. . . . Hetends His flock like ashepherd: He gathers thelambs in His arms andcarries them close to Hisheart; He gently leadsthose that have young(Isa. 40:10-11).God knows our pace. He
knows when grief, pain, andloneliness overwhelm us. Heknows when the fullrealization of our limitationscomes home to us. Heknows when we’re shamedand broken and unable to goon. God does not drive Hissheep, He gently leads them.He allows for hesitation andtrepidation. He gives creditfor decisions and resolutionsthat are strenuously tested.
He understands courage thatfalters in the face of terribleodds. He can accommodatea faith that flames out understress. He takes into accountthe hidden reasons forfailure. He feels the fullweight of our disasters. Heknows our pain as no oneelse knows it. Our bleatingreaches His ears. He evenhears our inarticulate cries.
When we lag behind, Hedoes not scold us. Rather,He gathers us up, encirclesus with His strong arm, andcarries us next to His heart.The essence, the central coreof God’s character, lies here:He has the heart of a tendershepherd.
Jeremiah: GodPursues Us In Love.The prophet Jeremiah saw aflock of ruined sheep:
My people have been lost[ruined] sheep; theirshepherds have led themastray and caused them toroam on the mountains.They wandered over
mountain and hill andforgot their own restingplace. . . . But I will bringIsrael back to his ownpasture (Jer. 50:6,19).We readily forget God,
our “resting place,” andwander away. Yet Hepursues us wherever we go, with nocomplaint of thedarkness, thecold wind, theheavy burden,the steep hill, orthe thorny pathover which Hemust pass torescue one lostsheep. His lovedoes not counttime, energy, suffering, oreven life itself.
His pursuit is not areward for our goodness butthe result of His decision tolove. He is driven by love,not by our beauty. He isdrawn to us when we havedone nothing right and whenwe have done everything
wrong. Jesus said:What do you think? If aman owns a hundredsheep, and one of themwanders away, will he notleave the ninety-nine onthe hills and go to look forthe one that wandered off?And if he finds it, I tell
you the truth, heis happier aboutthat one sheepthan about theninety-nine thatdid not wanderoff. In the sameway your Fatherin heaven is notwilling that anyof these littleones should be
lost (Mt. 18:12-14).Lost sheep are not
doomed. They’re the onesHe came to find.
Ezekiel: GodTenderly Cares ForUs. Ezekiel announced thebirth of that best of allshepherds long before Hewas born. He said that
when He came He wouldtend God’s flock with tender,loving care:
My sheep wandered overall the mountains and onevery high hill. They werescattered over the wholeearth, and no onesearched or looked forthem. . . . For this is whatthe Sovereign Lord says:“I Myself will search forMy sheep and look afterthem. As a shepherd looksafter his scattered flockwhen he is with them, sowill I look after My sheep.I will rescue them from allthe places where they werescattered on a day ofclouds and darkness. . . . I will tend them in a goodpasture . . . . There theywill lie down in goodgrazing land, and therethey will feed in a richpasture . . . . I Myself willtend My sheep and havethem lie down,” declaresthe Sovereign Lord. “I willsearch for the lost and
bring back the strays. Iwill bind up the injuredand strengthen the weak”(Ezek. 34:6,11-12,14-16).It was Ezekiel’s task to
care for scattered exiles farfrom home. He describedthem as sheep that werescattered “because there was no shepherd . . . . andno one searched or lookedfor them” (vv.5-6).
Israel’s disbanding wastheir own fault, the result ofyears of resistance to God.They had looked to theiridols and shed blood, andthey had defiled theirneighbors’ wives and doneother detestable things(Ezek. 33:25-26). That’s why they were estranged.Yet God said, “I will searchfor the lost and bring backthe strays” (34:16). Goodshepherds don’t look down on lost sheep; theylook for them.
Sheep don’t have to golooking for their shepherd—it’s the other way around.
He’s out looking for them.Even if the sheep aren’tthinking about theShepherd, He pursues them
to the ends of the earth.Simon Tugwell wrote:
He follows them intotheir own long, dark,journey; there, wherethey thought finally toescape Him, they runstraight into His arms.There is, in fact, no way
to escape Him except byrunning into His arms.Though we are stiff-neckedand stubborn, He is equallystiff-necked and stubborn.He will never give up Hispursuit. He cannot get us off of His mind.
