Mon Inspiration

Morning Inspiration with Pastor Merritt

No one questions that the greatest Psalm ever written is the 23rd Psalm. In that Psalm David is talking just like a sheep. When he says,

“The Lord is my shepherd I shall not want.” (Psalm 23:1, NASB)

Over and over and over in the bible we are compared to sheep.

Now I hate to break the news to you, but that’s not very flattering. For one reason you won’t find a dumber animal than a sheep. You can train dogs, you can train cats, you can even train fleas, but you’ll never go to a circus to see a trained sheep.

They have poor eyesight, they have no common sense, left to their own they’ll walk into a stream and drown, they’ll walk over a cliff and die. And just as sheep is the one thing that makes a shepherd a shepherd, the one thing every sheep needs simply to survive is a good shepherd.

Now there’s one way we are different from sheep. Sheep are too dumb even to worry that they can’t take care of themselves, but we do worry. Especially when we confront situations that we can’t take care of. Especially when we’re put into circumstances where we can’t take care of ourselves. And i confess to you today the achilles heel of my life is worry. My mom is a cronic worrier and that’s one of the traits she passed down to me.

Most of us are in the same boat. Most of us have worries and most of us do worry. As a matter of fact the person that just really irritates me is the person who says something like this, “I don't worry about anything, I just don’t let things bother me”. That person really worries me.

The one thing that will suck joy and contentment and peace out of life quicker than you think is worry, fear, anxiety, and concern. Now there is really only one of two things you can do with your worries, try to handle them yourself or let somebody else handle them for you.

One of my favorite stories is about a guy that was a major mega worrier. He worried about everything. He worried so much he developed all kinds of problems, nervous ticks, high blood pressure, sleepless nights. It was affecting his job, his marriage, his personal relationships. he was irratible with people and just wasn't very pleasant to be around.

Well one day he walked out of his house to go to work and he was whistling, singing, smiling, totally at peace. His neighbor saw him and could not believe the change that took place. he walked over to him and said, “Bob, I’ve never seen you like this. I’ve never seen you so happy, so joyful, so full of peace. You don't seem to worried about anything”. He replied, “I’m not”.

The neighbor said, “Well what happened? How did you do it?” Bob said, “I’ve hired a professional worrier. He does all of my worrying for me”. The neighbor said, “Wow! What does somebody like that charge?” Bob said, “He charges a thousand dollars a day.” The neighbor said, “A thousand dollars a day? You don't have that kind of money and you can’t afford him. How are you going to pay him?” Bob said, “That’s his worry.”

Well either you do have or you have worries you can’t handle. The worry of a marriage that’s seemingly on the rocks, the worry of a teenager that’s headed down the wrong path, the worry of an illness that may not get better, the worry of finidng yourself before it’s too late. I believe the good life is a life where you face your deepest fears, your darkest places, and your greatest worries with faith and not fear. And when you understand you're a helpless sheep, but you also understand that Jesus is The Good Shepherd then you’ll learn this lesson. Key take away: Sheep need not fear when the good shepherd Is near. What a good shepherd does for sheep Jesus does for us.