Читать книгу The Divine Conspiracy Continued: Fulfilling God’s Kingdom on Earth - Dallas Willard, Dallas Willard - Страница 13

The sheep of the flock are at peace, never lacking or left wanting any good thing. Why? Because they know their shepherd can be trusted to provide all that they need. Fear is gone, needs satisfied, peace abounds.

In a consumer-driven society where newer and greater desires are both created and fed by increasingly clever advertisers and suppliers, it would do our own souls well, and by implication benefit our societies immensely, to meditate deeply on what our personal and social lives might be like if we were to experience the total absence of superficial want. Can we envision being free of want? Can we conceive of a place where the question, “How much is enough?” is thought as absurd as the answer, “A little bit more”?

What the Good Shepherd provides is of inestimable value and eternal quality, of the type whose value moths and rust can’t diminish (Matt. 16:9). The Good Shepherd provides an understanding of what is essential and what is tertiary, what real needs are compared to artificial desires. What kinds of economies would we have today if we focused on essential needs first? How much debt would we incur if we realized our sufficiency and abundance in Christ? These are but a few of the key questions Psalm 23 brings to the fore.

He makes me lie down in green pastures;

he leads me beside still waters; he restores my soul.

Living under the care of the Shepherd provides a state of rest, or shalom, which involves plenteousness and brings restoration at the deep wellspring of our lives. Such rich and abiding rest replenishes our entire being or soul. It is the nature of the Good Shepherd to be good and to lead his sheep onto good paths, where what is good can be seen, experienced, demonstrated, and duplicated. These are the right paths and true ways of righteousness.