He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. (ESV)
Psalm 23:2
In verse one of Psalm 23, David tells us about our Personal and Present Shepherd who cares and provides for every need of the sheep in his flock. Amazingly, David tells us that if we belong to the Good Shepherd, we will not be in want for anything. If I am the Shepherd’s and the Shepherd is mine, then I shall not want. This is a tremendous statement when you pause and reflect on its meaning for your life. I am not in want. This of course leads me to ask the question, “how does my Shepherd bring me into a state of not wanting?” Anticipating this question, David’s next two statements provide the answer. “He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters.” In other words he brings about peace so that I can find rest and refreshment. He does this by both “making me” and “leading me” to the place of peaceful rest.
“He makes me lie down in green pastures.” Take a moment and reflect on this statement. Think about the implication for your heart that David is conveying in these eighth words. As I reflect on this, I am taken back to my time in England where my family and I were walking through London on the west side of Parliament and came to a large open field of grass surrounded by tall beautiful trees. It was a sight of beauty. So much so that I stopped to take a picture of my two kids walking ahead of us on the sea of green. It was a place of beauty that was inviting us to come and rest. A place in the middle of a busy city that encouraged us to stop and relax. What was my response to this invitation? I stopped to take in the sight, took a picture, then kept moving forward to keep exploring the city sights. I paused, but I did not rest.
The Good Shepherd not only brings me to a green pasture for rest and refreshment, he makes me lie down. I am often too busy and in a rush to stop and rest. I feel the cultural pressure to be busy and I let it warp my understanding of what verse one tells me I find in Jesus. I lose all sense of what it means that in Christ, I shall not want. I shall not want because my Shepherd makes me lie down in green pastures. He makes me stop. He makes me sit. He makes me be at ease. He makes me rest in the good provision of safety and security that the Shepherd provides. When he makes me lie down in the green pastures, he teaches me to trust him for my daily bread. He teaches me to stop and look around at the world he has created. He teaches me to pause and be at ease in this world with him.
“He leads me beside still waters.” I always picture these two statements as one place. He leads me to a place of green pastures and still waters. A place where he makes me stop and lie down and find rest. Then in my rest, I can be refreshed by the still waters that he provides. These still waters bring to mind a calmness of life without turmoil. A calmness of doing away with the busyness of this world. My Shepherd knows that in this world, I will have trouble. He knows that the sheep in his care are in the world and are pulled in a thousand different directions. He knows that the world is calling for the attention of the sheep and that the sheep will be easily distracted by the many different sights and sounds of the world around them.
I shall not want, because the Good Shepherd knows his sheep and knows their needs. He knows me so intimately, that he understands that he must make me stop and lie down in the green pastures beside the calm waters. He knows that even if I am simply brought to this place of rest, I will just move on after a short moment of reflection. No, my Good Shepherd makes me lie down. He makes me stop. He knows that in order for me to know the Good Shepherd intimately, that I need extended moments of time alone with him. Time where I can just lie in the green grass with him. Time where I can draw from the calm waters of his Spirit and Word. Time where I can relax and open my heart to him. Times where I can be drawn into the heart of Jesus and see his love for me. His deep, deep love for me. Times where I can have my feet washed in the still waters.
Lord Jesus… Make this true of me every day. Make me lie down in your green pastures. Show me the peace and rest that is only found in you. Lead me beside the still waters of your Spirit. Refresh my heart. Make me pause from the busyness of life and this world and simply spend long moments of silence and reflection with you alone. Meet me in these quiet moments and refresh my heart. Give me your desires in my own heart. Give me your compassion for people. Give me your love for the Father. Teach me to trust you unwaveringly. Grant me peace and rest in the finished work of Jesus upon the cross.