Furthermore, Ezekielsaid, when the GoodShepherd finds His sheep
He looks after them: As a shepherd looks afterhis scattered flock whenhe is with them, so will I look after My sheep(34:12). “Look after” suggests
careful examination of eachanimal. Our Shepherd-Godis a good shepherd. Heknows well the condition ofHis flock. He sees the marksof sorrow on each face. Heknows every cut and bruise,every ache and pain. Herecognizes the signs ofhounding, misuse, andabuse—the wounds thatothers have given us and the residue of our ownresistance.
He promises to do whatother shepherds cannot orwill not do: “I will bind upthe injured and strengthenthe weak” (34:16). He hascompassion on the afflictedand the handicapped, onthose wounded by their ownsin. He understands sorrow,misfortune, broken homes,
shattered ambition. “Heheals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds”(Ps. 147:3). He applies the balm that makes thewounded whole. That’s thecomfort of God to ourbeleaguered hearts.
But there is more.Another Good Shepherd was on the way—One whowould be one with theFather in pastoralcompassion:
I will place over them one [unique] shepherd,My servant David, and he will tend them; he willtend them and be theirshepherd. I the Lord will be their God, and My servant David will be prince among them. I the Lord have spoken(Ezek. 34:23-24).God was speaking of
David’s long-awaited Son,our Lord Jesus, that GreatShepherd who lays downHis life for the sheep(Jn. 10:11).
THE SHEPHERDMETAPHOR TODESCRIBE JESUSSome 600 years after Davidcomposed his ShepherdSong, Jesus said with quietassurance:
I am the good shepherd.The good shepherd laysdown His life for thesheep. The hired hand isnot the shepherd whoowns the sheep. So whenhe sees the wolf coming,he abandons the sheepand runs away. Then thewolf attacks the flock andscatters it. The man runsaway because he is ahired hand and caresnothing for the sheep. Iam the good shepherd; Iknow My sheep and Mysheep know Me—just asthe Father knows Me andI know the Father—and Ilay down My life for thesheep (Jn. 10:11-15).This is our Lord Jesus,
“that great Shepherd of thesheep” (Heb. 13:20). He was
one with the Father. He toosaw us as “sheep without ashepherd.” He “came to seekand to save what was lost”(Lk. 19:10). He’s the onewho left the “ninety-nine onthe hills” and went “to lookfor the one that wanderedaway,” forever establishingthe value of one person andthe Father’s desire that notone of them should perish(Mt. 18:12-14).
F. B. Meyer wrote:He has a shepherd’sheart, beating with pureand generous love thatcounted not His own life-blood too dear a price topay down as our ransom.He has a shepherd’s eye,that takes in the wholeflock and misses not even the poor sheepwandering away on themountains cold. He has a shepherd’s faithfulness,which will never fail orforsake, leave uscomfortless, nor fleewhen He sees the wolf
coming. He has ashepherd’s strength, sothat He is well able todeliver us from the jaw ofthe lion or the paw of thebear. He has a shepherd’stenderness; no lamb sotiny that He will not carryit; no saint so weak thatHe will not gently lead;no soul so faint that Hewill not give it rest. . . .His gentleness makesgreat.But there’s more: The
Good Shepherd laid downHis life for the sheep. Since the beginning of time,religions have decreed that alamb should give up its lifefor the shepherd. Theshepherd would bring hislamb to the sanctuary, leanwith all his weight on thelamb’s head, and confess hissin. The lamb would be slainand its blood would flowout—a life for a life.
What irony! Now theShepherd gives up His lifefor His lamb.
He was pierced for ourtransgressions, He wascrushed for our iniquities;the punishment thatbrought us peace wasupon Him, and by Hiswounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, havegone astray, each of ushas turned to his ownway; and the Lord haslaid on Him the iniquity of us all (Isa. 53:5-6).The story is about the
death of the Shepherd:He Himself bore our sinsin His body on the tree, sothat we might die to sinsand live for righteousness;by His wounds you havebeen healed (1 Pet. 2:24). He died for all sin—the
obvious sins of murder,adultery, and theft as well as for the secret sins ofselfishness and pride. HeHimself bore our sins in His body on the cross. Thiswas sin’s final cure.
