He Is Our Shepherd

The Lord is My Shepherd -- I shall not want.

The Big Book does not teach me this, although "Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions" makes references to this verse.

If the secondary companion to the Twelve Step Program goes to the Word of God, why settle for the secondary sources in the first place?

I choose the Word of God, where I can learn about Jesus!

The AA Book talked about God as our Father, and as our Principal.

Yet there is something powerful and necessary about our seeing Jesus as our Shepherd, too.

The Shepherd knows the way and how to prepare us for the road which we must take to get where we are going.

He has the strength and skill to protect us from the enemies before and behind us.

He knows what we need before we ask, and He provides better than we can even think.

This need to see a Living, Loving Savior lives full-well in all of us, and this needs is more than met in Jesus, our Shepherd.

The AA Book wants people to believe that they must do something in order to stay close to God.

According to the Bible, the real Big Book, it is not our job to stay close to God. He keeps us close to Himself. We are not supposed to get carried away in the notion that we can wander away from Him.

Yet for the longest time, I was convinced at great length that I could end up going the right way, or the wrong way, that He could come or go depending on what I did or thought, depending on the choices or mistakes which I made.

Whether individuals want to hear or read this statement or not, much of these misconceptions about God flow from the cult which tells its adherents to choose their own conception of God.

He is our Shepherd. I cannot conceive this, I cannot understand this, and none of us should expect to get this in one sitting, one session, or even a year's worth of church attendance.

Growing in grace, not effectiveness, is what life is all about.

His life, by the way -- the life of the Good Shepherd (John 10: 11) who laid down His life for the sheep, including me!