Sorrow and Joy
I had intended to use Psalm 23 for this week and the next, with a focus on the initial verse this week:  "The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not lack."
Then there have been sobering events in the lives of friends, or the families of friends, which also brought to mind these verses from Psalm 46:  "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.  Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way, though the mountains be cast into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling" (verses 1-3).
Where is the joy given the sorrow?  When the Lord is my Shepherd--or yours--neither I nor you shall lack, period, not for wisdom, or for strength, or for comfort.  And yet that is something we don't always realize in our frantic busyness.  Which may be one reason God inserts this into Psalm 46 also:  "Be still, and know that I am God.  I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!"  And why in Psalm 23 the Shepherd causes me--you--to lie down in green pastures, to lead me--you--besides still waters, with the outcome the restoring of my--our your--soul (verses 2-3a).