Wanted: Travelling Gas Station

Isaiah 54:11 O afflicted one, storm-tossed and not comforted, behold, I will set your stones in antimony and lay your foundations with sapphires. (ESV)

The yellow light on my dashboard glares accusingly at me.  "You never fill me up until I'm running on fumes," I imagine my engine mouthing off.  My engine is right.

I didn't learn my lesson when I ran out of gas on the interstate in college.  I didn't learn my lesson when I was a single mom and kept praying my way into the station. I still haven't reformed by behavior entirely but at least now I do pull into a station as soon as the dummy light appears.  Why do I wait until I'm running on fumes to pull into the gas station?  The excuse I use is inconvenience.  I think I don't have time to pull off the road and find a station.  Someone needs to invent a travelling one that fills up your tank on the go.  Just sayin'...

Today's passage is Psalm 23.  I allow the familiar words to wash over me.  The Lord is my shepherd.  I shall not be in want.  He makes me lie down in green pastures.  He leads me beside quiet waters.  He restores my soul.  Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil...

Before my mother-in-law's surgery in Spring 2009 my husband whispered these words into her ear.  I've sat in many funerals and witnessed these words bring hope and healing to the grieving.  This passage is one we turn to when we need God most.

In this passage God portrays Himself as our shepherd.  While we cling to this passage in times of crisis, a shepherd is with his sheep in every season.  He guides the flock to water.  He watches over them at night.  He fends off predators and danger.

God is ever present waiting to fill my tank.  Why then do I sometimes only stop in for a nibble of grass when I'm nearly empty.  The shepherd's presence is so soothing to a sheep, I ought to stop in at regular intervals to "top off the tank".

Perhaps this is what Paul meant when he admonished us to pray continually (1 Thessalonians 5:17).  He knew we needed constant contact with the Shepherd to keep our dashboard lights from going off at the most inopportune moment.

Jesus, You are the foundation.  I run on empty and get tossed about when I stray from the side of my Shepherd.  Your filling station is never out of my way.  You travel with me.  I shall not want.