Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.
If you go to the doctor because you sense that something is wrong, you want your doctor to tell you the truth. A doctor who avoids telling you the truth because it might hurt your feelings doesn’t put you on the road to recovery.
If this is true for medical doctors, isn’t it more important for soul doctors? After all, even the best doctors cannot keep your physical body alive forever, but your soul will live eternally.
If God has given you His Word to share, He says, “I will make My words fire in your mouth” (Jeremiah 5:14). Deliver that painful—but absolutely vital—diagnosis to help people recover from the ravages of their sin.
To soften the words, to water-down the medicine for the sake of people’s feeling or for the desire to be liked by people, is to become a quack, a false prophet. God says of these charlatans, “They dress the wound of My people as though it were not serious. ‘Peace, peace,’ they say, when there is no peace” (Jeremiah 6:14, 8:11).
Then God says,
The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests exercise rule at their own hands and by means of the prophets. And My people love to have it so! But what will you do when the end comes? (Jeremiah 5:31)
The healing word is often a hard word. It might even be considered by those plagued by the ravages of sin to be a harsh and painful word. But the only path to healing is the medicine found in God’s Word—the healing balm that comes from exposing my sin, repenting of my sin, and finally enjoying the healing of God’s forgiveness.
We must always speak the truthful healing word in love because eternity is at stake!
Psychologists call it “projection” when I see so quickly in others what’s really in myself.
If I see sin in others, my first response would be to hit my knees and ask the Holy Spirit to search me to point out the same sin in myself.
It’s only after confessing my sin and receiving God’s complete forgiveness that I am equipped with the empathy and mercy to help someone else find the same freedom I have found.
Lord, may I be more sensitive to the sin in my life than I am aware of the sin in the world.
Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.
Our Royal Psalms take us from King David to King Jesus. David went from the anointed king on the run from King Saul, to being king over Judah (2 Samuel 2:4), to being king over “all the tribes” (2 Samuel 5:1-3; 8:15).
David’s kingdom stretched far and wide (1 Chronicles 22:14-16; 29:10-13). This absolute control King David now wields over every nation surrounding Israel puts fear into the hearts of Israel’s enemies. Fear of David brings freedom for the people of his kingdom.
As the Sons of Korah think about this fear that brings them freedom, they look beyond their earthly king to the King of Heaven and compose this Royal Psalm recorded in Psalm 47. This psalm has majestic terminology for God in almost every verse; including, Lord Most High, great King over all the earth (vv. 2, 7, 9), God reigns over the nations; and God is seated on His holy throne.
I’m especially intrigued by the word awesome in verse 2. The KJV says “the Lord Most High is terrible” because it does take two Hebrew words to give us the full definition of awesome. First, “Most High” is best thought of with the suffix -est: greatest, highest, noblest. In other words, there is nothing above Him. Then “terrible” is to be held in awe, to be honored, to be reverenced.
Just as the Israelites had no fear of enemies because David was on the throne, God says the same thing to us: Because the Most High is on the throne, His people have no fear of their enemies.
When we fear God we need not fear anything else.
When we fear God:
…we hate our own sin (Psalm 36:1-3)
…we love His mercy that forgives our sin (Psalm 103:2-3, 10-12)
…we hate sin in the world (2 Timothy 2:26)
…we love sinners (2 Timothy 2:24-26; Acts 10:38; Jude 20-23)
…we hate the darkness that traps people (2 Corinthians 4:4)
…we love shining the light of King Jesus (Philippians 2:15-16)
…we hate this life (John 12:25)
…we love eternal life (Romans 3:23-24, 8:18)
When the people of Israel reverenced David as their king, they would be able to know his blessings. When we fear our awesome God, we will also receive His blessings. Take a look at the amazing blessings Jesus Himself—the King of kings—lists for those who reverence His awesome Kingship (Revelation 2:7, 11, 17, 26-28; 3:5, 11-12, 21)!
God is awesome and asks us to reverence Him and then enjoy life in His freedom.
Leaders would do well to remember that they lead a group of unique individuals. Let the unique gifts of those unique people be used in unique ways, and watch both the individuals and the organization grow!
