The LORD is my strength and my shield; My heart trusts in Him, and I am helped; Therefore my heart exults, And with my song I shall thank Him. The LORD is their strength, And He is a saving defense to His anointed. Save Your people and bless Your inheritance; Be their shepherd also, and carry them forever.  Psalm 28: 7 – 9 (NASB)

In my last post I mentioned I was retiring from the Army.  Well, I am working again thanks to God’s blessing.  It appears I now have to actually work for my paycheck and long hours are ahead.  I will endeavor to keep posting to my blog, but due to time available I will probably be down to one post a month.  Since I don’t have many readers this should not be much of a deal to anyone, but I thought I would warn the few of you out there taking the time to read my posts.

Football season is fast approaching, once we finish enduring preseason games.  When it comes to football conversations you will often hear the phrase “defense wins championships”.  You may also hear the phrase “the best offense is a good defense”.  Personally, I’ve always enjoyed watching a good defense and good defensive players in action – provided it is a team I like!

Additionally, in military doctrine being in a prepared defense is considered the strongest form of maneuver, meaning your enemy would be required to field a minimum of a 3:1 superiority to defeat you.  However, it is not the preferred form of maneuver because it means you have surrendered the initiative to the enemy and are looking for an opportunity to consolidate resources, reorganize, and go back on the attack.

The concept of defending is not new.  The idea of defending against attack is woven throughout the scriptures.  Sometimes the references are to defending against physical attacks, as often found in the Old Testament.  Sometimes the references are to defending against spiritual attacks.    It is this vain we find the last three verses of our shepherding scriptures above, which are laced with language about God defending His people.

As shepherds, we are still required to defend God’s people (Acts 20:28).  Prior to becoming a shepherd I knew this to be true but seldom experienced it.  However, in a little over a year I have come to see first-hand the lengths Satan will go to attack our defenses.  For example, Satan presents temptations to attack God’s plan for marriages to be loving, honoring, co-dependent, and utterly fulfilling for both husband and wife (Genesis 1, Ephesians 5, 1 Peter 3).  Satan attacks God’s Will for the Church to fulfill the Great Commission (Matthew 28, Mark 16) by convincing us as long as we assemble and worship we are doing all that God wants instead of just part of it.  Satan also attacks our efforts to stay united in love and faith (John 17, Ephesians 4, Colossians 3) by finding the slightest disagreement and doing his best to amplify it into a divisive issue.

Also notice the last verse of our scriptures.  I am struck by the words “carry them forever”.   For me it brings forth the image of a shepherd carrying a sheep.  Maybe the sheep was lost, they have a long way to go, the shepherd knows the way, and so he carries the sheep back.  Or maybe the sheep was injured (physically, emotionally, mentally, spiritually) and the shepherd must carry the sheep and tend to the sheep until it is able to walk on its own.  Whatever the reason, the sheep must be carried and the shepherd is the one doing it.  There is also a word of caution here, in that the Psalmist said to carry the sheep “forever”.  While God can do that easily, the challenge to us is to remember that practically every reason mentioned above requires the strength and endurance to shepherd, sometimes for an entire lifetime.

So the lesson for today is meant more as a reminder than a compelling revelation.  As shepherds we are to defend God’s people against Satan’s attacks, carry them through the difficulties and tragedies of life, and do so with love, care, strength, and endurance.

May your blessings exceed mine today and all your days. – DEM