He leads me beside still waters
ps 23:2
ACCORDING TO THE RULES: Eric Liddell, affectionately known as the Flying Scotsman, won a gold medal in the 400-meter race during the 1924 Olympic Games in Paris. Yes, it was a spectacular race that resulted in a world record. Why then, nearly forty years after his death, was it Eric Liddell who inspired a film about his victory in these Olympic Games in Paris? The answer is simple: Eric Liddell refused to run on a Sunday. Eric captured the imagination of millions by tossing away his chance of a gold medal in the 100 meters, the race he was favored to win, because obedience to his Lord and Savior was more important to him than a gold medal. When Eric unexpectedly won the 400-meters, he became a living legend. A year after that triumph, Eric left the limelight to serve as a missionary in China. When he died in a Japanese internment camp 20 years later, all of Scotland mourned. Although we are not competing for a gold medal in the Olympic Games, competing according to the rules, God’s rules, is equally important to those of us who practice spiritual discipline. It is so easy for us to rationalize our rebellious, just as I’m sure it would have been easy for Eric Liddell to justify breaking the 4th Commandment for a sure shot at the gold. But God is not deceived, even by our most clever excuses. How do we rebel against God’s rules? Perhaps we use religious fervor as a substitute for the joyful obedience that pleases our Master. Today I would pray that our Christian convictions will matter more than any earthly reward. Pleasing God is the goal of those who practice the spiritual discipline. Today I pray pleasing the Master is our heart’s desire and that there is consistent action that gives substance to our words. He wasn’t a great leader, or an inspired thinker, but he knew what he ought to do, and he did it. Rev. A.P. Cullen.
1. Let us take note that Divine waters are Still waters.
Did you know that a dog will drink from a turbulent stream? A sheep will not. How well do you do when you are under stress? I talked with a man this week who said that if he were to be holy he would have to live out in the wilderness away from people. Maybe that is the way you like to handle stress. Get away from all people. We cannot live in the wilderness all the time. Jesus said ‘I pray not that you would take them out of the world but that You would keep them from the evil.” I have found that to face stress I need a quiet time with God each day. I see in this verse that still waters refer to that which is opposite to the roar and rush of a mountain stream. It speaks of peace in the place of the turmoil, rush and bustle of our modern world. Do you find your life filled with this? Many are sick today because they do not know the peace of God. Many are taking pills, listening to music, seeking worldly pleasures and buying toys to find peace. They would like to have peace with God, our self, our neighbor and mankind. Have we missed what it says here and in PS 119:165 “Great peace have they which love your law: and nothing shall offend them.” Here it says nothing, no thing, not any thing at all shall offend them. This means that when we have peace though the demons of hell shall come we will still have peace. RM 5:1 “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” HB 13:20 “Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep.” God gives us peace. Listen to this devotion I read this week. Do you know why bees hum? It’s because they can’t remember the words! I read about a man awaiting heart bypass surgery. He was aware that people die during surgery. As he, thought about all that could go wrong, he felt very much alone. Then an orderly walked into his room to take him to surgery. As the orderly began to push his gurney along the hall, the patient heard him humming an ancient Irish hymn, “Be Thou My Vision.” It prompted his memories of lush green fields and the ancient stone ruins of Ireland, the land of his birth. The hymn flooded his soul like a fresh breath of home. When the orderly finished with that song, he hummed Horatio Spafford’s hymn, “It Is Well with My Soul.” When they stopped outside the surgical suite, the man thanked him for the hymns. “God has used you this day,” he said, “to remove my fears and restore my soul.” “How so?” the orderly asked in surprise. “Your ‘hums’ brought God to me,” the man replied. “The Lord has done great things for us” (Ps. 126:3). He has filled our heart with song. He may even use our “hums” to restore someone’s soul. David H. Roper
2. Let us take note that Divine waters are waters of quietness.
What comes to your mind when I say the words calm, composed, quietness, peacefulness, restfulness or relaxation? What comes to your mind when I say Trouble, disorder, turmoil, hysteria, uncertainty, chaos? The Devil likes to discourage us or trip us up. He came to Eve and said, “Did God really say?” he spoke to Jesus, “If you are really the Son of God.” So he will come to us and say, “If you are really a child of God would He treat you this way? If He really cared would He make you go through the difficulty you are gong through?” PS 41:3 ‘The Lord nurses them when they are sick and eases their pain and discomfort.” God’s presence is with us 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days of the year and all the years that He wants us to live on this earth. His promises never fail. His grace is all-sufficient. His supplies are inexhaustible. We have peace in them midst of the storm because of who He is. Listen to the world of this song, “A mighty fortress is our God:
A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing; Our helper He, amid the flood of mortal ills prevailing: For still our ancient foe doth seek to work us woe; His craft and power are great, and, armed with cruel hate, On earth is not his equal.