The normal way oflooking at the cross is to
say that man was so badand God was so mad thatsomeone had to pay. But itwas not anger that led Christto be crucified; it was love.The crucifixion is the pointof the story. God loves us somuch that He Himself tookon our guilt. He internalizedall our sin and healed it.When it was over He said,“It is finished!” There isnothing left for us to do butto enter into forgivingacceptance—and for those ofus who have already enteredit, to enter into more of it.
The Shepherd calls to usand listens for the slightestsounds of life. He hears thefaintest cry. If He hearsnothing at all, He will notgive up or go away. He letsus wander away, hoping thatweariness and despair willturn us around.
Our discomfort is God’sdoing. He hounds us. Hehems us in. He thwarts ourdreams. He foils our best-laid plans. He frustrates our
hopes. He waits until weknow that nothing will easeour pain, nothing will makelife worth living except Hispresence. And when we turnto Him, He is there to greetus. He has been there allalong. “The Lord is near to all who call on Him” (Ps. 145:18).
But, you say, “Whywould He want me? Heknows my sin, mywandering, my long habitsof yielding. I’m not goodenough. I’m not sorryenough for my sin. I’munable not to sin.”
Our waywardness doesn’t have to be explainedto God. He’s never surprisedby anything we do. He sees everything at a singleglance—what is, what couldhave been, what would havebeen apart from our sinfulchoices. He sees into thedark corners and crannies of our hearts and knowseverything about us there isto know. But what He sees
only draws out His love.There is no deepermotivation in God than love. It is His nature to love;He can do no other, for“God is love” (1 Jn. 4:8).
Do you have somenameless grief? Some vague,sad pain? Some inexplicableache in your heart? Come toHim who made your heart.Jesus said:
Come to Me, all you whoare weary and burdened,and I will give you rest.Take My yoke upon youand learn from Me, for Iam gentle and humble inheart, and you will findrest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and
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Our waywardnessdoesn’t have to beexplained to God.
My burden is light (Mt. 11:28-30).To know that God is
like this and to know thisGod is rest. There is nomore profound lesson thanthis: He is the one thing that we need.
The word shepherdcarries with it thoughts oftenderness, security, andprovision, yet it meansnothing as long as I cannotsay, “The Lord is myshepherd.”
What a difference thatmonosyllable makes—all thedifference in the world. Itmeans that I can have all ofGod’s attention, all of thetime, just as though I’m theonly one. I may be part of aflock, but I’m one of a kind.
It’s one thing to say, “TheLord is a shepherd.” It’sanother to say, “The Lord ismy shepherd.” Martin Lutherobserved that faith is amatter of personal pronouns:My Lord and my God. Thisis the faith that saves.
THE REST ANDRENEWAL OFTHE SHEPHERD
LLeft to ourselves wewould have nothingmore than restlessness,
driven by the realization thatthere is something more toknow and love. But God willnot leave us to ourselves.According to Psalm 23:2, Hemakes us lie down in greenpastures. He leads us besidequiet waters. The verbssuggest gentle persuasion—a shepherd patiently,persistently encouraging hissheep to the place wheretheir hungers and thirsts willbe assuaged.
In David’s day, “greenpastures” were oases,verdant places in the deserttoward which shepherds ledtheir thirsty flocks. Left tothemselves, sheep wouldwander off into thewilderness and die.Experienced shepherdsknew the terrain and urged
their flocks toward familiargrasslands and streamswhere they could forage andfeed, lie down and rest.
The picture here is not ofsheep grazing and drinking,but at rest, lying down—“stretched out” to useDavid’sword. Theverb leadssuggests aslow andleisurelypace. Thescene is one of tranquility,satisfaction, and rest.
The common practice ofshepherds was to graze theirflocks in rough pasture earlyin the morning, leading themto better grasses as themorning progressed, andthen coming to a cool,shaded oasis for noontimerest.
The image of placidwaters emphasizes theconcept of rest—thecondition of having all our
passions satisfied. Augustinecried out, “What will makeme take my rest in You . . .so I can forget myrestlessness and take hold of You, the one goodthing in my life?”
