The Repair Shop
Call me old fashioned if you wish, but I love the current BBC series called "The Repair Shop." I don't have time to watch every episode but if I need an hour's chill, I sometimes go there.
For the uninitiated, people bring in an old beat-up item - it may be an old chair, doll, suitcase, toy, clock - you name it - and a team of experts lovingly bring it back to life.
The restored object is put under a cloth and when the owner returns it is revealed in all its glory, often amidst gasps of delight and sometimes reminiscing tears of joy. It's a great hour's unwind!
If we were to ask, "How come the object got into that shoddy state in the first place?" all sorts of reasons would come forth.
Neglect would be one - no-one cared for it. Accident would be another - the object suffered an unfortunate mishandling. Purposeful malice might even be another - someone trashed the item, perhaps in a domestic dispute (though no-one has yet admitted to this one!)
Whatever the cause, the object is damaged and only expertly help can bring the thread-bare object back to its former glory.
Shabby Souls
Like material objects, so the soul. It is quite possible for our souls to become dilapidated, bedraggled, tired and shabby.
Oh, for a whole host of reasons.
Deep and long trials can wear down the soul. Battles with stubborn staining sins can weary the spirit. Bereavement and loss - of a thousand and one kinds - can weather away the shine, not to mention the joy, of the Lord.
The inspired king David knew by personal experience many of these malaises of the soul (just read his other psalms!) and so he includes in his shepherdly Psalm, both mention of this plight, and the divine cure.
We're up to the first part of verse 3, the line which reads, simply, "He restores my soul."
Wandering Sheep
When a shepherd reads all this "restoring of the soul" he is convinced that the psalmist is talking about bringing back wandering sheep.
Shepherds tell us that sheep by their very nature go astray; one shepherd says that there is no animal on the planet more prone to wander than a sheep. A Bible writer confesses, "all we like sheep have gone astray."
There is what we may call primary straying - something all mankind has done. Walking out on God, away from our Creator. From Adam onwards this is the universal plight of mankind. Having eaten the forbidden fruit, Adam and Eve hid from God, and were cast out of the Garden. And thus, outside of the Garden and East of Eden, every single person, except for One, has been born.
It's a tragic plight and the one for which the Son of God came into the world: namely to seek and to save the wandering lost.
But that's not the astraying of Psalm 23:3.
No, the straying of this psalm is the straying of sheep who have already been called by the loving Shepherd, brought into the safety of his flock, but then, foolishly, wandered off again (and perhaps again). And so they need restoration.
Shepherd MacMillan says that some sheep are especially prone to wander, and these he always had to keep his eye on. He also says that chasing after wandering sheep absorbed a full half of his time (undersheperds should note that stat well!)
Some sheep, says MacMillan, go astray because they have found a nice comfortable grassy hollow into which they lie to rest. Before long, blood supply to their legs is cut off and they actually can't stand up by themselves! Macmillan got to know these rascals and used to chase them out of their comfortable chamber before everlasting sleep overcame them.
Isn't comfort a cause of straying with us too? Too much comfort in this world is not a good thing, and is alien to so many Biblical faith analogies - the soldier, the runner, the boxer. More time on our hands should be translated into more service to Christ, not more "fun"; more money in our pockets should turn into more kingdom giving, and so on. If we want to follow Christ down the true narrow way, we must shun comfort in this life and "deny ourselves."
With other sheep, the problem is not ease but weight. Some sheep already far from the flock could not find their way home, because their wool had become long, and now filled with innumerable twigs and bits of this and bits of that. All these weighty encumbrances slowed the sheep to a standstill - and the sheep simply couldn't make its way back home. The shepherd's answer was to shear the sheep on the spot - shearing season or not!
It is possible for a true believer to become so weighed down with "stuff", the cares of the world, hobbies, sports, pleasures - not necessarily bad stuff - that their spiritual legs give way under the load and they cannot return home to the flock of God or the Good Shepherd.
You get the picture.
For one reason or another - and the reasons are manifiold - a sheep can wander away from the Good Shepherd, and away from the safety of the flock.
The Cure for Wandering Sheep
The psalmist says "He restores my soul," meaning the Good Shepherd restores my soul. In each case above the foolish sheep was unable to return home on his or her own. The shepherd was needed, the shepherd had to do the restoring.
So how does the Great Shepherd of the sheep "restore our souls?"
Well, for one, he appoints undershepherds - pastors and elders - whose task it is to leave the ninety and nine and chase after the lost sheep. A wise sheep will listen very carefully to the voice of the Great Shepherd, behind the voice of an undershepherd.
Another way the Chief Shepherd brings the sheep back is - oddly - he lets them go. Like the prodigal father of Luke 15, who no doubt with tears, hears his younger son's headstrong demand to leave home, so the Good Shepherd may let a wayward and stubborn sheep just go.
He knows that one day pain and sorrow, hardship and shame will come upon them, and after they have fed the pigs, they'll come to their senses, and tail between their legs return home.
A third way the Shepherd of our souls brings us home is through his Word.
To a wandering Israel, God spoke through his aching prophet Hosea:
Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God.
You sins have been your downfall!
Take words with you and return to the Lord.
Say to him, "forgive all our sins and receive us graciously..."
Notice that God even gives the wanderer the very words to say! "Take Words!"
"Here's a prayer I made earlier", says God, "you don't even need to make one up yourself. Just pray this one."
If you are a wanderer, read Hosea 14, it's truly beautiful! The most wayward sheep must be melted by the gentle appeal. And at the end it encourages the wanderer with the promise of renewed fruitfulness, after barren wandering.
If you're not a wanderer, know this, you don't need to wander. Backsliding isn't a necessary Christian experience. If we walk closely with the Lord and his people, and pray like the hymn below prays, we need not wander.
A SONG FOR THE DAY
I'm a new Shane and Shane fan you will have discovered, and here is a wonderful old hymn which stirs the soul, but with a beautiful new twist to the ending.
The hymn - as so many are - is a prayer.
A prayer that God will keep us from wandering and bind our hearts to him.
Pray it as you sing it, or if you prefer, sing it as you pray it.
Prone to wander Lord I feel it
Prone to leave the God I love
Here's my heart Lord take and seal it
Seal it for thy courts above
Orginal hymn by Robert Robinson & Martin Madam
Hear it HERE
A PRAYER FOR TODAY
Our gracious Father in heaven,
We pray today for those who suffer the tragic bereavements of our present plague. And especially those within the household of God.
May they grieve with hope, inspired by the promise that just as Jesus rose from the dead so will those who trust in him also rise from the dead.
We confess that we recognise this line of the psalm all too well.
We know all too well that sin easily entangles. We realize that many things can slow us down and divert us from the narrow path and into bye-path meadow.
Keep us close to your heart.
Bind our wandering hearts to you.
We ask these things in the Name of the Risen Lord of lords
Amen
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