After all of the trials and tribulation, the hardships and difficulties, years of running from King Saul and living as an outlaw King David wrote, “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.”

David was not a perfect man and yet God said about him in Acts 13:22, “And when he had removed him, he raised up unto them David to be their king; to whom also he gave their testimony, and said, I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfil all my will.”

David was a man that trusted God completely, no matter what his circumstances were.

As a consequence of his undying faith, when he was old he looked back on his life and realized that God had been with him all of the way.

There are many times in life when circumstances seem so huge that a man can barely make it through the day. God understands this. In Isaiah 40:29-31 the Lord says, “He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.

Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.”

There are many times in life that we work hard to do what is right, we work hard to provide for our families and make sure that they are safe and their needs are met and then all of the sudden something happens that causes everything to appear to come tumbling down.

Literally there are times when it seems like the world we have created for our families is crumbling down around us.

Stress can literally be a killer.

Where do we turn when it seems like we have no where to go or no one to turn to. What do we do when it seems like even the very people that we have loved and that have loved us seem to turn their backs on us.

Some people crawl into a bottle or grab onto some kind of drug or worldly vice to make themselves feel better only to wake up the next day and find out that things are even worse than they were in the beginning.

Some of us look to our own strength, which is a good thing but we become harder and harder as life pounds away at our confidence and trust in others.

I have often asked my Church to close their eyes for a moment and picture Jesus standing in front of them with His arms open wide saying to them with every ounce of love that He can muster, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” You see, most people see Jesus as a cosmic killjoy that is trying to make life miserable and take away everything they consider fun in their lives.

That is not the case. Jesus is God and He knows the end from the beginning and everything that will happen in between.

He knows the damage that vice can do.

He understands what it is to be so depressed that you are willing to risk everything to experience a moment of simply feeling better.

He knows what it is like when you have tried everything that you can only to end up with feelings of failure and loss of hope.

The Bible says in Hebrews 4:15, “For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.”

Jesus became a man and went through the things that we go through on a daily basis and yet without sin.

Some say that He came to understand us but I am telling you He already understood us, He came so that we would understand that He understands.

He was tempted to sin as well as being tempted with failure and defeat but He never gave in.

He was victorious over every circumstance of life because not only was he 100% man, He was 100% God.

Because Jesus went through what we do we can now see that He has been there with us and even greater, He is ever presentno matter what our circumstance may be.

When Moses ask God what His name was He answered, “I AM.” What does that mean? It means that He is everything that you will ever need. It means that when you go through even the worst of things in life that He is ever present and in the midst of your circumstances to carry you through the valley of the shadow of death.

He is the Shepherd of your soul and if you surrender to Him then He will likewise cause you to say, “The Lord is my Shepherd I shall not want..”