Day 32 – You
God never intended our relationship with Him to remain intellectual.
Day 32 – You
Psalm 23:4 — “…for You are with me.”
There is a tenderness in this word that we can’t afford to miss. The green pastures taught David about the Shepherd’s provision. The quiet waters revealed His care. The paths of righteousness displayed His wisdom. But it was the valley that deepened his relationship with God.
That has been my experience as well. It’s usually during life’s easiest seasons that we study God. We learn about His character, memorize His promises and take in His teachings.
Those are great things—and necessary. But, it’s in the midst of sorrow and trouble where our theology becomes intensely personal. Our words become fewer but they also become more intimate.
Instead of shouting, “God is faithful”, we whisper, “Lord, I need You.”
The Hebrew text emphasizes the personal pronoun. David’s confidence is no longer centered on what God does, but on who God is to him in that moment. That is one of the great lessons of suffering.
God never intended our relationship with Him to remain intellectual. He invites us into fellowship and desires that we know Him as the God who walks with us personally.
Job discovered that after his season of suffering. He said, “I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear; but now my eye sees You” (Job 42:5).
Job knew about God before his trials. But through the valley he came to know God in a much deeper and more personal way.
Many of us know a great deal about God. The Shepherd invites us to know Him.
Jeremiah 9:23-24
Thus says the LORD, “Let not a wise man boast of his wisdom, and let not the mighty man boast of his might, let not a rich man boast of his riches; but let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the LORD who exercises mercy, justice and righteousness on earth; for I delight in these things.”
As you reflect on your own journey, ask yourself a simple question: Has your knowledge of God become a relationship with God? It is a wonderful thing to learn about the Shepherd, but His desire is that you would know Him personally.
Sometimes the darkest places become where we discover the sweetest fellowship with the Shepherd.
