Psalm 23
The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake. Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.
So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. (Isaiah 41:10)
Thought
This week marks a very exciting week in my garden as the ever present ‘fear of frosts’ should be coming to its end. The weather forecasters are now fairly confident, although they cannot be absolutely certain, that we will not be having any more frosty mornings now until the autumn. This means that all those little, and not so little, plants that I have been carefully growing, first on the windowsills in the house, then in the small portable greenhouse that goes up in the garden and finally into the lovely coldframes that Rob made for me earlier in the year, can go into the ground. Only when the fear of frosts has passed can such tender plants such as marigolds, petunias, beans and courgettes go into the ground without the protection of a covering.
The fear of frosts is a very real one, for if you do plant out your tender plants too early and then a bad frost, like the many that we had during April, hits your garden, all those tender plants which you have so lovingly been looking after can die, and once they are dead there is no way to revive them.
Not knowing if there is going to be a frost or not is what causes the fear. If you knew for certain that we were not going to have any frosts then you could plant out your tender plants without a care; it is the not knowing, the uncertainty of what might happen, that causes the worry.
Many people have fears about the future and worry about what might happen. We are told in the bible not to fear but to put our trust in God who loves us. We do not know what might happen tomorrow or the day after, but we do know that our eternal life is secure and that we are loved by a God greater than we can even imagine. As in the book of Isaiah we too can hear God say to us.
So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
Prayer
Father God, help me to always put my trust in you.
Amen
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