{"id":2645,"date":"2011-12-20T16:12:33","date_gmt":"2011-12-20T22:12:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.desertspringschurch.org\/blog\/?p=2645"},"modified":"2011-12-20T16:12:33","modified_gmt":"2011-12-20T22:12:33","slug":"the-lord-is-my-shepherd-or-im-on-my-own","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.desertspringschurch.org\/blog\/2011\/12\/the-lord-is-my-shepherd-or-im-on-my-own\/","title":{"rendered":"“The Lord is my shepherd” or “I’m on my own”?"},"content":{"rendered":"

In Sunday’s sermon, “A Perfect Shepherd for Needy Sheep<\/a>,” Ryan unpacked a familiar text, Psalm 23<\/a>. David opens this psalm with the often memorized line, “The\u00c2\u00a0Lord\u00c2\u00a0is my shepherd; I shall not want.”<\/p>\n

One way to think hard about a psalm like this is to think about what life would be like if everything it says were not true. What if we couldn’t say, “The Lord is my shepherd”?<\/p>\n

As an\u00c2\u00a0exercise\u00c2\u00a0in thinking through the significance of Psalm 23, David Powlison wrote this\u00c2\u00a0anti-Psalm 23<\/a>, which Ryan read at the end of his sermon:<\/p>\n

I’m on my own. No one looks out for me or protects me.
\nI experience a continual sense of need. Nothing’s quite right.
\nI’m always restless. I’m easily frustrated and often disappointed.
\nIt’s a jungle \u00e2\u20ac\u201d I feel overwhelmed. It’s a desert \u00e2\u20ac\u201d I’m thirsty.
\nMy soul feels broken, twisted, and stuck. I can’t fix myself.
\nI stumble down some dark paths.
\nStill, I insist: I want to do what I want, when I want, how I want.
\nBut life’s confusing. Why don’t things ever really work out?
\nI’m haunted by emptiness and futility \u00e2\u20ac\u201d shadows of death.
\nI fear the big hurt and final loss.<\/p>\n

Death is waiting for me at the end of every road,
\n. . .but I’d rather not think about that.
\nI spend my life protecting myself. Bad things can happen.
\nI find no lasting comfort. I’m alone
\n.. .facing everything that could hurt me.
\nAre my friends really friends?
\nOther people use me for their own ends.
\nI can’t\u00c2\u00a0really\u00c2\u00a0trust anyone. No one has my back.
\nNo one is\u00c2\u00a0really\u00c2\u00a0for me \u00e2\u20ac\u201d except me.
\nAnd I’m so much all about me, sometimes it’s sickening.
\nI belong to no one except myself.
\nMy cup is never quite full enough. I’m left empty.
\nDisappointment follows me all the days of my life.
\nWill I just be obliterated into nothingness?
\nWill I be alone forever, homeless, free-falling into void?
\nSartre said, “Hell is other people.” I have to add, “Hell is also myself.”
\nIt’s a living death, and then I die.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In Sunday’s sermon, “A Perfect Shepherd for Needy Sheep,” Ryan unpacked a familiar text, Psalm 23. David opens… Continue Reading ›<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[41],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.desertspringschurch.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2645"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.desertspringschurch.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.desertspringschurch.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.desertspringschurch.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.desertspringschurch.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2645"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.desertspringschurch.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2645\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2649,"href":"https:\/\/www.desertspringschurch.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2645\/revisions\/2649"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.desertspringschurch.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2645"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.desertspringschurch.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2645"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.desertspringschurch.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2645"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}