11/11/2021 To prepare for Thanksgiving I share a study that helped me discover hope in the pain and suffering faced as I went on disability. May it help you see all we sheep have to thankful for.

Psalm of the Good Shepherd

By Ronald Ramsey

June 2017

Introduction

The crucifixion of Jesus has always been a part of being a Christian to me. All my life I have experienced a lot of pain and as I grew up without Jesus I began to drink to not deal with the pain and ended up with a terminal blood disease. When I came to Jesus He healed me from the blood disease and the addiction to alcohol though I still struggle with an addiction to pornography.

But I was still left with the weariness of struggling with the addiction, the physical toll on my body and the terrible memories that filled my soul even as I tried to shut them from my mind. So the pain continued with seasons of the year and changes like the tides. Pain was always there just worse at times.

Recently the pain grew and I grew so much weaker as the memories came out and as my body dealt with what later has been diagnosed as Small Fiber Neuropathy and had to leave a wonderful Congregation and people at First United Methodist Church in Jefferson City, TN.

As I go through the process of disability I have asked the Lord for healing but this time He said “I will heal you through the pain and suffering.”

Psalm 22 has always been a favorite of mine since it spoke to me about how Jesus suffered for me and teach us how to deal with suffering. Christianity is a life and relationship with God and the life which not only explains suffering but shows how redemptive it can be.

I believe Psalm 23 is not possible without Psalm 22 for how could we ever trust the Shepherd without seeing and experiencing His suffering for us! From this I learned what has become to me a central part of my theology.

God never asks anything of us He hasn’t already given to us,

and God never asks us to do anything He hasn’t already done for us!!!

As you read the scripture and work on this study I hope you will use what I call the Trinity prayer for study.

1. Before you start to read the Bible or work on a study pray God will guide you and reveal Himself to you.

2. As you study ask God to help you see what He wants you to see and reveal Himself to you. For the purpose of reading the Bible and studying is not to get knowledge, or even to be able to teach others but to allow God reveal Himself to you and to be strengthened in your relationship with Him.

3. Ask God to guide you in applying what He has revealed to you so you can become the Christian He created you to be.

It is my hope and prayer that not only will the Good Shepherd reveal Himself to you, but that you will learn how to become a better sheep!

Psalm of the Good Shepherd Part 1

“Then Micaiah told him, “In a vision I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains, like sheep without a shepherd. And the LORD said, ‘Their master has been killed. Send them home in peace.’ ”” (2 Chronicles 18:16 NLT)

“Like sheep without a shepherd.” This is how God sees humanity as he looks upon our lives and how we live. We are Shepherd-less because we have sought to “kill” our Master and indeed we did.

In our desire to be our own gods we pushed God away, killed or refused to hear those who call us back to God and then in our self crowning achievement we killed the Son of our Master hoping to solidify our own godhood.

But our Master outwitted us (not a hard thing to do) and by His death redeemed even death and made it our way to be with Him. Jesus opened the tomb and made it not a place of death but a seed bed for life where even our bodies will be resurrected and become eternal!

In this study we will look in depth at Psalm 22 and experience the only scripture that gives us a view into the suffering of Jesus Christ whose crown is made of thorns. May we come to see the result of that suffering and hopefully see all suffering can be redemptive.

For so many of us Psalm 23 is the what we want to read and listen to. But in truth there would be no Psalm 23 without Psalm 22! For we are able to trust the Good Shepherd only because He has “laid down His life for us.” For not only are we the sheep of His pasture, but the sheep of His suffering!

It is my prayer you will experience the fullness of God’s love for you in Jesus but also in the offering and suffering of the Father and the Holy Spirit.

Please read aloud Psalm 22 and ask God to help you experience what is happening. It would be helpful to read the Gospel passages that show Jesus dying for us. See how they fit together and then you will be amazed the suffering of Jesus in the New Testament is described so vividly in the Old Testament.

In the room below jot down any questions or observations God has given to you.  

“A good question will lead you to a better question!”