Don't Get Comfortable

I preached on Psalm 23 this past Sunday.  As I prepared for this a lot of my prayer was that God would not allow our familiarity with the psalm to create a condition where we felt as though we need not listen to the Word of God.  Sometimes our view of ourselves changes (if it was evercorrect to begin with) and we lose sight of who we truly are.  Some of this is caused by familiarity.  When we know something, we want to move on to something new.  But the most familiar psalm points out a basic truth, we are sheep that need constant attention and care. 

I can imagine a sheep walking along a familiar path and saying to the shepherd, "I'm good, I don't really need your help on this path."  "And while we are talking about it, you treat me to much like I am below you, I want to lead myself, so don't tell me where to go or what to do anymore.  I will care for myself thank you."

We read our Bible and wait for some revelation from God but we don't read in submission to God's Word, instead we read as though we are the master's of it.  And in the most familiar psalm we find the truth that we cannot read the most familiar psalm with this kind of familiarity.  We cannot ignore it.  We cannot skip the truth in it because we know it so well, we must to submit to the simple truth that we are sheep and need the constant care of our Shepherd.  This means we are not independent.  We are not self-sufficient.  We are not all knowing and cannot properly care for ourselves.  The sooner we place our trust completely in the Good Shepherd, the better off we will be.  I am going to try and avoid being a stubborn sheep!

"Baaaaaaa" (that is sheep for "Glory be to God."