“Know that the Lord, he is God. It is he who made us and we are His. We are his people and the sheep of His pasture.”
– Psalm 100
Psalm 100 only has five verses, but they are five awesome verses, just calling us to make a joyful noise to the Lord across all the Earth, to worship Him, to bring Thanksgiving into His gates, praise into His courts to give thanks to Him, to bless His name. What I love though, about the very middle of the psalm, really the heart of the psalm, is the way it talks about us as the people God has made, the people who belong to him, and this psalm describes us as the sheep of His pasture. So this psalm which depicts God and all of His greatness, depicts him as a shepherd and we are His sheep.
Let us pray for military families during these complex times. Lord, comfort them all in the glorious truth that those who are in Christ are the sheep of Your pasture.
Psalm 100, that imagery really sticks out to me when I think about all these different prayer requests that people are sending in, in the middle of this COVID-19 pandemic. As we are just asking people on this podcast to send in just each day specific prayer requests that relate to this pandemic to radical.net/prayerrequest knowing that the things that you are likely struggling with, you’re likely not alone in and so just praying for each other. Let me encourage you to continue to send those in.
This Verse Prays For Military Families To Be Close To God
But I want to read today, especially from Tessa and Nick. So Tessa writes, please pray for our family, especially my children and me, as we ache for my husband in the military who is currently so far across the country. Pray for our transitions between moving and our transition as a family. And then she goes on just a list of specific things for her son, as a big brother again, daughter, a new big sister, for her and her husband as they are parents in a new way, adding a third child in separated, unpredictable months during a long and isolated days. And I love the way Tessa puts this. Please pray that we would find ways to be close to him every single day.
And then Nick writes, I’m a military chaplain in the Navy and I’m seeing firsthand the impact this virus is has having across the board. But one thing that may be overlooked is the separation of families because of this. I have sailors who are moving to their next duty station, their family went ahead of them and now they’re stuck and they can’t get back together. So Tessa and Nick are both expressing a unique challenge during these days for military families.
This Verse Reminds Us That God Is Our Shepard
And that’s why I’m so encouraged when I read Psalm 100, verse three. God is a shepherd to us. We are His or the people of His pasture, which means as our shepherd, He cares for each of us individually. He knows Tessa’s unique needs. God knows her husband’s unique needs, their family’s unique needs during this time is next serves as a military chaplain in the Navy. He’s able to point people to the God who knows the unique challenges, circumstances that they and their families are walking through and so we’re just driven to pray, Oh God, you are our shepherd. You see us, you know every single detail in our lives right now. God, we pray together for Tessa, for her children, and for her husband, as they are separated right now because of her husband’s military service.
We pray that you would do exactly what Tessa has asked, that you would draw them closer to you every single day and that you would give them an extra measure of grace to know how to carry out marriage and to be parents, even of a new child in addition to these other two children. God, we are praying for your blessings on each one of these kids, I don’t know their names, you know their names, God, for this son, this daughter, this new little baby, God, please bless this family during these days. Draw them into deeper intimacy with you as the good shepherd who cares and loves and leads them, who cares for and loves and leads them during these days.
Psalm 100 Prays For Military Families
God, I pray for Nick. We pray together that you would give Nick great grace, wisdom to know how best to point sailors in the Navy to you, to you as the good shepherd. God, we pray that you would use Nick’s service during these days to lead many people to Jesus as the good shepherd, and we pray even in the middle of all that He is doing, we pray for your blessings on him and His family. God, please, for all of these military families who are facing unique challenges during these days, some separated across the world, others separated across the country, others just facing uncertainty and all kinds of other ways.
Psalm 100 Praises God For Being The Good Shepard
God, please, please, please show yourself strong as shepard on behalf of those who know you and please bring many to know you as the good shepherd. Jesus, we praise you as the good shepherd, the great shepherd, who lays down His life for His sheep. Even as this week, we remember the cross especially, and we reflect on you willingly giving your life for us. We have every reason in the world to trust you as our shepherd, and so we say together, all of us now in our hearts, yes, we praise you. Oh God, we are yours. We are your people, the sheep of your pasture, and we are so glad. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