The compulsion beginswith God.“Hemakes me[causesme to] liedown ingreenpastures,
He leads me beside quietwaters” (23:2). The GoodShepherd “calls his ownsheep by name and leadsthem out. When he hasbrought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them,and his sheep follow himbecause they know hisvoice” (Jn. 10:3-4).
God makes the firstmove. He takes the initiativeby calling us and leading usto a place of rest. It’s notbecause we’re seeking God;
Adam and Eve, “Where are you?” suggests theloneliness He feels whenseparated from those Heloves. G. K. Chestertonsuggests that the wholeBible is about the“loneliness of God.” I likethe thought that in someinexplicable way God missesme; that He can’t bear to beseparated from me; that I’malways on His mind; that Hepatiently, insistently calls meand seeks me, not for myown sake alone, but for His.He cries, “Where are you?”
Deep within us is a place for God. We weremade for God and withoutHis love we ache inloneliness and emptiness.He calls from deep space to our depths: “Deep calls to deep” (Ps. 42:7).
David put it this way,“My heart says of You, ‘SeekHis face!’ ‘Your face, Lord, Iwill seek’ ” (Ps. 27:8). God
spoke to the depths ofDavid’s heart, uttering Hisheart’s desire: “Seek Myface.” And David respondedwith alacrity, “I will seekYour face, Lord.”
And so it is: God callsus—seeking us to seekHim—and our heartsresonate with longing forHim. That understandinghas radically changed the way I look at myrelationship to God. It isnow neither duty nordiscipline—a regimen Iimpose on myself like ahundred sit-ups and fiftypush-ups each day—but a response, an answer, to One who has been callingme all my life.
What are thosegreen pastures andquiet waters to whichGod leads us? And whereare they? What is the realitybehind these metaphors?
God Himself is our “truepasture” (Jer. 50:7) and ourpool of quiet water. He is
our true nourishment, ourliving water. If we do nottake Him in, we will starve.
There is a hunger in thehuman heart which nothingbut God can satisfy. There isa thirst that no one but Hecan quench. “Do not workfor food that spoils,” Jesussaid, “but for food thatendures to eternal life, whichthe Son of Man will give you.. . . I am the bread of life. Hewho comes to Me will nevergo hungry, and he whobelieves in Me will never bethirsty” (Jn. 6:27,35).
Malcolm Muggeridge’sconfession is a striking
expression of this thought: I may, I suppose, regardmyself as being arelatively successful man.People occasionally lookat me on the street. That’sfame. I can fairly easilyearn enough to qualifyfor the highest slopes ofinland revenue. That’ssuccess. Furnished withmoney and a little fame,even the elderly, if theycare to, can partake oftrendy diversions. That’spleasure. It might happenonce in a while thatsomething I said or wrotewas sufficiently heeded topersuade myself that itrepresented a seriousimpact on our time.That’s fulfillment. Yet Isay to you, and I beg ofyou to believe me,multiply these tinytriumphs by a million,add them all together,and they are nothing, lessthan nothing, a positiveimpediment, measured
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There is a hunger in the human heartwhich nothing butGod can satisfy.There is a thirst that no one but He can quench.
against one draught ofthat living water that isoffered to the spirituallyhungry.But how do we
“graze” on God and“drink” Him in? Oncemore we’re confronted withsymbolism. What do themetaphors mean?
The process begins, as all relationships do, with a“meeting.” As David said:
As the deer pants forstreams of water, so mysoul pants for You, OGod. My soul thirsts forGod, for the living God.When can I go and meetwith God? (Ps. 42:1-2).God is a real person. He
is not a human invention, aconcept, a theory, or aprojection of ourselves. Heis overwhelmingly alive—real beyond our wildestdreams. He can be “met” touse David’s commonplaceword. A. W. Tozer wrote:
God is a Person and assuch can be cultivated as
any person can. God is aPerson and in the depthsof His mighty nature He thinks, wills, enjoys,feels, loves, desires, andsuffers as any otherperson may. God is aPerson and can beknown in increasingdegrees of intimacy as we prepare our hearts for the wonder of it.That’s the reality, but it’s
also the rub: Are we willingto prepare ourselves to meetHim? He responds to the
slightest approach, but we’reonly as close as we want tobe. “If . . . you seek the Lord your God, you will findHim,” Moses promised, thenadded this proviso: “if youlook for Him with all your
We don’t have to lookvery hard or very long forGod. He’s only as far awayas our hearts (Rom. 10:8-9),but He will not intrude. Hecalls us but then waits forour answer. Our progresstoward Him is determined byour desire to engage Him in apersonal way—to know Him.
