Come back!

 Psalm 23

The Lord is my shepherd;

I shall not want.

2 

He makes me to lie down in green pastures;

He leads me beside the still waters.

3 

He restores my soul;

He leads me in the paths of righteousness

For His name’s sake.

4 

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I will fear no evil;

For You are with me;

Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

5 

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;

You anoint my head with oil;

My cup runs over.

6 

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me

All the days of my life;

And I will dwell in the house of the Lord

Forever.

I know we've gone through this chapter before, verse by verse, days on end, so I won't do that again. Not today. 

Often times this is read at funerals. And it is an encouragement for those who are grieving. But it's also a good encouragement daily. To remember, to not only know that we have a Shepherd, but to listen to Him. To take His guidance. To be willing to say, and really mean it...Lord, Your will be done, not mine. The Lord is our provider, our protector, our comforter, our restorer, our discipliner, our Savior, and our Lord. The King of kings and Lord of lords. 

I'm not a parent, and I don't play one on TV. But I do know that children rely on their parents. If something scares them, they go running to mommy and daddy. They may stand behind them, cowering in fear. And you know what?We can do that with our Daddy. Because sometimes things are scary. And I don't care how much faith you have, you can get overwhelmed. Sickness and disease, grieving the death of a loved one, all sorts of things make us wanna run and get behind Daddy, and just let Him deal with it. And the thing about it is, He will. 

He's waiting to hear from you. He knows you're overwhelmed. He knows it's too much. He doesn't want or expect you to do it all on your own. He's there waiting. In fact, bending down, listening for your cry. But one thing the Lord will never do. He will never force you into anything.  If you're being pressured and forced. Your arm being twisted, and you're being left with really no choice at all, that's not God. That's how the enemy works. Terrorizing you, manipulation, sleight-of-hand. The Lord presents us with the right way to go, and it is up to us to choose to walk in it, or not. No tricks, no force, just love.

One of my favorite parts about this Psalm is "He restores my soul". We all need restoration from time to time. Having strayed from the family like the prodigal son did, Father God is waiting, just like the father in that story. The Lord gave me a song many years ago entitled "Come Back to Me". And it's God speaking. And He's telling His child to come back. Come back to Me. 

The chorus goes like this:

Come back to Me, I love, I need you can't you see

Come back to Me, come be part of the family

I'll keep saying my child, come back to Me

So if you've taken a detour that's lead you to places you didn't wanna go, in the company of folks who did you wrong, come back. Stop making excuses as to why the Lord won't receive you back. And just surrender. Just like the prodigal son did. Come back. Turn around. You'll be so glad you did. If you've picked up addictions along the way, the Lord will set you free from those. He's not calling you to be perfect, He's just saying...come back. Deal with all of that other stuff later. His arms are open wide. Open with love, not with judgment. Come back. As I write this I feel that yearning in the Spirit, and it brings me to tears. Because I know so many out there are hurting. And Jesus is the answer. Let Him be your shepherd. Don't be afraid or ashamed, just come back. James