“Know that the Lord is God! It is he that made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.” (Psalm 100:3 NIV)
Imagine a young boy who did not like memory work being asked by his grandparents to memorize the One Hundredth Psalm for the thank offering over a weekend. The incentive was to earn one dollar and learn more about our God. I spent the weekend with the Bible working on memorizing this psalm in the two upstairs bedrooms. Finally, on the second day I could say it all the way through. I took the Bible with me, gave it to Grandma, and stood to recite it in front of my grandparents who were sitting in two walnut rocking chairs. That sunny afternoon on the front porch of a farm house in the Ozarks was fragrant with fresh cut hay and lilacs in the air and accompanied by the song (pretty, pretty pretty) of the cardinals in the surrounding trees.
This verse is meaningful to me because it reminds me that we should acknowledge God and have obedient hearts. We are his. This psalm says we can be joyful and faithful; we can praise God and give thanks because his love for us endures to all generations and forever.
Our Lord provides us with everything we have, and most of all, he gave us Jesus Christ who died on the cross for our sins. The incentive that my grandparents gave me was not one dollar, but the powerful teaching that I am one of the Lord’s sheep. The Lord takes care of me and loves me every second, every minute, and every hour of my life.
When I was a Library Director I shared many times with library staff members and students that one of the wonderful ways we show that we are the “sheep of his pasture” is to offer prayers of joy, praise, faith, and thanks! The Lord hears our prayers.
Max M Burson
Max is a retired Library Director from Friends University in Wichita, Kansas and has been a member of ACL since 1994.