Labor Day, A Time To Rest

August 31, 2025 a.m. Psalm 23

This weekend we celebrate Labor Day. It became a Federal holiday on June 28, 1894, after President Grover Cleveland signed the bill into law. It is a holiday for the working men and women of America. I thought this was interesting. Americans work HARDER and LONGER than most other modern countries of the world. Just an example here. The average worker in America works 400 hours more a year than the average worker in Germany. I’M MOVING!!! Not really.

And listen, America didn’t become great by being LAZY. America became GREAT because of the BLESSINGS of GOD and because of the HARD WORK and LONG HOURS AMERICAN WORKERS put into their JOBS.

And so as GOD HONORS HARD WORKERS, I HONER HARD WORKERS TODAY. But there comes a time to REST.

Let me ask you a question. How are you doing today? Did you know that if you do away with GENERIC ANSWERS like, “I’m fine” “I’m good” “I’m Ok” If you DO AWAY with those answers the most common answer is .... anybody care to guess? “I’M TIRED” “How are you doing today? I’m TIRED!!!”

Yeah, me too. Why? Well, most of the time it’s because we don’t or won’t SLOW DOWN. We’re going ALL THE TIME!!!

ILLUS: It kind of reminds me of the city fellow who was driving way out in the country on a somewhat busy DIRT road. This was way back in the 1930’s. He was driving a Model A.

Anyway, he came around the corner and there was two cars stopped in the middle of the road. He slammed on his brakes and slid right off in the same MUD HOLE they were stuck in. An old farmer and his team of mules was coming from the opposite direction and he told them that he would pull them out for $10 each. Now $10 was a lot of money back then. They all reluctantly paid the guy and as he was pulling this last guy out he told the farmer, “Man at $10 a pop, I bet you do this night and day.” The Old Farmer said, “No, just during the day, at night I have to haul the water.”

That Old farmer was pretty busy. And most of us are pretty busy. We live in such a BUSY WORLD that we often DON’T take time to REST.

I mentioned this Verse last Sunday morning but

Matthew 11:28 tells us,

“Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”

Most of us that are here today have done that haven’t we? We’ve come to Jesus so why aren’t we RESTING?

This morning we’re going to look at a very common passage. One that most of you all have read before. Now I have preached from this passage in the past but I have not preached this message. I believe God gave it to me. It’s a MESSAGE that I need today and I think it’s a MESSAGE that you need today.

So let’s turn to Psalms 23 and we’ll read the all six Verses.

“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.

3 He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.

6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.”

This morning I want to mainly look at the first three Verses of this Chapter. And I want to talk to you about RESTING.

But before I get into this message, let’s go to the Lord in Prayer.

Brother ____, would you lead us?

I. So I want to start off with David’s first statement.

“The Lord is MY SHEPHERD”

Whose the SHEPHERD here? Whose in CHARGE here? Is it David or is it the Lord? Well David tells us it is GOD.

And I have to tell you before I really get into the HEART of my message, that this is one of the GREATEST PROBLEMS in the CHURCH WORLD TODAY. We too often forget who the SHEPHERD is. IT’S NOT US!!! We’re the SHEEP.

Too many times we get things turned around. It’s NOT

“I am the Lord’s Shepherd. He’ll do what I tell Him to do.” NO!!! It’s “The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall NOT want.”