*******
A gnawing sense of Inadequacy
is a daunting shroud that weighs upon a pastor’s ministry either paralyzing him
into inaction or firing up nervous feet that send him running away from the
pain and people he should be running toward.
“If only I could be more self-confident,” a pastor whispers to himself.
No. Psalm 23
reminds us that self-confidence is
not what we need; God-confidence is
what we need—confidence in “the Lord … with me … forever.” Psalm 23 reminds us that our Shepherd Lord gives
us everything we need in any situation when we lean into him. His rod and staff, they comfort us. If we need wisdom, God will give it. If we need courage, God will give it. If we need compassion, God will give it. If we need words, God will give them. It is important that we pastors prepare
ourselves and equip ourselves for the broad and demanding nature of our work,
but no pastor can be prepared for everything.
We don’t have to be—because we are not alone when we enter these
situations. Our Shepherd Lord is with
us. Experience breeds confidence. Pastoral seasoning breeds confidence. Training breeds confidence. But nothing breeds more confidence in me than
knowing my Shepherd Lord is leading me, is with me, and will be faithful to me
all the way to the end as I depend on him.
In fact, this dependence on our Shepherd Lord can keep us
from trying to play God, from trying to fix people or manage their lives in our
feeble wisdom. I have done my worst work
when I have tried to fix people: “Listen to me.
Do this. Don’t do that.” Some people get helped, but most folks get
frustrated because they either cannot or will not follow the counsel, and I get
frustrated because they don’t take my “wise” advice. (I sometimes wonder how many people I’ve
messed up along the way.) I do my best
work when I point them not to myself but to the one true Shepherd Lord and his
wisdom and resources. If I can get their
hands into the hand of Jesus, if I can get them wrestling their issues out in
prayer and Scripture, he can lead them to green pastures, still waters, down
righteous paths, and through the dark valley to a better place and a brighter
day. He can restore their soul. He can get them all the way home. I can’t.
The Lord can.
Early in my ministry, an older minister told me that I
would be called upon to enter a lot of situations that are way over my head,
situations where I would not know what to do.
He said, “You don’t have to know what to do, but you need to act like you do.” This is a “fake it till you make it” approach
to pastoral care. It worked pretty well
for me early in my ministry. But it did
not take too many years for me to realize I do not always have to know what to
do, because Jesus knows what to do. I
have to know Jesus. I have to trust my
Shepherd Lord. And when I find my confidence
in him rather than in myself, he has a way of showing up and doing his thing in
spite of my shortcomings. That is my
great hope as a 23rd pastor.
*******
I encourage you to get your copy on Kindle or in paperback at Amazon.com. Thanks!
Dear John,
ReplyDeleteI need your help. I work for the Follett Corporation and we fulfill orders for different universities. Our of our schools, Williams Baptist University, wants to use your book for the Fall 2020 courses. How do we purchase the book, The 23rd Pastor, from you? We cannot buy it off of Amazon. In the past, we get your permission to send you some new vendor paperwork to fill out unless you are already in our system. The link to the university is https://www.bkstr.com/wbustore/home
My business email is lknudson@follett.com so please reach out and tell me how we can purchase this amazing book.
Laura Knudson