The Lord is my Shepherd – Return From Sabbatical 2025
In case we haven’t met, or you forgot, I’m Heath!
I’m very glad to be back with you, being away from my church family is the worst part of sabbatical!
I am very grateful to all of the men who stepped up and shared the Word with our family while I was away. You have no idea how great a blessing it is to know that there are so many great teachers within our family here and so many willing to step out of their comfort zones to preach. I haven’t watched all of your sermons yet but I will be working my way through them over the next few weeks and I may have some questions so be prepared!
I am also very thankful for you, my church family, for extending the gift that a sabbatical is. This was my second sabbatical that I have taken in the last 13 years and to be a part of a church family that embraces the importance this time of ceasing is a very rare gift. I was able to interact with a couple of jealous pastors that have been at it for over twenty years without anything longer than a two-week vacation. I’m surprised they didn’t throw me out!
I want to spend some time reflecting on my time away this morning with you but first let’s pause and ask the Lord’s blessing on our time together.
Let’s pray. (guide us in truth, your Word is truth)
Last week Joel did a wonderful job of explaining what sabbatical is and where we find its roots. So I don’t feel even the slightest nudge to try and further explain it or defend the concept.
I do, however, want to share with you some of the realities of my sabbatical, why I needed it, and what I learned.
I heard somebody say that after my sabbatical that I would come back a new man, but that’s not really true. I am, however, different.
The picture on the screen is an example of the Japanese art of Kintsugi. The philosophy behind this art form is finding beauty in brokenness. The mending process involves piecing the broken fragments of pottery back together and joining them together with lacquer mixed with gold. The repaired piece is not seen as damaged, but as unique and more valuable and beautiful for having been broken.
It reminds me of Isaiah 61:1-3,
The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; 2 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn; 3 to grant to those who mourn in Zion— to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit; that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified.
I know that this prophecy is about Jesus and what His work on the cross accomplished for all those who have faith in Him, but I can’t help but think that the exchange of beauty for ashes has to do with the healing of those who are broken.
And that’s me. I’m broken. But by God’s grace, Jesus is, and has been, in the process of binding up my broken heart that He may be glorified.
In the past year, some things changed that I thought would never change, as most people do.
This next picture is a picture of me and my sister, Heather. She was killed in a car wreck in February. Our relationship was complicated but I never imagined living life without her.
Next is a picture of me and my Uncle Marc (Dave if you’re listening from California). He was more like a brother. We were twins born seventeen years apart… and to different parents, I guess. He died in July of leukemia.
These, along with some other circumstances that I won’t go into, were pillars of my life that I foolishly thought would never be torn down, and the sad reality is that these changes, these losses, shook how I felt about God, about grief, and about my own mental health.
Lots of people have been asking me if I feel rested, and I do. Karole-Ann and I were able to go on a cruise for our anniversary, I got to travel to California and to New York, I got to spend time doing things that fill my cup and I have plans to do more of that in the future. But the truth is, this particular sabbatical was not about rest, at least not mainly. It was about healing.
And that brings me to the lesson.
I’ve been in full-time ministry for twenty-one years, and during that time I have performed over thirty-five funerals. In almost all of those services I have read Psalm 23, the Shepherd’s Psalm.
The words of the Psalm have brought comfort to millions of believers throughout the centuries.
This summer, at my sister’s graveside, for the first time, those words didn’t feel true.
And that’s where the lesson is. It’s the lesson of the first and second commandments.
Exodus 20:1-6 says,
And God spoke all these words, saying, 2 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 3 “You shall have no other gods before me. 4 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 5 You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.
If you’re starting to wonder if maybe my sabbatical should have been a bit longer, this is a jumbled mess… First of all, I don’t disagree with you… But please, bear with me.
What the Father is describing in the first two commandments is Idolatry, putting anyone, or anything in the place of God and worshipping them, allowing a created thing to take the rightful place of the Creator.
I allowed my feelings to take the place of facts, I allowed my feelings to determine what was real. And the simple fact is, I was wrong. The second simple fact is that I am not alone.
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. That’s a fact.
He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
That’s a fact. It doesn’t matter how far away, even absent, I felt like God was He never left, he was still leading me.
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
His rod represents correction and discipline, the lesson I’m trying to share with you know. His staff represents protection, even from ourselves when necessary.
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
The lesson is not that feelings don’t matter, or that we shouldn’t feel anything, but we must always be mindful of the truth and submit our feelings to it.
God felt far away at times, He felt absent, but He wasn’t.
In the dark night of my soul, in the valley of the shadow of death, He was still there with me. That’s a fact, regardless of how I felt.
Here’s some more facts from Isaiah 41:8-10,
But you, Israel, my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, the offspring of Abraham, my friend; you whom I took from the ends of the earth, and called from its farthest corners, saying to you, “You are my servant, I have chosen you and not cast you off”; fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
And finally, Psalm 46.
God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling. There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High. God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved; God will help her when morning dawns. The nations rage, the kingdoms totter; he utters his voice, the earth melts. The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Come, behold the works of the Lord, how he has brought desolations on the earth. He makes wars cease to the end of the earth; he breaks the bow and shatters the spear; he burns the chariots with fire. “Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!” The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.
Amen.
