The Sheep's Vow

Dear Lord Jesus,
You are Amazingly beautiful.

So here, I am .. to share on a verse which I was accustomed to reciting. I use the word recite as that is truly what I was doing..We tend to recite without a deeper understanding of what we are saying. I asked PAPA to revel to me with the help of the holy spirit and truly I say to you, every Verse of the Holy Scripture has a secret hidden within it that we overlook a lot of times. The beauty about this is that the spirit reveals to whoever freely ask of Him.

Psalm 23 vs 6

The Sheep basks in the loving embrace of the Good Shepherd.😍

This famous Psalm 23 depicts the Lord as the good Shepherd, written by King David (probably towards the last days of his life) is a prayer of Hope & Thanksgiving.

GNB says "I know that your goodness and love will be with me all my life; and your house will be my home as long as I live". 

I read other bible versions as advised in my previous post but this translation is my favorite. Here, the writer acknowledges the shepherd's qualities/traits/characteristics - Goodness and Love and then makes a commitment to dwell in his presence all his life till eternity - That is a Vow.

Acknowledgment + Commitment = Vow.

Vows... even the one we are most familiar with "marriage vows", when listened to usually follows the pattern of acknowledging that your significant other is the bone of bone and flesh of flesh and that you can't  imagine living a life without him/her..and then you move on to say the words of commitment i.e to love in sickness and in health..etc..which then leads to the sealing of the marriage and then we all agree that the marriage vows have been made.

King David who was a Strong, Victorious and Vibrant Man wrote this verse/vow acknowledging that God the good shepherd was the source of everything he was and had. He appreciated God by committing to dwell in God's presence for all his life even after death. He was so sure that even after death, He was going to be with God. - Hope,even unto death.

Home is where the heart is

"Your home will always be the place for which you feel the deepest affection, no matter where you are" - Proverb (sourced from google)

The king (a really good looking one at that - 1 Samuel 16:12, 17:42, 18) who humbled himself as a sheep said to God whom he saw as his Good Shepherd "..and your house will be my home..". King David wasn't just implying that he would just praise/worship in God's House..He literally meant that God's presence would be his Home..where his heart is.

When we wander away, we start to grow tired and there appears a void deep within our hearts that we cannot seem to satisfy. We go on journeys and then say "I need to discover myself"..*chuckles* dear love, You are seeking that presence you vowed to abide in all your life at some point. You are searching for "home".

In your quiet corner of reflection, think about this, "what was the main purpose of Man's creation?" - There are a lot of theories out there but I'd like you to search deep within yourself and ponder about this.

My interpretation of abiding in God's presence always is - making my heart His dwelling place. God's presence is a sweet treasure to me. I have come to understand this over time as I realized that whenever I get off the path or stop walking with him, I go berserk -

I become unstable, irrational, insecure & lonely. I start seeking attention from just anyone in an effort to feel secure, loved and to fill that void that I begin to experience meaning I have wondered from home - from my Love.

David affectionately made a divine vow to God as thus "Dear God, make my heart your dwelling place". He was aware of the great Joy and peace he enjoyed whenever he was in God's presence (Psalm 16:11) and wasn't going to trade it for anything!

How committed are you to God?

We are all guilty of being lazy at some point in our commitment to God, I know I am. We recite the psalm and say this vow over and over again but we often times neglect it. God remains faithful but we always fall short. Yes, we are humans but Christ has already empowered (by giving us the Holy Spirit) - "Be ye perfect as your father in heaven is perfect" (Matt 5:48). 

I know within my heart that he wouldn't have said that if it was impossible hence I have literally ruled out the excuse of "being human" as a reason to remain unfaithful to God. 

I can't do it on my own

When we make our vows/commitment we must remember that we cannot please God on our own, we need the helper, the Holy Spirit. King David acknowledged God as the only good thing he had in him Psalm 16:2 and desperately cried out in Psalm 51:11; we can therefore summarize both verses as thus -"If you take away your spirit from me o God, nothing good will come out of me". This is the King and Man described as the man after God's own heart (1 Samuel 13:14).- It would be so awesome if I were to be remembered after my days here on earth as the Woman after God's own heart. *blush* 😂

King David the powerful Goliath Slayer acknowledged that he was going to fail woefully in pleasing God without the help of the Holy spirit.. *Ahem* You get where I am going with this.

Dear God, Full of Love, Mercy and Gentle Kindness..Help me be a child after your own heart. Teach me to be a humble, repentant and devoted daughter of yours and let your love flow through me so others may come to know you for who you truly are - The Good Shepherd; The God of Love.. I make this prayer through Christ Jesus, your Son My Lord, Amen.