Psalms 16:2 (See John 20:28)

My Shepherd met me in His green pastures trying to find a passage Becky and I discussed yesterday. But a thought that occurred to me as I was singing Psalm 16:1-2 drew me over into John 20. The Mind of the Spirit engaged the spirit of my mind in verse 28:

John 20:28 And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God.

David asked God to preserve him, to set His hedge* about him (See Job 1:10; Isaiah 5:5; Ezekiel 3:5; Selah!) He desired God to set a barrier, a wall of defense between him and his enemies.

The premise of David’s appeal for God’s protection was that he trusted in Him (Proverbs 3:5-6). It’s interesting that God is appealed to on the basis of our trust.

Then David reminds his soul of a solemn oath: “O my soul, thou hast said unto the LORD (Jehovah—GOD), Thou art my Lord (Adonay—the only God).” To GOD, David said, in effect, thou art my GOD, and my Lord. He knew Him as GOD, and yielded to Him as his Lord.

Along the still waters, I reflected on the occasion when Thomas said unto JESUS, Thou art “my Lord, and my God.” Thomas had called Jesus Lord (John 13:13), but he had never yet called Him God. What did it for him was the final and ultimate proof of His resurrection: he saw the wounds.

Jesus said to Thomas, “reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands” (John 20:7a). With your finger, trace the wounds you see here in my hands. With your hand, thrust it into the open wound in my side—where the spear was thrust to pierce my heart . Trace the wound in my hands by your finger, but thrust your hand into my side, and trace the wound on my heart left by the spear thrust into my side as I died for you upon the Cross.

I don’t know if Thomas physically touched His Master’s hands or thrust his own hand into His side, but Jesus’ words pierced Thomas’ heart, and he knelt before His Lord and called Him GOD.

Two things must be rightly understood about Jesus: He is your Lord, and He is your God. Christ is GOD manifest in flesh (2 John 7; 1 Timothy 3:16; John 1:1, 14). And Jesus is our Lord and Master (John 13:13). Does our spirit chaff at either of these declarations? Does either “rub you the wrong way”?

In the valley, shadowed by His Cross, I knelt before my Lord and my GOD to worship Him Who died for me and arose from the dead. With the finger of my faith, I traced the wounds in His hands, contemplating what these hands brought from Heaven to deliver to my soul. And with my hand, I reached for His heart, and found the wound He carries there for eternity. Amazed! He calls on us to take His heart into our hands, and although He does not mention the wound there, I have seen it more than once. The first time was when He spoke to me from Jeremiah 10:19, “Woe is me for my hurt! my wound is grievous: but I said, Truly this is a grief, and I must bear it.”

After some sweet communion there, He spoke: “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me” (Luke 9:23).

At His table, in the light of the empty tomb, I enjoyed fellowship with the Father and the Son (1 John 1:3, 7), till Jesus anointed my head with His oil, and filled my cup, intermingled with His grace. Goodness and mercy followed me as I followed Him into the harvest.

Praying for revival! 🙏

https://rumble.com/v7gsx20-shepherds-pasture-my-lord-and-my-god.html

[*שָֽׁמְרֵ֥נִי Sham-reh’-nee — protect me, guard me, look closely at my circumstance and watch over me. This is the only place I can find in the Psalms where Sham-Reh’-nee is translated preserve. Its often rendered keep.]