We say, “Something’swrong with me. I’m nothappy. There must besomething more,” but we do nothing about ourdiscontent. It’s this mood ofresignation that keeps usfrom joy. Our first task is toget honest with ourselves.Do we want God or not? Ifwe do, we must be willing tomake the effort to respondto Him. “Come near toGod,” said James, “and Hewill come near to you” (Jas.4:8). It’s a matter of desire.“O God, You are my God,earnestly I seek You,” thepsalmist said (Ps. 63:1).
TAKING TIMEALONE WITH GOD“Begin small and startpromptly” is an old Quakersaying. The idea is to keepthings simple and to beginsoon. Simplicity begins withsolitude—not mere timealone, but time alone withGod. Henri Nouwen wrote:
Solitude begins with atime and place for God,and Him alone. If wereally believe not onlythat God exists, but thatHe is actively present inour lives—healing,teaching, and guiding—we need to set aside atime and space to giveHim our undividedattention.But where can we find
solitude? Where can we finda quiet place in the midst ofthe din and demands of thisworld? “In a crowd, it’sdifficult to see God,”Augustine said. “This visioncraves secret retirement.”“Go into your room,” Jesus
said, “close the door andpray to your Father, who isunseen” (Mt. 6:6).
There is a meeting placeas close as our closet door—a time and place where wecan meet with God and hearHis thoughts and He canhear ours; a time for the twoof us when He can have ourfull attention and we canhave His.
Solitude is where we areleast alone and where ourdeepest loneliness can berelieved. It’s a healing placewhere God can repair thedamage done by the noise of the world. “The more youvisit it,” Thomas á Kempissaid, “the more you willwant to return.”
“I will awaken the dawn,” said David (Ps.57:8). There’s something tobe said for meeting Godbefore our busy days andschedules begin to tyrannizeus. But we must notunderstand this in somelegalistic way to mean we
have to get up before the sunto merit a meeting with God.For many, morning is themost opportune time; forothers, it’s more of anopportunity for the devil.There are times when it notonly seems easier to meetwith God, it is easier. It’ssomething you have to workout with your body. Themain thing is eagerness tomeet Him. The advantage of doing so early is that wehear His thoughts beforeothers invade our minds.
The first step is to find aBible, a quiet place, and anuninterrupted period of time. Sit quietly and remindyourself that you’re in thepresence of God. He is therewith you, eager to meet withyou. “Stay in that secretplace,” A. W. Tozer said, “tillthe surrounding noises beginto fade out of your heart, tilla sense of God’s presencehas enveloped you. Listenfor His inward voice till youlearn to recognize it.”
LISTENING TO GOD THROUGH HIS WORDUntil we take time to bequiet, we’ll not hear God.God cannot be heard innoise and restlessness; only in silence. He willspeak to us if we will giveHim a chance, if we willlisten, if we will be quiet.“Be still,” the psalmist wrote, “and know that I am God” (Ps. 46:10).
“Listen, listen to Me,”God pleads, “and eat whatis good, and your soul willdelight in the richest of fare.Give ear and come to Me;hear Me, that your soul maylive” (Isa. 55:2-3).
Listen to Him. There’s no other way to take Him in. “When Your words came,I ate them” said Jeremiah(Jer. 15:16). Sit at His feetand let Him feed you. That’s the “better” place to be (Lk. 10:38-42).
The problem with manyof us is that though we read
God’s Word, we’re notfeeding on God. We’re more intent on mastering thetext—finding out its precisemeaning, gathering theoriesand theologies—so we cantalk more intelligently aboutGod. The main purpose ofreading the Bible, however,is not to accumulate dataabout Him, but to “come toHim,” to encounter Him asour living God.