“As Tyler Cowen wrote in The Free Press, ‘Whether or not you work in the AI sector, if you put any kind of content on the internet, or perhaps in a book, you are likely helping to train, educate, and yes, morally instruct the next generation of what will be this planet’s smartest entities. You are making them more like you—for better or worse.’ Now, maybe someone thinks, ‘I’ve hardly got any followers, who cares what I post? It probably won’t matter.’ But the principle means we should care. The philosopher Immanuel Kant famously offered his ‘categorical imperative’ as a test for ethical decisions: ‘Act only according to that maxim whereby you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law.’ In other words, we should only do what we think would be good for everyone to do.” —Axis.org
How much good inside a day?
Depends how good you live ’em.
How much love inside a friend?
Depends how much you give ’em. —Shel Silverstein
A fantastic mini-biography of Otto J. Klink who went from being a Christian, to an atheist socialist, to failed presidential assassin, to a Pentecostal author and evangelist. Wow!
“My acceptance of the universe is not optimism, it is more like patriotism. It is a matter of primary loyalty. The world is not a lodging-house at Brighton, which we are to leave because it is miserable. It is the fortress of our family, with the flag flying on the turret, and the more miserable it is the less we should leave it. The point is not that this world is too sad to love or too glad not to love; the point is that when you do love a thing, its gladness is a reason for loving it, and its sadness a reason for loving it more.” —G.K. Chesterton
Marshall Segal said this about our daily Bible reading time, “I want to walk through a five-step prayer you could pray when you sit down with your Bible to meet with God. The five steps are built on an acronym for FEAST. Focus my mind; Enlighten my eyes; Address my sin; Satisfy my soul; Train my hands.”
“A man of character will make himself worthy of any position he is given.” —Mahatma Gandhi
“A retentive memory may be a good thing, but the ability to forget is the true token of greatness. Successful people forget. They know the past is irrevocable. They’re running a race. They can’t afford to look behind. Their eye is on the finish line. Magnanimous people forget. They’re too big to let little things disturb them. They forget easily. If anyone does them wrong, they consider the source and keep cool. It’s only the small people who cherish revenge. Be a good forgetter. Business dictates it, and success demands it.” —Elbert Hubbard
“Leadership is not about being in charge, but about taking care of the people in your charge.” —Simon Sinek
Flowing Data has a fascinating look at how people spend their time during the day. Their adjustable chart shows activities by age, sex, and time of day. It reminds me of a blog post I shared about time management, where I noted, “You cannot add more Tick, Tocking! time to your day, but you can keep more of your day from Drip, Dropping! away.”
“We might think, ‘Well, hey, if I’m devoting myself all the time to looking out for others’ needs, who’s going to be looking out for mine?’ The Lord, of course, because He knows what you need even before you ask Him, and He has ways of meeting your needs that are more wonderful than you in your cleverness or strength could ever conjure or provide (cf. Matthew 6:25-34).” —T.M. Moore
“We all know that exercise makes us feel better, but most of us have no idea why. We assume it’s because we’re burning off stress or reducing muscle tension or boosting endorphins, and we leave it at that. But the real reason we feel so good when we get our blood pumping is that it makes the brain function at its best, and in my view, this benefit of physical activity is far more important—and fascinating—than what it does for the body. Building muscles and conditioning the heart and lungs are essentially side effects. I often tell my patients that the point of exercise is to build and condition the brain.” —Dr. John Ratey
T.M. Moore has a hard but good word for Christians: “If this day, and this expectation and hope [when we heard King Jesus say, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant’], are not the driving force for every aspect of our lives and work, then it is doubtful we have really understood the Good News of the Kingdom or received the salvation freely offered to us by the King. I say this again: If we are not motivated and driven, day by day, by the prospect of hearing ‘Well done, good and faithful servant,’ then we need to examine ourselves, whether we truly know the Lord of glory. That’s pretty hard language, I know, but let’s face the reality: If we have not submitted to Jesus as Lord of every area of our life, all the work we’ve been given to do, then we are still living for ourselves, not Him.” —T.M. Moore
Since both of these prayers are in the Bible, both of them have their place in our healing from the bites we have received from others, but the intercessory prayers are the ones we need to strive to pray.
Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.
You may have noticed that the intensity of the pain of these sheep bites has been escalating—from flattery, to criticism, to gossip. Now we come to probably the most painful of bites: slander. This is the bite that will have the strongest pull toward the natural response, which will require our greatest reliance on the Holy Spirit to respond supernaturally.
Remember that gossip has a veneer of truth on it; slander has no truth at all. They are outright lies. They are flimsy lies. They are malicious lies. One of the Hebrew words translated slander means scandal-monger: someone who trades in lies (Jeremiah 6:28 NLT; Leviticus 19:16).
