The Very Best of ShepherdsSample

The Shepherd Never Leaves Me Alone

There is nothing scarier for us human beings than facing our mortality. Death is something we will all experience eventually, unless Jesus comes first, and somehow we manage to push it out of our minds for most of our conscious hours. We don’t think about it because we don’t want to. It scares us!

Recently, one of my friends passed away. She had kept her illness a secret for some time, and shortly before her death, she told me that she didn’t have much time left. I was heartbroken. She was such a good person, and the world would not be the same without her. It made me stop and think about my own life and whether or not I felt ready to meet my Maker, should it be required of me. That isn’t a comfortable thing to ponder. I started wondering what actually dying feels like. Is it scary? It is peaceful? I was worried about my friend’s passing — what she experienced, and if God gave her special comfort.

But then I was reminded of Psalm 121. That psalm is all about God taking care of us, but the very last verse says, “The Lord will watch over your coming and going, both now and forevermore” (Psalm 121:8niv).

Childbirth is a traumatizing experience. A baby is born with pain and a certain amount of risk, even today. But God is there as we arrive into the world, helpless and crying. And He’s there with us when we go through the process of dying and go join Him in glory. When we can face the fact that we will eventually die, and when we can draw comfort from knowing that God will be close to us and bring us through, our perspective changes. “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me” (Psalm 23:4esv). We can face life so much more courageously when we know that our coming and going is in His hands, and we will never be alone.

God still has work for us to do in our lifetimes, and we need to step out in courage and faith to fulfill our missions.