Jesus said to the best-read Bible students of Hisday, “You diligently studythe Scriptures because youthink that by them youpossess eternal life. Theseare the Scriptures that testifyabout Me” (Jn. 5:39).
The scholars read theBible, but they didn’t listento God; they “never heardHis voice” (Jn. 5:37). Weshould do more than readwords; we should seek theWord exposed in the words.We want to move beyondinformation to seeing Godand being informed and
shaped by His truth. There’sa passing exhilaration—the“joy of discovery”—inacquiring knowledge aboutthe Bible, but there’s no lifein it. The Bible is not an endin itself, but a stimulus toour interaction with God.
Start with a consciousdesire to engage Him in apersonal way. Select aportion of Scripture—averse, a paragraph, achapter—and read it overand over. Think of Him aspresent and speaking to you,disclosing His mind andemotions and will. God isarticulate: He speaks to usthrough His Word. Meditateon His words until Histhoughts begin to take shape in your mind.
Thoughts is exactly theright word because that’sprecisely what the Bible is—“the mind of the Lord”(1 Cor. 2:16). When we readHis Word, we are readingHis mind—what He knows,what He feels, what Hewants, what He enjoys, what He desires, what Heloves, what He hates.
Take time to reflect onwhat He is saying. Thinkabout each word. Giveyourself time for prayerfulcontemplation until God’sheart is revealed and yourheart is exposed.
Jean-Pierre de Caussadewrote:
Read quietly, slowly,word for word to enterinto the subject morewith the heart than withthe mind. From time totime make short pausesto allow these truths timeto flow through all therecesses of the soul.Listen carefully to the
emotions and meditate onHis goodness. “Feed on Hisfaithfulness” (Ps. 37:3 NKJV).Think about His kindnessand those glimpses of Hisunfailing love that motivateyou to love Him more (Ps. 48:9). Savor His words.“Taste and see that the Lordis good” (Ps. 34:8).
Mother Teresa said,“Spend one hour a day inadoration of the Lord andyou’ll be all right.” Shemight say somethingdifferent to you and me. So much depends on ourtemperament, our familyand job demands, the stateof our health, our age andlevel of maturity. At first 10or 15 minutes may be all wecan manage. Then perhapswe will be ready for an hourevery day. It’s not importanthow much time we spend atfirst. The important thing isto make a beginning. God’sSpirit will let us know whereto go from there.
Our reading should be
toward relishing God anddelighting in Him—“to gazeupon the beauty of theLord,” as David said (Ps.27:4). When we approachGod in that way, it inclinesus to want more of Him. “I have tasted Thee,”Augustine said, “and now I hunger for Thee.”
There’s no need to worryabout texts that we don’tunderstand. Some meaningswill escape us. Everythingdifficult indicates somethingmore than our hearts canyet embrace. As Jesus saidto His disciples, “I havemuch more to say to you,more than you can nowbear” (Jn. 16:12). There’smuch that we will neverknow, but some of the hardquestions will be answeredwhen we’re ready for them.
God can never beunderstood through theintellect. Insight arises frompurity of heart—from love,humility, and a desire toobey. It’s the “pure in heart”
who “will see God,” Jesussaid (Mt. 5:8). The more ofGod’s truth we know andwant to obey, the more weknow.
George MacDonaldwrote:
The words of the Lord areseeds sown in our heartsby the sower. They haveto fall into our hearts togrow. Meditation andprayer must water themand obedience keep themin the light. Thus theywill bear fruit for theLord’s gathering.We shouldn’t worry about
our doubts either. How couldGod possibly reveal Himselfin a way that would leave noroom for doubt? MadeleineL’Engle said:
Those who believe theybelieve in God . . .without anguish of mind,without uncertainty,without doubt, and evenat times without despair,believe only in the idea ofGod, not in God Himself.
Uncertainty is the nameof the game. The best thingis to take our questioningsand doubts directly to God, as David often did. His psalms are filled withdiscomfort and disagreementwith God’s ways. He fillspage after page withconfusion and disbelief. It’s good to do so. God canhandle our hesitancy.