The natural response to slander is, “I have to respond to them!” The supernatural response to slander is, “I have to yield to God!”
The natural response, however, is fueled by my wounded pride. On the other hand, the supernatural response is fueled by humility toward God.
Slanderers are arrogant people too (remember Jeremiah said “they are as hard as bronze and iron” [Jeremiah 6:28]). God’s people are learning to humble themselves to wait for God (Psalm 38:12-15). These humble people are the ones who get God’s help, and not His laughter (James 4:6; Proverbs 3:34 NLT).
Look at how Jesus dealt with the very natural urge to respond to those who slandered Him. After Jesus was arrested by the temple guards, He was hauled before one group after another and each time the slanderous lies were spitefully spit at Him. In front of the Sanhedrin, before Roman governor Pontius Pilate, and in the throne room of King Herod Antipas, angry men unleashed their venomous claims—none of which were true.
There are two common themes we can notice in all of these settings.
The lies were seen for what they were: complete fabrications without any truth behind them—Mark 14:55. Governor Pilate said “I find no basis for a charge against Him” (Luke 23:4), and he added, “Herod came to the same conclusion and sent Him back to us” (v. 15).
The silence of Jesus: “Jesus remained silent and gave no answer” (Matthew 27:13-14; Mark 14:61, 15:5). The only red letters in this interaction with both the Sanhedrin and Pilate are when Jesus is asked a direct question. Jesus quickly answers the questions, “Are You the Messiah,” “Are You a King,” and “Don’t You know the power I have?” (Mark 14:61, 15:2; John 19:10), but He never responds to the slander.
Let me repeat: Our supernatural response can only come from yielding to the Holy Spirit’s influence.
We cannot treat slanderers as anything less than people created in the image of God (Genesis 1:27; Psalm 15:1, 3).
We must take our pain into God’s presence. This is what Jesus did (1 Peter 2:21-23). We can help ourselves by praying imprecatory prayers. These are words for God’s ears only (Jude 1:9; Psalm 58:6-8).
We have to learn to pray for our slanderers. We have to mature from praying against them to praying for them. Look at how Jesus interceded for His slanderers (Luke 23:34), which He calls us to as well (Luke 6:28).
We have to live as overcomers. We overcome by NOT responding to slander in the natural way (Romans 12:21). But we allow our supernatural response to be used as a powerful testimony (2 Corinthians 6:3-10; Colossians 3:1-2, 8, 12-14).
We can do this—the Holy Spirit is empowering us to do this. Let’s not get down in the mud with those who slander us, but let’s yield to God and allow Him to handle this painful situation far better than we ever could.
If you’ve missed any of the messages in this series, you can find them all here. And if you are a pastor, please check out my book When Sheep Bite, which will help you both respond to sheep bites and teach others how to respond as well.
Remember not the sins (the lapses and frailties) of my youth or my transgressions; according to Your mercy and steadfast love remember me, for Your goodness’ sake, O Lord. … The troubles of my heart are multiplied; bring me out of my distresses. Behold my affliction and my pain and forgive all my sins of thinking and doing. Consider my enemies, for they abound; they hate me with cruel hatred. (Psalm 25:7, 17-19 AMPC)
In this prayer, it appears that David’s enemies are his own accusing thoughts brought on by his sinfulness.
The way to vanquish the internal enemies that accuse and torment us is to bring our “sins of thinking and doing” into the light of our Savior’s presence—only there will we be freed from those enemies.
Leaders are needed for tough times. “Doing difficult creates natural separation” for your leadership, says Eric Thomas. Check out this full conversation from The Craig and Greg Show.
“Busier than a businessman, more sought out than a celebrity, wanted as a mother of many toddlers, and bearing a task as big as the world, Jesus prayed.” Check out Scott Hubbard’s post Never Too Busy To Pray.
“This is certain, that a man that studieth revenge keeps his wounds green, which otherwise would heal and do well.” —Sir Francis Bacon
“Do not have your concert first, and then tune your instrument afterwards. Begin the day with the Word of God and prayer, and get first of all into harmony with Him.” —Hudson Taylor
There are almost 12,000 species of snakes and lizards, but evolutionists still do not know where they came from. Vertebrate paleontologist Michael Benton stated, “The early history of squamates [snakes, lizards] is patchy,” and the debate of snake origin “is far from resolved.” ICR offers the most straightforward solution to this supposed evolutionary dilemma: “snakes and lizards have been created with the genetic ability to undergo “remarkably varied jaw shapes” that have led to “their extraordinary ecological success” as they move in and fill various niches.”
