Two months ago, I started life for the summer in a big new city. It’s my fourth summer internship so I’ve sort of gotten used to it at this point, but every summer brings with it new challenges, new opportunities, new friends, new experiences, and new struggles that can sometimes feel overwhelming. One of the first things I’ve tried to do in each of these summers has been to find a church home; somewhere I can go to center my mind on things above, where I can forget about the craziness of life and focus on my God who loves me and will not let me fail in the situations He calls me to.

 

This summer’s search for that home didn’t last very long. After two weekends of not being able to attend a church due to flight schedules and exploring the new city, I wandered into a small art studio on my third Sunday in the city to find the place I have called home for the past few months. It was a small portable church set up in a warehouse-looking art studio, with just a few rows of seats sparsely filled by mostly twenty-somethings and young married couples, with a few more senior members mixed in. The portable setup was very familiar, and even felt like home; my church back home has been portable for a few years, and so is one of the services I have served at with my church in my college town. It was when the first song played that I really knew I was home. It was “Head to the Heart” by United Pursuit, which my siblings and I have been obsessed with over the past year.

 

“From the head to the heart, You take me on a journey of letting go and getting lost in You. There’s no shame in looking like a fool, when I give You what I can’t keep to take ahold of You.”

 

I have no doubt that what brought me there was nothing but God’s incredible guidance, leading me to a place where I could take hold of Him to root myself for what this summer would bring. The Good Shepherd was walking with me and guiding me to that place.

 

A few weeks ago at that same church, the band sang Jon Foreman’s “House of God, Forever,” which is essentially a beautiful re-write of Psalm 23 (you know, the one everyone quotes when they say “The Lord is my shepherd”):

 

God is my shepherd

I won’t be wanting

I won’t be wanting

 

He makes me rest

In fields of green

With quiet streams

 

Even though I walk

Through the valley

Of death and dying

 

I will not fear

Cause you are with me

You are with me

 

Your shepherd’s staff

Comforts me

You are my feast

In the presence of enemies

Surely goodness

Will follow me

Follow me

In the house of God forever

 

Now, with less than a month left of my internship before I move back home to start my last year of undergrad and prepare for grad school, God continues to remind me that He is my Shepherd who is constantly guiding me and walking with me on this journey.

 

The Bible uses this Shepherd analogy repeatedly. Joseph, Moses, and David and several other major Biblical figures were all shepherds tending their flocks when God called them to serve Him. God is described as the Shepherd of Israel multiple times throughout Psalms and other books, and Jesus is often called the Shepherd of his people in the New Testament. In John 10:11, Jesus says “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” He continues later in verses 27-30 to say:

“My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my father’s hand. I and the Father are one.”

 

Now, the parable of the shepherd and the lost sheep in Matthew 18:10-14 has been even further popularized thanks to Cory Asbury’s “Reckless Love.”

Matt. 18:12-14: “What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go look for the one that wandered off? And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off. In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should be lost.”

 

We sheep are prone to be that one that wanders away. Sheep are naturally inclined to flee and panic at danger, and generally aren’t very smart animals; hence the need for a good shepherd. “Prone to wander, Lord I feel it, prone to leave the God I love,” laments the writer of the classic hymn “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing.” Luckily for us, we have the Good Shepherd walking with us and guiding us, and leaving the 99 if necessary to bring us back to Him.

 

This summer, the Good Shepherd has guided me to the right church home, to a great group of friends, and into His presence in spite of my tendency to wander and drift on my own. This upcoming year, I am trusting Him to continue to guide me as I search for the right grad school, and eventually the right career path. The more I look at my life, where I have come and where I once was, I see the evidence of the Good Shepherd’s guidance. His rod and staff comfort me and guide me in the ways I should go. He leads me by still waters and to lie in green pastures, to find rest in Him and His goodness when the weights and the stresses of life seem too much for me to bear. He guides me out of my fears and trembling as I walk through trials.

 

Through it all, God promises, as Psalms 23 says, that “surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord, forever.” I pray that we all will cling to that promise and to the cross, as we are protected by the guidance and love of the Good Shepherd.

 

 

Related Music:

The House of God, Forever – Jon Foreman

All the Poor and Powerless – tons of versions, but I love the version by The Digital Age 🙂

Head to the Heart – United Pursuit

Reckless Love – Cory Asbury