Sometimes we’rementally dull or emotionallyflat, weary, and tired. Onsuch occasions it’s worthlessto try to make ourselvesthink more deeply orrespond more intensely. Ifthe value of our times alonewith God depends on ouremotional state, we willalways be troubled. Weshould never worry abouthow we feel. Even when ourminds are confused or ourhearts are cold we can learnfrom our solitude. Don’t tryto make your heart loveGod. Just give it to Him.
time with God, if we don’tyet trust His heart, weshould read the Gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke, andJohn. There we hear whatJesus said and did and whatwas said about Him. Therewe see Him making visiblethe invisible God. WhenPhilip, Jesus’ disciple, askedto see God, Jesus replied:
Don’t you know Me,Philip, even after I havebeen among you such along time? Anyone whohas seen Me has seen the Father. How can you say, “Show us theFather”? (Jn. 14:9).
One commentator wrote:Philip’s request is theprofound expression ofdeep hunger behind thewhole religious quest,speaking for saints andmystics, thinkers,moralists, and men offaith of every age. “Hethat hath seen Me hathseen the Father,” isChrist’s staggering
response. That is whatthe doctrine of Christ’sdivine Sonship reallymeans, and why itmatters. In His words wehear God speaking; inHis deeds we see God atwork; in His reproach weglimpse God’s judgment;in His love we feel God’sheart beating. If this be not true, we knownothing of God at all. If it be true—and we knowit is—then Jesus is Godmanifest in the flesh, theunique, incomparable,only begotten Son of theLiving God.The main use of the
Gospels is to help us see the character of God made real, personal, andunderstandable in Jesus.What we see Jesus doing—caring, suffering, weeping,calling, seeking—is whatGod is doing and has beendoing all along. If you can’tlove God, try to see Him inJesus. There He’s revealed
as One who has no limits toHis love; One to whom wecan come with all ourdoubts, disappointments,and misjudgments; One“whom we can approachwithout fear and to whomwe can submit ourselveswithout despair” (BlaisePascal). In the Gospels wesee that God is the only God worth having.
RESPONDING TOGOD IN PRAYERAs we listen to God, weshould answer. This isprayer—our response to therevelation and unfolding ofGod’s heart. “My God, Thycreature answers Thee,” saidthe French poet, Alfred deMusset. Prayer, understoodin that way, is an extensionof our visits with God ratherthan something tacked on.
Our meetings with Godare like a polite conversationwith a friend. They’re notmonologues in which oneperson does all the talking
and the other does all thelistening, but dialogues inwhich we listen thoughtfullyto one another’s self-disclosure and then respond.
One of my colleaguesdescribes the process thisway: If we’re reading a notefrom a loved one in whichwe’re praised, loved,appreciated, counseled,corrected, and helped invarious ways and thatindividual is present in theroom while we read, it’s onlyright that we should expressthanks, reciprocate love, askquestions, and in other waysreact to the message. Itwould be rude to dootherwise. This is prayer.
Around 1370, a book waspublished with the title TheCloud Of Unknowing. It’sthought that the author wasa spiritual director in amonastery, but we don’tknow his name. Much ofwhat he wrote is hard tounderstand, but when itcomes to prayer he wasprofoundly simple.
God, he said, can beknown, even through “thecloud of unknowing” byresponding to Him with “justa little word . . . the shorterit is the better.” His book isa textbook of succinct andsimple prayer:
It is good to think of Yourkindness, O God, and tolove You and praise Youfor that. Yet it is far betterto think upon Your simplebeing, and to love Youand praise You forYourself. Lord, I covet Youand seek You and nothingbut You. My God, You areall I need, and more;whoever has You needs
nothing else in this life.If you don’t know where
to start, pray David’s psalms.His life was characterized by prayer. In Psalm 109:4David wrote, “In return formy friendship they accuseme, but I am a man ofprayer.” The translatorssupplied “a man of,” but thetext reads simply, “but I amprayer.” Prayer was theessence of David’s life andhis genius, as it is ours. Wehave this access to God, thisintimacy with Him, thisopportunity to receive allthat the heart of God hasstored up for us. It is themeans by which we receiveGod’s gifts—the means bywhich everything is done.David teaches us to pray.
