Shepherd of Israel

As we shared in the last blog post, the Word of God is powerful, it is the Creative Word. I have been made just a little bit more aware of the depth of this power just now as I  look to share the writing of my song, "Shepherd of Israel". You can listen at #15 Voice of the Shepherd Worship Website It all started while I was reading Psalm 80 in the Old Testament one day. I discovered... that since Psalm 80 began with "Shepherd of Israel", it seems to be a prayer already. Verses 3, 7 and 19 are nearly the same appearing like the chorus of a song that was already written and all I needed to do was sing it, which I did and I continued to sing until I had sung and written down 3 verses (normal pattern for most songs)...the chorus came easily and in my own words, as heartfelt prayers often do. 

Verse 1

I might have instinctively chosen "Lord God of Hosts" out of my personal life of worship but at that time, I did not see the similarity or difference in the verses shared below. 

Psalm 80:1- Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel

                3  Turn us again, O God, and cause thy face to shine; 

                    and we shall be saved.

                7 Turn us again, O God of hosts, and cause thy face to shine; 

                   and we shall be saved

               19 Turn us again, O Lord God of hosts, cause thy face to shine; 

                    and we shall be saved.

Looking upon these above scriptures; each one; very similar but each with increasing intimacy in and connection to God through His Name. Could it be that this deepening of godly understanding, wisdom and intimacy could be accredited to the reading of God's Word and its study? When we call out to him as "Lord God of hosts", we have acknowledged and submitted to His Holiness and see ourselves as "sheep of His Pasture". 

The prayer asks God to "cause His face to shine", part of the Aaronic blessing.

Numbers 6: 24-26 

The Lord bless thee, and keep thee:

The Lord make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee:

The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.

When WE turn ourselves toward God we will see His Glory and it will appear that His face is shining like the Sun. We cannot see the sun in the sky if our faces are not looking toward it; we may see what the sun illumines and it enables us to see what is around us but we do not see the Sun. And the Face of God, is as the sun in the sky, but even more so, an eternal Being without end. It may seem foolish even to pray that He "cause his face to shine" upon us as it is only when we turn to Him, will we see the Light of God's Truth and Love.

In Verse 2

We ask the God of Hosts, in verse 14 of the Psalm, to look down upon us and see...

14 Return, we beseech thee, O God of hosts: 

look down from heaven, and behold, and visit this vine;

And I wrote it in keeping with the sheep/shepherd theme rather than the imagery of the vine and Vinedresser. He looks over all His creation. 

In Verse 3

We ask in verse 3, that "turn us again O Lord to see the Son of man, You've raised". A prayer that we may be able to SEE God's salvation in Yeshua and to call upon God in Yeshua's name and be saved. 

17 Let thy hand be upon the man of thy right hand, 

upon the son of man whom thou madest strong for thyself.

18 So will not we go back from thee: quicken us, 

and we will call upon thy name.

The chorus poured out of our me into intimate prayer. Unpretentious, with a throbbing heart, streaming tears, and a yearning soul, I cried out. We NEED to acquire and apply all that God has given to us; if we have not yet received it. The Word of God. Yeshua. Grace. As you listen to the chorus, you may hear my heart. My plea. Please accept this prayer for yourself. God is gracious and wants you to feel the same intimacy, strength, power, grace, mercy, and love with which He so graciously provided for us all through Yeshua...

Chorus:

We need your strength, we need your power

We need your grace, each day every hour

We need your mercy, we need Your love

O Shepherd of Israel

Thank you for allowing me to study the Word of God with you today. 

Your sister in Messiah,

Denise

Our Prayer:

Thank you Abba for continuing to draw us to Yourself, for giving us Your Word and Yeshua, our Messiah to teach us Your Ways. Thank you for enabling Voice of the Shepherd to continue with the labor of love that you have entrusted us to complete and we pray that You alone receive all the honor and glory for each song, each word, and each thought shared upon this blog, Facebook page, and Website.  Give us a heart of wisdom to hear your voice, and glorify Your Holy Word and message through each song through Your favor and grace. Continue to bless the work of our hands, hearts, minds and words and bring to fulfillment all that you have given us to do in these days. We give You our hearts brimming over with thanks for all that You have done and all that You will continue to do in and through this very unique and wonderful group whom You have joined together for Your Glory.

You alone deserve all the Glory, Honor and Praise...

Bashem Yeshua, Amein.