The Lord is My Shepherd

I'm reading the book,  A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23 by Phillip Keller. In it, he compares his life as a shepherd (owner, caretaker of his own fold of sheep) to Psalm 23 and God's shepherding of us. 

The Lord is my shepherd. I belong to Him. He created me and I am His. I must continually seek his guidance and direction. Not only seek, but stop and listen. 

I can let Him have control. 

I must let Him have control.

Not only does He lead every bit of being and doing, He relieves me of the stress and pain of being in charge. 

I have tasks to be done by His direction. I often find myself NOT doing them, in favor of laboring (worrying) over the situations that are not my place. This isn't today's revelation. I've known this about myself for years. I'm so good at giving things over to God--and then taking them right back. 

Jesus tells us He is the Good Shepherd. (John 10:11) I trust that. A good shepherd isn't able to keep every enemy and trial away (we live in a fallen world with free will) but the Good Shepherd is there to protect us and bring comfort. I feel safe because my Good Shepherd is watching over me. Sometimes I don't know danger is lurking until it's right upon me. The Good Shepherd is there to guide me away from it or through it.