Prayer is worship. Ourpraying should be full ofadoration, affection, andfondness for God that He iswho He is, that He createdus in order to have someoneon whom He could showerHis love, that He stretched
out His arms on the cross,and that He intends, in thefullest sense, to make wholemen and women out of us.In worship, as the old wordworth-ship implies, wedeclare what we value themost. It is one of the bestways in the world to loveGod.
Prayer is the highestexpression of ourdependence on God. It isasking for what we want. Wecan ask for anything—eventhe most difficult things. “Do not be anxious aboutanything, but in everything,by prayer and petition, withthanksgiving, present yourrequests to God” (Phil. 4:6).Anything large enough tooccupy our minds is largeenough to hang a prayer on.
Prayer, however, by itsnature is requesting. It is notinsisting or clamoring. Wecan make no demands ofGod or deals with Him.Furthermore, we’re comingto a friend. Friends don’t
make demands. They askand then wait. We wait withpatience and submissionuntil God gives us what werequest—or something more.
David wrote, “I havestilled and quieted my soul;like a weaned child with itsmother, like a weaned childis my soul within me” (Ps.131:2). David was in exile,waiting for God, learning notto worry himself with God’sdelays and other mysteriousways. No longer restless andcraving, he waited for God toanswer in His own time andin His own way. He is ableto do far more than anythingwe can ask or imagine, butHe must do it in His timeand in His way. We ask inour time and in our way;God answers in His.
Prayer is asking forunderstanding. It is themeans by which wecomprehend what God issaying to us in His Word.The process by which wegain awareness of His
mind is not natural, butsupernatural. Spiritual thingsare discerned spiritually(1 Cor. 2:6-16). There is truththat can never be grasped bythe human intellect. Itcannot be discovered; itmust be disclosed. Certainlywe can understand the factsin the Bible apart from God’shelp, but we can neverplumb its depths, never fullyappreciate “what God hasprepared for those who loveHim” (v.9). We must prayand wait for truth to comehonestly into our minds.
Prayer moves what weknow from our heads to ourhearts. It’s our hedge againsthypocrisy, the way by whichwe begin to ring true. Ourperceptions of truth arealways ahead of our
condition. Prayer brings usmore into conformity. It bridges the gap betweenwhat we know and what we are.
Prayer focuses and unitesour fragmented hearts. Wehave a thousand necessities.It’s impossible for us topurify them and simplifythem and integrate theminto one. David prayed,“Give me an undividedheart” (Ps. 86:11). Hewanted to love God with his whole heart, but hecouldn’t sustain the effort.Other interests andaffections pulled him anddivided him, so he askedGod to guard his heart andunite its affections into one.The prophet Isaiah wrote:
He wakens me morningby morning, wakens myear to listen like one beingtaught. The SovereignLord has opened my ears,and I have not beenrebellious; I have notdrawn back (Isa. 50:4-5).
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Prayer moves what we knowfrom our heads to our hearts.
Centering on God eachmorning should be done asthough it had never beendone before. In that quietplace He comforts us, Heinstructs us, He listens to us,He prepares our hearts andstrengthens us for the day.There we learn to love Himand worship Him again. Weesteem His words and deferto Him once more. We getHis fresh perspective on theproblems and possibilities ofour day.
Then we should take Hispresence with us all throughthe day—journeying,pausing, waiting, listening,recalling what He said to us in the morning. He is ourteacher, our philosopher, ourfriend; our gentlest, kindest,and most interestingcompanion.
He is with us whereverwe go. He is in thecommonplace, whether weknow it or not. “Surely theLord is in this place,” Jacobsaid of a most unlikely
location, “and I was notaware of it” (Gen. 28:16).We may not realize that Heis close by. We may feellonely and sad and desolate.Our day may seem bleakand dreary without a visibleray of hope, yet He ispresent.
God has said, “Never willI leave you; never will Iforsake you.” So we saywith confidence, “The Lordis my helper; I will not beafraid” (Heb. 13:5-6).The clamor of this visible
and audible world is sopersistent and God’s quietvoice sometimes is so faintthat we forget that He isnear. But not to worry: Hecannot forget us.
In God’s presence there is satisfaction. His lushmeadows are boundless. His still water runs deep.“There,” I say to myself, “[I] will lie down in goodgrazing land, and there [I]will feed in a rich pasture”(Ezek. 34:14).
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