ASSEMBLIES OF GOD
Greetings from the Assemblies of God Office of Hispanic and Ethnic Relations. These articles are part of our monthly newsletter called Creating Connections. You can subscribe here for the Hispanic Relations version or here for the Ethnic Relations version. God has blessed the Assemblies of God with growing multi-ethnic congregations that reflect and serve the communities and neighborhoods where they are located. It is our prayer that the good news of Jesus Christ and God’s offer of forgiveness of sins and a new life will be shared with everyone who lives in and has come to America from every nation, tribe, people and language. That is how heaven is described in the Bible in Revelation 7:9. Our goal is for our communities to look more like heaven on earth.
The month of June is when we celebrate Father’s Day, so in advance, I want to wish every Father who is watching this video a Happy Father’s Day. May you be blessed with strength, wisdom, and courage as you lead your children and grandchildren. May your life reflect the heart and love of our Heavenly Father and through you may your family and your community be blessed and kept safe from all harm and danger.
I want to share a few thoughts from Psalm 78:70-72. It reads, “He chose David his servant and took him from the sheepfolds; and from following the nursing ewes he brought him to shepherd Jacob his people, Israel his inheritance. With upright heart he shepherded them and guided them with his skillful hand.”
Psalm 78 was a historical Psalm written so that the people of Israel would reflect on their past history and tell the story of God’s unfailing love and mercy to their children and grandchildren. If you read the whole chapter, the story is not pretty. Israel’s history is one of turning their backs on God, becoming corrupt, and chasing after idols. God’s side of the story is one of wrath and judgement, but it doesn’t end there. Because of His covenant promise, God, in His mercy saves the nation from their sin and their enemies, by raising up David, a young shepherd boy to be their king. What caught my attention about this passage is when God chose David to lead His people, it says, “…[He] took him from the sheepfolds; and from following the nursing ewes he brought him to shepherd Jacob his people.” Now most of us know the story of David. When Saul, the king of Israel, became disobedient, God rejected him and told Samuel, the prophet, in I Samuel 16:1, “How long will you grieve over Saul, since I have rejected him from being King over Israel? Fill your horn with oil, and go. I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided for myself a king among his sons”. Note that Scripture says God has provided for himself a king. The word “provide” means “to see ahead”. God found David, or God saw David and what did he see? He saw a shepherd who was caring for his father’s sheep. Most of us know that David was raised to prominence in the eyes of the people in I Samuel 17, when David went to check on his brothers who were in Saul’s army fighting the Philistines and were all paralyzed with fear when challenged to a battle by giant man named Goliath. But God did not choose David because he killed a giant, He chose David because he found him following the nursing ewes. That doesn’t sound too impressive to us, but to God, that was huge and was what he was looking for in a leader. Shepherds have two ways of caring for their flock—they lead or follow them. Psalm 23, which was written by David, describes God as the shepherd who leads him. Psalm 23:2-3 says, “He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name sake.” But there are times that a shepherd does not walk in front of his sheep, he leads from behind. Why does he lead from behind? Because there are seasons when the “ewes” have given birth and the baby lambs are being nursed. The shepherd must slow the pace of the flock, to protect the most vulnerable, the baby lambs. He cannot drive them hard, he must protect them from predators. It’s interesting that when Jacob and Esau were reconciled, Esau said in Genesis 33:12, “‘Let us journey on our way, and I will go ahead of you.’ But Jacob said to him, ‘My lord knows that the children are frail, and that the nursing flocks and herd are a care to me. If they are driven hard for one day; all the flocks will die. Let my lord pass on ahead of his servant, and I will lead on slowly, at the pace of the livestock that are ahead of me and at the pace of the children, until I come to my lord in Seir.’”
Take note of Jacob’s words, “I will lead on slowly…at the pace of the children.” Wow! This is the concept of leadership that God is showing me. David was the kind of shepherd that knew when it was time to lead from behind or leading at the pace of slow. I propose leading at the pace of the most vulnerable in the flock. For pastors and even parents, the most important people in our lives and churches are our children and the new converts to Christ. God chose David because he was a skillful shepherd who knew the value of the baby lambs. Our Western culture is all about speed and efficiency. We are training leaders to get everything done quickly and methodically. But is that God’s pace? Isaiah 40:10-11 says, “Behold, the Lord comes with might, and his arm rules for him; behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him. He will tend his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms; he will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young.” David did not fight and kill Goliath because he wanted to prove something. David was a shepherd with a heart of integrity, and when he saw Goliath threaten God’s people who were trembling like little lambs, David rose up and said, “I will fight him.” Saul says this to David in I Samuel 17:33-35, “‘You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him, for you are but a youth, and he has been a man of war from his youth.’ But David said to Saul, ‘Your servant used to keep sheep for his father. And when there came a lion, or a bear, and took a lamb from the flock, I went after him and struck him and delivered it out of his mouth. And if he rose against me, I caught him by his beard and struck him and killed him.’” That is the heart of a shepherd. No wonder David closed Psalm 23:6 saying, “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”
Pastor, Leader, Dad, or Mom, God is calling us to lead at the pace of our most precious treasure, our children. Right now in America, the children in womb and out of the womb are being preyed upon by an evil, godless, perverse agenda. It’s time to slow down, and it’s time to defend the children. It’s time rise up in prayer to God and raise our voice fearlessly in our culture against this perverse assault upon our babies. God is looking for Davids in 2022! May he find us following the flock!
Dennis Rivera
Director, Hispanic & Ethnic Relations
