Have you ever been through one of those seasons where everything just feels hard? Those seasons of pressing, of crushing, where everything feels outside of your comfort zone and outside of your control? You may just become numb or want to run away. It can feel incredibly lonely and incredibly confusing. Yet those seasons aren’t marked by God’s absence or lack of concern. It’s quite the opposite actually- they are especially marked by His faithful and steadfast character. If we let Him, He uses those times to draw us in, to refine and to mold us.
He is a Good Shepherd who takes care of everything and what we need to learn is how to be a good sheep. We need to learn how to trust, how to rest, how to receive His loving care and affection, rather than relying on ourselves or our own control. He wants to meet our every need, yet sometimes we kick and flail and make wild efforts to get in the way of that. Don’t run along to other pastures on your own accord, assuming you know best. Taking charge, striving to control the outcome, and working to create something for yourself has a way of backfiring, trust me. Well, trust God on this one. I’m learning how to be that little sheep, who can lie down and rest, even in the face of uncertainty. While I can’t see what is next, I can see the one who sees it all. I’m learning to look to Him. I’m learning how to wait and trust as He goes ahead and prepares a place of abundance for me. He truly is the Good Shepherd, and He is worthy of all our trust and confidence. He has never failed, and He won’t start now.
Dear little sheep, rest, be still. For the Greatest Shepherd who laid down His life for you, is taking care of it all.
“My sheep listen to my voice; I know them and they follow me.”