Seth Porch, in talking about the joy of daily reading the Bible, notes, “By itself, neither habit, shame, nor duty will lead you to open God’s word daily with a heart posture of humble expectation and joy. Such an attitude toward the Bible comes only from the astonished realization that in these pages God actually speaks.” I hope you find the joy in reading God’s Word throughout this new year. I love my YouVersion reading plans that take me through the Bible. You may also like the companion book by Dick Brogden called Missionary God, Missionary Bible. And I shared some Bible studies that may interest you here and here.
So if when you are offering your gift at the altar you there remember that your brother has any [grievance] against you, leave your gift at the altar and go. First make peace with your brother, and then come back and present your gift. (Matthew 5:23-24 AMPC)
If someone has something against you, you must take the initiative to make it right. We cannot brush it off with, “I didn’t do anything wrong” or “That’s their problem,” but we must be proactive peacemakers.
It could be that our restorative action will allow the other person to enter into worship in a way they were unable to before you reached out to them.
Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.
When a shepherd leader is bitten by a sheep under their care, it’s quite natural to say, “What’s wrong with them?” Let me highlight that word: natural.
In my book When Sheep Bite, I contrast the natural response with the supernatural response. It takes a lot of work because “natural” comes just so, well, naturally. But to respond supernaturally is going to take some re-training.
We need to be able to reflect after we’ve interacted with a biting sheep. If we reacted in an inappropriate way, we need to ask forgiveness and attempt to make things right. Then we need to engage in some Holy Spirit-led introspection to switch the natural question of, “What’s wrong with them” to the supernaturally-led question, “What can I change in myself?”
In a recent interview with Karl Vaters on his Church Lobby Podcast, we talked a bit about this topic.
One chapter in my book is titled ‘Is God Trying to Get My Attention?’ Here’s an excerpt—
Pain always takes priority. It always gets our attention and demands to be attended to immediately. We don’t schedule painful things on our daily “To Do” list, but that painful item will become the one and only thing which clamors to be addressed.
The same thing is true when the sheep bite and kick their shepherd. It hurts, it demands an immediate response, and it seems to become the only item on our agenda. But I would like to advocate that we don’t respond immediately. Why? Because our primal, gut-level response is almost always very shortsighted, and frequently, upon reflection, we later end up second-guessing what we said or did.
I believe there is also a more important reason we need to delay our response to those slights: We need to make sure the bites we receive are not God’s attempt to get our attention for being dull in our shepherding. God told Jeremiah, “For the shepherds have become dull-hearted, and have not sought the Lord” (Jeremiah 10:21 NKJV). As a result, God had to send something painful to those religious leaders to make them aware of the dullness that had set in.
I conclude this chapter with a prayer for shepherds who have been bitten—
Father, Your sheep continued to wallow in the unhealthy habit of biting the hand that fed them and cared for them. In Your perfect love, You knew just how to discipline them, always with a heart of drawing these wayward sheep back to You. I ask You to please cultivate this loving heart in me.
Jesus, even as You were nailed to the Cross by the very sheep You came to save, You didn’t lash out in anger but lovingly prayed, “Father, forgive them for they don’t know what they are doing.” You know how much it hurts when my loving shepherding of these flock under my care is repaid with bites and kicks and abandonment. Jesus, help me to learn to respond in loving forgiveness as You did.
Holy Spirit, as David prayed, so I pray, “Search me.” As I do, please show me where my words, actions, or attitudes have rubbed the sheep under my care the wrong way and prompted them to lash out. Help me to repent, forgive, and ask forgiveness. Even if the attack was unprovoked by anything I have done, my heart’s desire is for none to be lost so please help me learn how to bring about restoration.
I pray this in the name of my Good Shepherd, Jesus. Amen.
To find out more about When Sheep Bite, or to pick up a copy for yourself, please click here.
If you go to the doctor because you sense that something is wrong, you want your doctor to tell you the truth. A doctor who avoids telling you the truth because it might hurt your feelings doesn’t put you on the road to recovery. 
![Joshua 3.5 and Psalm 19.12 [commentary]](https://i0.wp.com/craigtowens.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/joshua-3.5-and-psalm-19.12-commentary.jpg?w=386&h=386&crop=1&ssl=1 "Joshua 3.5 and Psalm 19.12 [commentary]")
Craig T. Owens 