As I was riding train this morning, commuting to work (praying about the London train bombings, among other things…) I confused me. (Reba, Cris and others understand this is a common occurrence for someone who regularly “kills himself” with his foolish jokes…)
I asked the Lord to walk with me in one breath, and in the next breath I asked for strength to walk with the Lord.
Bear with me, here:
Much of my early rearing was on a west Texas ranch, and the very first wages I ever earned were as a ‘cowboy’. A cowboy knows two kinds of “herding”: ‘Day herding’ and ‘roundup’. Day herding takes place when new cattle are introduced to the ranch. They are always restless and have a tendency to roam fence lines rather than relaxing and becoming acquainted with their new surroundings. “Day herding” is the act of sitting on your horse and keeping the cattle from moving so they will become calm and used to their surroundings. Roundup is the opposite of day herding. It is the act of rousting the cattle and moving them from one place to another for their own good (giving them medicine, moving them to better grass and water, etc.)
The Lord is our Shepherd (cowboy). Sometimes he ‘day herds’ (walks with us) and sometimes he does a ‘roundup’ (we must walk with Him).
How do we know when to pray for which? On the surface they sound almost the same – but in practice, they are almost opposite. How do we know when to recognize Jesus’ intent to let us rest in Him as opposed to when the Lord intends for us to move under His direction? I would expect to find some of these answers in Proverbs, Ecclesiastes or Psalms; but a short search revealed nothing that REALLY jumped out at me.
The Lord is our Shepherd (cowboy). Sometimes he ‘day herds’ (walks with us) and sometimes he does a ‘roundup’ (we must walk with Him).God daily leads our spirit through His Spirit in our daily walk. We are able to throw off temptation and our soul's restlessness as strangers in this world hoping to go home to be with the Lord. He walks with us.
We are rounded up in that call of hope and faith to go home when we submit to His will and die/slaughter ourselves to sin to rise up in newness of life to live unto Him within greener pastures. We walk with Him.
I am not sure a Christian needs to pray that He walk with us as that is a given when we come into Christ. It is always happening with the faithful.
However our walk with Him can go amiss. So we pray that we have wisdom and understanding in His Spirit that our walk with Him always be found in the strength and Spirit of His word according to His will not ours.
In His love,
ollie
