The Shepherd and His Sheep - Part 10

The Lord is my Shepherd…to my 3 year old mind the next line was, “I do not want – Him.” Here were my reasons: “Because He makes me lie down in green pastures.”

That was equal to being made to take a nap. “He leads me by still waters.” In our home at that time we had bottled distilled water. Can you imagine what the words still waters conjured. “He restores my soul.” Not such a bad thing until you think about the other prayer I knew was “Now I lay me down to sleep. I pray the Lord my soul to keep. If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take.” To me the Lord was doing a little too much soul taking if He had to keep restoring it.

Being led on right paths was a pretty good idea because I understood I would not get lost. However maybe the intent of not wanting Him was that He made me walk on those paths instead of carrying me because I was a big girl and big girls did not need to be carried any more. The next line I did not like was about the valley of the shadow of death.

In addition to sound like soul taking I had heard about Death Valley by watching westerns. It was a dry desert place. The next line that did not make sense to me was why the Shepherd was setting a table for me so I had to eat with my enemies. I would rather eat with family and friends. Why would the Shepherd put oil on my head? You only did that for babies. I got in trouble if I spilled my milk or juice so would the Shepherd get in trouble for over filling my cup?

I did like the bit about goodness and mercy following me. To my mind it was like having two sheep dogs who were my friends. Dwelling in the house of the Lord forever was good as long as my family and friends were there as well. I am so glad that the Lord restored my soul after taking good care of it so I could learn that I really did want Him after all.

By Commissioner Debi Bell