By Tara Dew, special to the Baptist Message
NEW ORLEANS (LBM) — This is the second of four excerpts Tara Dew has made available to Baptist Message readers from her newly released book, “Overflowing Peace,” a follow-up work to her best-selling book, “Overflowing Joy.”
“The LORD” (or Yahweh) is the only name in Scripture used to describe the personal relationship that God has with His people. This is His particular, covenantal name for Himself which declares how He desires to relate to His people.
God desires to call His chosen people by the name of “His” own sheep who are under “His” care and in “His” pasture (Ps 95:7,100:3). Said another way, He looks at His people and considers them My sheep.
But what about the other side of the relationship? How far is the personal nature of God allowed to reach? Can His people dare to say “my” toward Him in return? This is exactly why David says, “The LORD is my shepherd” (Psalm 23:1, italics added). The intimacy goes both ways! David contrasts the greatness of Yahweh with the intimate, personal pronoun “my.” In this one sentence, we see God’s deity and transcendence contrasted with His humanity and eminence. David juxtaposes the Almighty, powerful characteristics of God, with the tender, personal attributes of God. Yahweh is an intensely powerful yet personal God, who does not merely want to own His sheep in a one-sided way, but wants a relationship with His children.
Angel Martinez, one of the greatest American evangelists of the 1900’s, understood this dynamic. He preached about this personal nature of God and the extent to which it reaches. He was saved in a Baptist mission in San Antonio, TX in 1935. Angel ended up preaching Christ for over 60 years, witnessing some 500,000 accept Jesus as their Savior. He had the entire New Testament memorized and famously preached these words about God, his personal Shepherd:
“The Lord, who made the Universe, is my Shepherd.
The same God, who made the stars, walks with me when my heart is broken in the valley of the shadow of death. The same God, who lit the sun and gave the stars their celestial push and placed them in their orbit, is my Shepherd.
The same God, who took a carpet of green grass and put it upon the earth and nailed it down with beautiful flowers, is my Shepherd.
The same God, who took the rainbow and wove it into a scarf and draped it about the shoulders of a dying storm, is my Shepherd.
And the same God, who in the dawning of a new day opens the door of the morning and floods the world with light and beauty, is my Shepherd.
The same God, who at evening time pulls down the shade of the nights and shoots it through the sunset fire, is my Shepherd.
The Lord, the Lord, my Shepherd.”
My heart echoes these thoughts. Yes, indeed He is all of these things and more. He was Angel Martinez’s shepherd. He was David’s shepherd. But He is your Shepherd, too. Just as he looks upon you and says “my,” you too get miraculous permission to return His gaze and say the same. Luke 12:7 says that He knows everything about you, even the hairs on your head: “Indeed, the hairs of your head are all counted. Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.” He knows your name. He knows the number of hairs on your head and those that have fallen out on the bathroom floor. He knows every nook, cranny and wrinkle of your skin and of your heart. And He cares for you. I hope these words from Psalm 139:1-6 comfort you today:
“Lord, you have searched me and known me.You know when I sit down and when I stand up;
you understand my thoughts from far away.
You observe my travels and my rest;
you are aware of all my ways.
Before a word is on my tongue,
you know all about it, Lord.
You have encircled me;
you have placed your hand on me.
This wondrous knowledge is beyond me.
It is lofty; I am unable to reach it.”
You are fully known and fully loved by your God. He is a personal Shepherd.
Tara Dew is a Bible teacher, speaker, author and the wife of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary President Jamie Dew.
