The Lord Is My Shepherd – Part 9

Moby Dick

Competing Commitment

A competing commitment is a hidden commitment that competes with a desire.

• The stated desire is what we think is our true commitment.
• However, the competing commitment is what actually drives our behavior.
• The result is frustration and confusion.
• I truly desire to [fill in the blank] and yet I keep doing [fill in the blank]. Why?

Review of the Parable of the Sower

• The parable of the Sower is really about how God us.
• A shepherd’s job is to lead and feed. God does both with His .

Four Kinds of Soil/Four Kinds of Listeners

• Wayside (Level 1)
• Stony (Level 2)
• Thorny (Level 3)
• Good (Level 4)

The Level 3 Listener

• The Level 3 listener (Thorny Soil):
• Matthew 13:22
  • Anxiety is a sign that there is something fractured in our relationship with God.
  • Many people treat money as a substitute for .
  • Be careful when you can for what you used to for.
  • Your is not yours. (As in, “I’m following purpose”)
  • Your is yours in that it has been assigned to you, but not because you own it.
  • People pursue their own plans erroneously thinking they are following the .(Proverbs 19:21; Proverbs 16:25)

Competing Commitments Are a Form of Double-Mindedness

James 1:5–8

• What you think is an isolated matter is a systematic breakdown in your relationship with God.

The Competing Commitment Remedy

Philippians 4:6–7 

• Substitute worry with .
• When you stop worrying, you will be able to pray with of thought and purity of heart. (James 4:1–3)
• Submitting our cares to the Lord in prayer is a source of peace and a sign that our relationship with God is whole.
• Giving full expression to our need for God is a sign of spiritual , not despair.

Philippians 4:8

• The remedy for anxiety is prayer and Scriptural meditation.
• What does scriptural meditation look like?
• Reading, Talking, Listening, Pondering, Reflecting Day and Night
• God leads us as we meditate on the Word.

Matthew 6:25–34

• Fear is -oriented.
• Fear imagines a future in which God is not
• Faith is -oriented.
• Faith sees who God is and knows that God is than how things are.

© Joshua D. Smith, Ph.D., 2021