Did we in our own strength confide our striving would be losing; were not the right Man on our side, the Man of God’s own choosing: Does ask who that may be? Christ Jesus, it is He; Lord Sabbath, His Name, from age to age the same, And He must win the battle.
And though this world, with devils filled, should threaten to undo us, we will not fear, for God has willed His truth to triumph through us: The Prince of Darkness grim, we tremble not for him; His rage we can endure, for lo, his doom is sure, one little word shall fell him.
That word above all earthly powers, no thanks to them, abideth; The Spirit and the gifts are ours through Him Who with us sideth: Let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also; The body they may kill: God’s truth abideth still, His kingdom is forever.
Divine waters bring quietness to our lives.
3. Let us take note that Divine waters are waters of comfort.
We do not walk alone for we have many companions that are walking the same road with us. Best of all we have the Holy Spirit, the Holy Comforter as our ever present companion. The comforting waters He brings are words of gentleness, peacefulness, relaxation, encouragement comfort, cheering, stirring ingredients that come to calm our troubled lives. The cool waters of comfort help us to have peace in a troubled world. Did you hear the news about Hillary and Julie Goodridge? They have filed for divorce. They were the first same sex couple to marry in the USA. In the 60’s a couple named Sonny and Cher sung a song, “I got you babe.” It was #1 on the hit parade. A little while later, they forsook their marriage vows. The Difference between Religion and The Gospel: Religion says, if I obey, God will love me. Gospel says, because God loves me, I can obey. Religion has good people & bad people. Gospel has only repentant and unrepentant people. Religion values a birth family. Gospel values a new birth. Religion depends on what I do. Gospel depends on what Jesus has done. Religion has the goal to get stuff from God. Gospel has the goal to get God. Religion sees hardships as punishment for sin. Gospel sees hardship as sanctified affliction. Religion is about me. Gospel is about Jesus. Religion believes appearing as a good person is the key. Gospel believes that being honest is the key. Religion has an uncertainty of standing before God. Gospel has certainty based upon Jesus’ work. Religion ends in pride or despair. Gospel ends in humble joy. Mark Driscoll
4. Let us take note that Divine waters are waters of refreshment.
When the road we travel is rough and rugged. When the road we travel is hard and steep. When the road we travel is long and tired some. When the road we travel is narrow and unpromising. When the road we travel is hot and gloomy I want, you to know there are Divine watering places along the way. We need to stop and enjoy the oasis that God provides us along the way. Every day there is a time for you to have a private time alone with God in Bible reading and prayer. There is also the time we can spend time with our family in helping one another to read the Bible and pray over needs that are present. We also are given times that, we can be in the house of God for worship. Missing one day a week to worship makes a weak Christian. God made it clear in the O. T. that we are to take one day to worship Him. This is given to us in the Ten Commandments and served as a pattern all through the O. T. When Jesus came into the world, it tells us that He and His family spent one day a week in the house of God. If Jesus was holy and without sin yet took, time to worship God, do we who are born with sin need to take time to worship. For some of us we need more than just one hour on Sunday to help our spiritual lives and so we gather together for Bible Studies and prayer meetings. We live in a rushed world and I have listened to you since I have been here say how busy you are. What are you doing to be refreshed by God? Is it working?
5. Let us take note that Divine waters are fresh waters.
The waters that God sends our way are not stagnant, infested with mosquitoes and disease like the world would offer us. This points us to a story that Jesus gave us about a son who decided that he would take his inheritance and leave his father’s house and go out to find all the pleasures this world could give. He left and found such fun that he had never known before. When he had wasted all that he had been given he found that no one cared for him and could only find a job with a pig farmer. It seems that he did not even make enough money to have food. The best he could find was the slop he feed to the pigs. Then his mind remembered his father’s house and that the lowest servant had food and clothes better than he was having. Jesus told us this story to help us know we can have much wealth and pleasure but if we are out of our heavenly Father’s care we are living miserable lives. The Bible says that when this young man came to his senses and went back to his father’s house and found all he needed. The Bible also tells us of the Israelites desired the onions, leeks and garlic of Egypt rather than the food that God provided for them in the freedom in the desert. God knows what is best and gives us best which is always fresh water. LAM3:22-23 “It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.”
JR 2:13 For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.
Lord, Be Thou My Helper
I do not ask for calm, still waters, Or for pastures green and fair; but as I face the tempest’s fury, Lord, I plead Your presence there.
I do not ask a sunlit pathway or a life-road free from fear; But as I walk amid earth’s darkness, Guardian of my soul, be near.
Oh, hold me, Savior, closely to You; Fill my heart with your own grace, That through the fear and desolation, I may see You face-to-face.
Then darkened skies and raging billows Will but prove how strong You are; And all the dreadful shades of night but Draw me nearer to your heart. Elizabeth H. Battram
