I Call You God-Week 3

Jehovah Rohi

Sermon

Psalm 23:1–3 ESV

1 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. 2 He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. 3 He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.

He is the shepherd of our anxiety because he is able

Verse 1-2

He isn't a child taking care of a pet, he is a good Shepard that can be trusted to provide everything we need.

No need to go elsewhere looking for what we need

Secular thought vs biblical thought on control and anxiety

Therapy Coping mechanism- you feel like you cant control anything, control something

But bible says, when cant control anything, laser focus that fear and anxiety into trust of our Shepherd

He is our perfecter for our sake as well as His

Verse 3

His sake is good for our sake

A human shephard is good to his sheep because its good for his pocket book.

Our God is different

Exegete

Looks like it could also be Jehovah Raah .

I found an interesting side note about Jehovah in Blue Letter Bible’s article on the Names of God that would have been helpful two weeks ago, yet its ok to learn it now.

There is a part of the definition of the verb within Yhwh and Jehovah ( Havah-to be) that insinuates to become or to become known. That follows very closely with God’s slow and methodical revealing himself to different people as Yahweh and how its progressively shows a little more info each time.

article goes on to say that Raah or Rahi means shepherd in Hebrew.

Ezekiel 34:11–15 (ESV)

11 “For thus says the Lord God: Behold, I, I myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out. 12 As a shepherd seeks out his flock when he is among his sheep that have been scattered, so will I seek out my sheep, and I will rescue them from all places where they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness. 13 And I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land. And I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the ravines, and in all the inhabited places of the country. 14 I will feed them with good pasture, and on the mountain heights of Israel shall be their grazing land. There they shall lie down in good grazing land, and on rich pasture they shall feed on the mountains of Israel. 15 I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I myself will make them lie down, declares the Lord God.

There’s a root extension of the word rea’ is “friend” or “companion.” They say this indicates that God desires companionship with his people. They are making the argument that this means we see Jehovah Rohi also mean “The Lord my Friend”

Psalm 23:1 ESV

1 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

For David, the Lord was his Shepherd. So he is saying that He is a sheep. We have been taught how dumb sheep are and David would have known exactly how dumb they are, and yet he is calling himself a sheep if he says the Lord is his shepherd.

This shepherd he speaks of must be a good Shepard because he says I shall not want. Meaning he doesnt have to wander away looking for water or food or any of the things that a sheep would need to stay alive.

Not the case when a child takes care of a pet. Sometimes even with an adult, a pet can be left without food or water, etc… But this sheperd doesnt leave his sheep wanting for anything.

Psalm 23:2 ESV

2 He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters.

This passage shouts that the sheep have a perfect life. Now we know they dont because there always threats out there. Sheep stay scared, im sure.

But the jist of verses 1 and 2, is that God is a good enough shepherd that within his rod and protection, we have a smooth peaceful trust in the one providing for us.

So this brings me to the question: Why do I not trust?

Is that the right question, or should it be why do I worry and have anxiety.

This “I” is literally me, but i think this applies to our youth as well.

I guess I dont question whether there is mental health now. I have experienced enough random unprovocked depression episodes and anxiety attacks to know that you cant control how your body reacts some times.

But lets cut to the quick. Is there something we can do to prepare our hearts and minds long before we are at the point of “mental health crisis.”

Is giving ourselves permission to “not be ok” helping us trust Jesus more or driving us to less trust and more anxiety?

I looked up some secular articles. One says we should be present during the not ok part to process through our feelings so that the next person we deal with on it doesn’t have to feel the wrath because we cannot take time to work through our struggles and pain and feelings. So its ok to not be ok. I think i can track with that at least. (https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/working-through-shame/201907/when-its-okay-not-be-okay#:~:text=It%20is%20okay%20to%20not%20be%20okay.%20Yes%2C,avoiding%20it%20with%20every%20fiber%20of%20your%20being.)

Im learning a lot!

So another article I read mentioned this:

“A counselor told me many years ago that anxiety is all about control.  Anxious thoughts stem from somehow feeling out of control in a given situation.  Some people thrive on that feeling.  And that’s great for them.  They skip through life, making things up as they go.

Not me.  My anxiety comes from not being able to control situations.  So when my world feels out of control, I take that counselor’s advice and find something I CAN control.  Usually, that means I clean things.  Actual cleaning is not an activity I enjoy.  I do it because it needs to be done.  But putting objects in their place and wiping the dirt off the surfaces gives me a sense of accomplishment and control in my out-of-control world.  It helps me to re-center and realize that I am not the general manager of the universe.  Nor do I need to be,”

https://debkylewrites.com/blog/its-ok-to-not-be-ok-5-reasons-why/

This is the heart of what im thinking through. Control, or lack of control.

The secular answer to anxiety is finding something you can control and letting that be your coping mechinism. I actually dont think thats bad advice, within reason (but hey is there reason within mental health crisis, not really)

But it more gets me to the point i think im getting to, that instead of “finding something to control” to help cope, we need to purposely lazer focus all that anxiety and thought processing on finding “something that can control the process.” Namely God (Yahweh, Rohi Shepherd God)

When I was going through assessement, they kept telling me to trust the process. Well thats easy when things are good, but when things are tough, you gotta have confidence in the process to trust the process.

SO TRUST THE GOOD SHEPHERD. THATS WHERE THE STILL WATERS ARE. Thats where the peace is. Thats how I make it. Thats why i havent killed myself. Thats why even among the breathing fits and everything else, i can look beyond that and say, yep God i trust you.

Psalm 23:3 ESV

3 He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.

This is proactive too. Its not just an absent mindedness we need to get to, or a blind trust. God is actively working in our hearts. The sheperd is actively making his sheep better and more profitable for his purposes. (most sheperds, thats business and money) but with this shepherd, he is so good that whats best for him is whats best for us, so we can trust him even more!!!

If he claims to be the one that take cares of us and he claims to make us into better people, then its in his best interest to do that, for his names sake. And as he does it, more peace comes and we become the people that deep down we really want to be. Peaceful, content people that love god and love others around us.

Emmanuel