September 1, 2012
He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. - Psalm 23: 2 (NKJV)
Continuing with uncovering the truths within Psalm 23, we discover more of the awesome promises of God in verse two. Once again there are two things for us to consider. The first being that God will make us to lie down in green pastures. I find the picture David is painting here to be very interesting. Not that God suggests we lie down in green pastures. Not that He offers us the opportunity to. No beloved -- He makes us to lie down in green pastures. The reality is that sometimes the Shepherd needs to remind the sheep it is time to rest. It is time to stop. We live in a world that is all about hustle and bustle. People are working harder and longer. We seek to fill up our lives with such busyness and clamor that sometimes it is hard for God to get our attention. The Lord becomes something else we have pencil into our appointment book! The church itself fosters this as well. We find ourselves serving in ministries, possibly multiple ministries. Church itself can become part of a routine instead of a sanctuary. It can become a place to punch a time clock for God instead of a place to encounter God. Going to church without expecting to encounter the living God is like going to a ball game and praying for rain - what's the point?
God shows us these two sides of ourselves in the great story about visiting the home of Mary and Martha. Martha is busy preparing everything. No doubt she is busying herself with all the cooking and cleaning necessary. Martha represents our ministry -- our service unto the Lord. Martha is very much needed. Without Martha nothing gets done. Mary however is sitting at the feet of Jesus listening to Him. Mary represents our walk with the Lord. She represents our personal devotional time. Our prayer time. The story is brief but Martha gets upset that Mary is not helping and asks Jesus to tell her to help. Here is the response of the Lord:
But the Lord said to her, "My dear Martha, you are worried and upset over all these details! There is only one thing worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered it, and it will not be taken away from her." -- Luke 10: 41-42 (NLT)
We need to be careful to never allow the details of Christianity distance us from the Christ. Too often in our walks our inner Martha is killing our inner Mary. The first part of the key verse here is reminding us that at some point God will make us to lie down in green pastures. Pastures that are peaceful and away from the busyness we fill our lives with. Pastures that are green indicating filled with life and growth so that we can recharge our spiritual batteries. I remember having to preach at a Men's Conference one year and being pretty busy in my life at that time. I was scheduled to then attend the two days worth of seminars from the district after I had preached to the men from my church. I recall feeling like I was coming down with a cold. I prayed to get through the sermon (no one likes a sneezy preacher). Once that sermon was over though God shut me down the rest of the weekend. It was just Him and me and Nyquil. Sometimes, we need God to step into our Martha and drag our Mary out from hiding.
The second half of the key verse is that God will lead us besides the still waters. The waters of the world are rough and turbulent. We all can testify I am sure to the storms of life. They can be violent and unforgiving. Unlike the first portion of the key verse however, God does not always make us to lie down. Sometimes He requires us to follow Him. This portion says that he LEADS us by the still waters. The truth is that sometimes we do not do a very good job of following our Shepherd. The storms intensify and the waters start to wise and we plunge deeper into them. We seek out the solutions of this world and find ourselves going deeper and deeper into the storm. God does not want us following our intuition or any man-based logic. He wants us following Him. He is always willing to lead us but we have to be willing to be fully submitted to His headship. The Apostle Paul teaches us:
Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God's peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me--everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you. -- Philippians 4: 6-9 (NLT)
The great recipe for peace -- still waters in our lives. The peace God can provide for us is not fleeting like what the world sells. It actually beyond what we can possibly understand within our finite minds! The still waters do not have as much as a ripple in them. When the storms of life come against us the question today is what are we fixing our thoughts on? Peter saw the waves rise and he took his eyes off of Jesus. The result is he started to sink in the circumstances surrounding him. When we find ourselves caught in a rip tide most people will drown trying to fight against the tide. We waste our energy fighting the current which we are not strong enough to overcome. When we find our lives caught in the rip tide of this world we need to stop the struggling against it. Recognize that we do not have the power within ourselves to overcome it. Look back to Jesus and follow Him. He will lead us by the still waters our soul is so desperately seeking. The truth is that God is the green pastures we need to rest in. He is the still waters our soul desires. Go to Him today.
Rev. Anthony
