Psalm 23 (NASB)
23 The Lord is
my shepherd,
I shall not want.
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside quiet waters.
3 He restores my soul;
He guides me in the paths of righteousness
For His name’s sake.
I shall not want.
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside quiet waters.
3 He restores my soul;
He guides me in the paths of righteousness
For His name’s sake.
4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of
death,
I fear no evil, for You are with me;
Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
You have anointed my head with oil;
My cup overflows.
6 Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life,
And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
I fear no evil, for You are with me;
Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
You have anointed my head with oil;
My cup overflows.
6 Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life,
And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
This morning, in
my devotion time, I read Psalm 23. Now, this is a passage I memorized long ago,
and it always brings comfort when I read it again, or a portion of it crosses
my mind.
This evening, I
found this picture on FaceBook and immediately Psalm 23 came to mind! Oh…My…Goodness!
I have never seen truer words – except in the Bible, of course. But wow… how
much like Psalm 23 are these words of how God’s voice affects our lives? 
I find the
contrast between God’s voice and the deceiver’s voice enlightening. Why?
Because I have been through times where I thought I was hearing God’s voice,
and in retrospect, those words I heard were obviously the deceiver’s words.
Trying to get me to go places (emotionally, mentally, sometimes physically) I
was not supposed to go. Those paths were off-limits, as far as God was
concerned, yet I allowed the deceiver to influence me for a bit, until I got my
feet back under me.
I always find it
interesting how God speaks to us. Repetition is one way – if you hear the same
message or words more than once, you can most likely say God is trying to tell
you something, especially if those words come from God fearing men and women. Sometimes He speaks through music as well. The Bible, of course. In prayer, but we have to make sure it is not the deceiver we are hearing. Test the words you are given against the Word and the list in the picture.
The deceiver loves to distract us, and make us lose heart and hope… I never thought about the fact that his words make us rush (jump to conclusions???) or push us into something we may not necessarily want to do.
When God doesn’t give us exactly what we think we want – it is because He has a better plan in mind for us and we just have to wait on Him.
How do you hear God's voice?
I hope you don't mind, but your thoughts reminded me of something I read a couple of months ago,and though it may be a bit of a tangent, your comments about prayer made me want to share it. It's by an LDS leader Henry B. Eyring: (and it's a little long :) )
ReplyDelete"My promise to you who pray and serve the Lord cannot be that you will have every blessing you may wish for yourself and your family. But I can promise you that the Savior will draw close to you and bless you and your family with what is best. You will have the comfort of His love and feel the answer of His drawing closer as you reach out your arms in giving service to others. As you bind up the wounds of those in need and offer the cleansing of His Atonement to those who sorrow in sin, the Lord’s power will sustain you. His arms are outstretched with yours to succor and bless the children of our Heavenly Father, including those in your family."
I so appreciate the reminder that, as long as we are trying to live in a way that we can hear the Lord's voice and serve Him and His children, we will be blessed and comforted-even if it isn't the way we may hope for!
I don't mind at all! I think, once again, the repetition thing is in effect :) Your words remind me of a time when I wanted something and thought it was what God wanted for me too, but it was not. I was listening to the deceiver's voice, and I was self-focused, because it was what I wanted, so I asked God to bless my decision. Thankfully He removed that from my life. :) And honestly, it didn't hurt that much.
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