{"id":620,"date":"2015-03-28T10:33:12","date_gmt":"2015-03-28T10:33:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/parkwood.dreamhosters.com\/blog\/?p=620"},"modified":"2015-03-29T14:35:50","modified_gmt":"2015-03-29T14:35:50","slug":"the-lord-is-my-shepherd-34","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/parkwood.dreamhosters.com\/blog\/the-lord-is-my-shepherd-34\/","title":{"rendered":"The Lord is my Shepherd (34)"},"content":{"rendered":"

“Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life”<\/em><\/p>\n

The Good Shepherd is pleased with us. \u00a0He enjoys watching over His sheep. \u00a0Why? \u00a0Because He loves them! \u00a0This verse reveals the motivation behind everything that the Shepherd does for us. \u00a0The reason He takes us into the green pasture and beside the still water is because He loves us. \u00a0His love for us is why He walks with us through the valley. \u00a0It is love that is behind His guidance and His discipline. \u00a0He prepares a table for you because…yes, that’s right…He loves you.<\/p>\n

The song we learned as children says it simply;<\/p>\n

“Jesus loves me this I know. \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 For the Bible tells me so. \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Little ones to Him belong, \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 they are weak but He is strong. \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Yes, Jesus loves me. \u00a0Yes, Jesus loves me. \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Yes, Jesus loves me. \u00a0The Bible tells me so.”<\/em><\/p>\n

It is God’s Word that gives testimony to the truth that God loves us. \u00a0Each time I get the privilege to lead the chapel for our WEE Center I remind the children that the Bible tells us that God made us…God loves us…and God wants to take care of us. \u00a0Isn’t that the same message that we receive from Psalm 23? \u00a0And, isn’t it the same message that we see in the cross of Jesus on Calvary? \u00a0It is His great love for us that motivated our Savior to give up His life. \u00a0This, again, is what makes Him the Good Shepherd. \u00a0He lays down His life for His sheep.<\/p>\n

The word translated as “love” in this verse is \u00a0“mercy” in some translations. \u00a0That is not inaccurate since the word can be used either way. \u00a0Whatever way it is translated it implies the other as well. \u00a0Mercy and forgiveness is a result of genuine love. \u00a0Conversely, love shows itself in mercy. \u00a0The Scripture tells us that you can’t have one without the other. \u00a0This truth is also illustrated on the cross, which not only demonstrates God’s love for us, but makes it possible for us to receive mercy and forgiveness.<\/p>\n

The motivation for our salvation is love. \u00a0God enjoys taking care of us because He loves us. \u00a0And that love will follow you all the days of your life. \u00a0It is relentless. \u00a0It is a love that will not quit. \u00a0He will not let you go.<\/p>\n

“I will never leave you or forsake you”<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life” The Good Shepherd is pleased with us. \u00a0He enjoys watching over His sheep. \u00a0Why? \u00a0Because He loves them! \u00a0This verse reveals the motivation behind everything that the … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[5,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-620","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-lenten_blog_2015","category-all_posts"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/parkwood.dreamhosters.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/620","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/parkwood.dreamhosters.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/parkwood.dreamhosters.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/parkwood.dreamhosters.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/parkwood.dreamhosters.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=620"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/parkwood.dreamhosters.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/620\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":627,"href":"http:\/\/parkwood.dreamhosters.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/620\/revisions\/627"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/parkwood.dreamhosters.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=620"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/parkwood.dreamhosters.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=620"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/parkwood.dreamhosters.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=620"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}