My Coffee Time Comfort
I had ordered my coffee at the café nearby and pulled out my Bible for a time of quiet reflection as I chose a small round table in the corner. A simple glass jar in the center of the table held garden flowers and brightened my spot!
Speak Lord in the stillness
While I wait on Thee
Hushed my heart to listen
In expectancy
-E May Grimes
I read Psalm 23 slowly chewing on each word, a familiar one but on that day it leapt out of the page, teaching me great truths.
I noticed that the first and last verse of the Psalm had the word LORD, referring to Yahweh, the God who said I am that I am. (Exodus 3:14)
I pulled out my Bible highlighter and colored in the word LORD in verse 1 and 6.
The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want.
Psalm 23:1
Between the 2 phrases I felt there was an invisible sentence which was ‘I am the LORD’s sheep’. For only when I fully acknowledge that I am the LORD'S sheep can I say ‘I shall not want.’
This reminded me of Paul’s ‘learning the secret of being content’ in Philippians 4:12
As I sipped my coffee I stared out onto the courtyard, I thought back at a song Mike and I had discussed the week before.
You are my strength when I am weak
You are the treasure that I seek
You are my all in all
-Dennis Jernigan
The ‘I shall not want’ mindset- how will it look for a young mother doing endless laundry and sitting up into the wee hours feeding and nappy changing? Maybe you are in that stage of life now. Or maybe you are feeling lonely, tired, overworked or neglected. Psalm 23:1 is a good one to know by heart, meditate on and live out. Are you a mother praying and longing for a miracle in the life of your child!? Are you single, longing for The Lord to bring the right person into your life?
John Bunyan wrote Pilgrim's Progress which has touched many hearts from the Bedford prison.
Horatio Spafford could say ‘It is well with my soul’ after losing his family and his entire business.
Fanny Crossby could say ‘To God be the Glory, Great things He has done’ though her world was dark (she was blind).
Joni Eareckson Tada who was left paralysed from the neck down spends her life singing praises and encouraging others to do the same. When she sings she says she is focussed on God's word, His promises and the hope of heaven.
Now clearly these people knew that the Lord was their shepherd and they were not in want.
A few days back I felt unusually down, Satan loves to steal, kill and destroy. I felt that he was stealing my peace, killing my joy and destroying my ‘God is enough’ mindset. I stepped out into the garden and said out loud, “The Lord IS MY SHEPHERD, I SHALL NOT WANT”. I used it as a prayer to claim my peace, my joy and my confidence in God.
The last verse says that goodness and mercy follow us all the days of our life. What a beautiful picture. Whether you are at work, at home or in traffic God’s goodness and mercy are running after you! During my evening walk today I kept reminding myself of this and kept turning back with a smile.
My grandfather must have loved this Psalm so much he signed off his letters with ‘goodness and mercy’. This Psalm does not give us assurance and strength for just our lifetime; it ends with the promise that we will live in the LORD’s house forever.
As I sat beside my father days before he breathed his last we talked of this Psalm and the comfort it was to us. On many occasions I had played the hymn for my father and he would sing out loud and clear.
Goodness and mercy all my life
Shall surely follow me
And in God’s house forevermore
My dwelling place shall be.
It was a song we sang at many family functions. As generations stood around the piano we sang with joy and hope of the LORD who was our shepherd.
May my coffee time comfort be your comfort and strength too. As the Lord's sheep let us know by heart the verse, pray it, claim it and live it.