Rest with the Shepherd

Prayer: Awesome God, may Your name be exalted in my heart and on my lips today. May Your love pour through me onto others, that the world may know You are God. Use this time in study and prayer to correct my thinking, align my will with Yours, and bring glory to Your name. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.

Read: Psalm 23:1-6
http://www.esvbible.org/Psalm 23:1-6

Think about It: One of the most oft read passages of the Bible is Psalm 23. Even those who don’t really walk in the Christian faith have probably heard it somewhere in their lives. There is a reason this short 6 verse Psalm is a favorite – it is perfect in its composition, its imagery, and its message. Many of those reading this devotional probably didn’t even have to go and look up the reading for today as you already have it deeply embedded in your memory!     It is a gift to be immediately soaked in the Scripture when the words of this psalm pour through a troubled mind.

While entire books have been written about these six verses we will settle today on examining the place of rest for the weary in the message of this Psalm. No aspect of our lives is left untouched in terms of resting in the Lord in these words.
  • The psalm begins and ends with spiritual restfulness. With the Lord as my protector and provider, dwelling with Him I can relax and worry over nothing. (vs. 1 & 6)
  • The Shepherd provides physical restfulness; a place to rest, food to eat, water to drink. (vs. 2)
  • The Shepherd gives intellectual restfulness. If I follow Him, He will lead me on the correct path. I need never wonder which is the right way to go, for He is always there leading me along the way. (vs. 3)
  • Emotional restfulness is mine as the Shepherd calms all my fears. He provides comfort and strength when I am in emotional pain. (vs. 4)
  • The Shepherd even provides social restfulness as I interact with others (even my enemies) in peace and assurance that He is there within those relationships. (vs. 5)
     What more could we need? Sheep are interesting creatures. They are not very bright (as farm animals go), they tend to wander off, they are easily     frightened and when they get lost or into trouble, they cannot save themselves. Of course we can honestly say that all of those characteristics can apply to us at different times as well. Knowing this about us, God sent the perfect Shepherd to care for His flock. While the sheep display the less than desirable characteristics above, the Shepherd is strong, capable, loving, gentle, kind, and will sacrifice all for His sheep. No wonder we love this Psalm!

Prayer: “To You, O Lord, I call; my Rock. Hear the voice of my pleas for    mercy, when I cry to You for help, when I lift up my hands toward Your most holy sanctuary. Blessed be the Lord! For He has heard the voice of my pleas for mercy. The Lord is my strength and my shield; in Him my heart trusts, and I am helped; my heart exults, and with my song I give thanks to Him. The Lord is the strength of His people; He is the saving refuge of His anointed. Oh, save Your people and bless Your heritage! Be our Shepherd and carry us forever. [Psalm 28 selected verse]

My thanks to Marva Dawn for the ideas about restfulness in Psalm 23.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

יהוה שָׁמַר--Yahweh Shamar (God Watches)

Image
Psalm 121 1 I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? 2 My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. 3 He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber. 4 Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. 5 The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade on your right hand. 6 The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. 7 The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life. 8 The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore. There are numerous passages I cling to when stress takes over my life. I would be hard pressed to declare a favorite, but this psalm would come close. So this morning I listened to Psalm 121 about 20 times as I meditated through the verses. First, I want to point out that the word or idea of shamar appears in every verse expect 6. The NIV uses the word "watch" while the ESV uses "keep". The...
Read more

Excusez-moi

Image
2 Kings 23:31-37 31 Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. 32 And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his fathers had done. 33 And Pharaoh Neco put him in bonds at Riblah in the land of Hamath, that he might not reign in Jerusalem, and laid on the land a tribute of a hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold. 34 And Pharaoh Neco made Eliakim the son of Josiah king in the place of Josiah his father, and changed his name to Jehoiakim. But he took Jehoahaz away, and he came to Egypt and died there. 35 And Jehoiakim gave the silver and the gold to Pharaoh, but he taxed the land to give the money according to the command of Pharaoh. He exacted the silver and the gold of the people of the land, from everyone according to his assessment, to give it to Pharaoh Neco. 36 Jehoiakim was twenty-fiv...
Read more

Narrow Door

Image
Luke 13:22-30 22 He went on his way through towns and villages, teaching and journeying toward Jerusalem. 23 And someone said to him, “Lord, will those who are saved be few?” And he said to them , 24 “Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. 25 When once the master of the house has risen and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, open to us,’ then he will answer you, ‘I do not know where you come from.’ 26 Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.’ 27 But he will say, ‘I tell you, I do not know where you come from. Depart from me, all you workers of evil!’ 28 In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God but you yourselves cast out. 29 And people will come from east and west, and from north and south, and recline at tabl...
Read more