The testimony of David is powerful. Verse 1 sets the tone for the rest of this precious Psalms; “The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not. After verse 1, David begins to outline for us the loving care of the shepherd.
The beauty of the Psalms is that David communicates to us through his personal testimony some guaranteed promises for the sheep. David says now that I’ve declared my satisfaction in the Shepherd, now, let me tell you why I’m satisfied. The first guarantee for every believer is this; “He makes me to lie down in green pastures”.
What a word of comfort and encouragement, especially, in times in a world filled with so much unrest.
In 1933 Gerhard Von Rad aptly observed that among the many benefits of redemption offered to man by Scripture, that of rest has been overlooked in biblical theology.
Not only has rest been overlooked in biblical theology but it is overlooked in personal practice. Many people survive off 4-6 hours of rest on a daily basis. Many people search for peaceful rest through Nyquil, alcohol, drugs, sleeping pills, tea, and Thera-flu, only to discover a lack of refreshment the next morning.
The tragedy of Michael Jackson’s life is that he left too soon trying to find rest in prescription drugs that ultimately took his life. His story was tragic but many of us still look for rest in all the wrong places.
Restlessness, stain, toil, the daily grind, anxiety, worry, nervousness, tension, and distress zap our physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual vitality.
Restlessness results in physical, emotional, and spiritual burnout. Have you ever been so exhausted that mentally you can’t think straight, physically, you couldn’t find the right position to sleep right, and spiritually, you couldn’t hear the voice of God clearly? Restlessness causes you to make the wrong decisions in life. Restlessness makes a person mean and evil. Restlessness causes ineffectiveness in life’s responsibilities. Restlessness causes short-temperedness. Restlessness causes a person to be un-productive.
I think you get the picture now…
However, what we must remember, realize, recognize, and understand is that apart from God no one can nor will find peaceful rest. Rest is freedom from work, toil, strain, or activity. Rest is the cessation of motion or action of any kind, and applicable to any body or being, rest from labor, rest from mental exertion or rest of body or mind. Rest is freedom from anxiety or disturbance. To rest is to dispose oneself at ease in order to relieve or avoid fatigue.
In a spiritual sense, rest means to cease from one’s work as a way of release from life’s strains and toils. The only way to experience spiritual rest is through the rest that only Christ, our Shepherd, can provide.
Understanding the significance of rest is to understand the character of sheep. Sheep are needy creatures who don’t know how to care for themselves. So much so that David praises God for being able to provide rest for all of us who are restless.
John Walvoord writes that...
"Sheep are utterly dependent upon the shepherd for almost everything pertaining to their well-being. Only as sheep are willing to follow Christ will they find their complete spiritual needs supplied.
Green pastures and quiet waters are mentioned first because they are priority needs of the sheep if they are to survive and grow. The idea here is "He makes me rest".
The 1st guaranteed provisional care of the shepherd is communicated to us today to place our trust in the Shepherd for the rest of our lives, why, because;
Only God, our Shepherd, can give you complete and peaceful rest!
Let’s pull back the covers on this text to discover the provision of rest provided to us by the Shepherd of our souls:
I. The Sovereignty of God’s Rest
I struggled with this text, somewhat, because of the words, “He makes me…”
I questioned the statement trying to understand what it means to say “He makes me to lie down in green pastures”. Does God force us to lay down like an angry parent? Does He hold us tight and shake us hard to make us go to sleep?
Has a little a boy I remember an occasion of “She made me to lie down in the bed”.
I grew up in a house with 4 boys and 1 sister. You can just about imagine the chaos our house had each and every day. My sister is the youngest, so she and my younger brother got away with murder. My other two brothers and myself were always in trouble. I’ll never forget, we were in the house being mischievous, playing with matches. It was in the middle of the day and we decided to setup camp in the living room of our house. We got blankets and sticks to make a tent. We got sleeping bags to place in the tent. We got food, hot dogs and marshmallows, to place in the tent. We made homemade lemonade to drink. We were ready for our in-house camping trip in the living room. One problem, we can’t have a camping trip with a camp fire to roast our hot dogs and marshmallows.
We got a plastic trashcan, filled it with paper, lit a match, and there was our fire to roast marshmallows and hot dogs. When the hot dogs started to cook real good the hot dogs began to release oily juices igniting our fire to a greater temperature. In addition to this fire we created was the fiery presence of our mother who got home earlier than normal this particular day. She called and said she was on her home and all of our chores better be done or we couldn’t go outside. We put out the fire, broke down our campground, and started spraying air freshener all through the house to get rid of the smoke smell.
When she got home, before entering the house, she yelled; “Who’s been in here playing with fire?” We all got quiete and wouldn’t say a word. We learned that it really didn’t matter who did it because all of us were going to get it anyway. And sure enough the instructions were given to get the belt and we got our spanking followed by these words, “Got to bed and don’t come out until I wake you up!”
I wonder is that what David meant when he says “He makes me lie to down in green pastures”. I don’t know but there is a level of Sovereignty involved in our resting times. Here’s the point: God controls our times of rest, either voluntary or involuntary. His sovereign control of our resting times are seen:
- Through the Implementation of the Sabbath – Genesis 2:1-3 “Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished. [2] And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. [3] Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.”
Exodus 20:8-11: "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. [9] Six days you shall labor and do all your work, [10] but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. [11] For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.
I don’t have time to go through fully all ramifications behind the Sabbath so let me quickly give you the interpretation scripture is tailored to teach us about the importance of the Sabbath:
“Rest is important to God, take time to rest!”
- Through the invitation of Christ – Matthew 11:25-30
Matthew 11:28-30 (NKJV) - Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. [29] Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. [30] For My yoke is easy and My burden is light."
- Through the Inclination of our Bodies – In a more practical explanation of the text, here’s the point, our bodies need to rest and often times will shut down for mandatory rest. Many people feel guilty for resting. They fell unproductive because they laid around and did nothing. However, there’s a practical theological principle worth noting here; It’s ok to be lazy sometimes!
II. The Surety of Given Rest
Point: God assures us of permanent rest through salvation
A cross reference to this phrase is Hebrews chapter 3 & 4 which speaks of rest in the three (3) tense of salvation: past, present, and future rest.
Salvation Rest - Hbr 3:7-11; 18 – 4:1-2 - Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, "Today, if you hear his voice, "do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, on the day of testing in the wilderness, "where your fathers put me to the test and saw my works "for forty years. Therefore I was provoked with that generation, and said, ’They always go astray in their heart; they have not known my ways. "As I swore in my wrath, ’They shall not enter my rest.’"… And to whom did he swear Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it. For good news came to us just as to them, but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened.
God saves you to rest!
Salvation rest is associated with placing one’s faith in Christ. In the text of this thesis written by the unknown writer of Hebrews, it appears to the primary meaning, that is, of coming to Jesus by faith and entering His rest where self effort is replaced by initiated and empowered effort.
Warren Wiersbe offers the following interpretation of the concept of rest in Hebrews 3 & 4:
Spiritual rest is found in Jesus Christ when we surrender to Him. When we come to Christ be faith, we find salvation rest. When we yield and learn of Him and obey Him by faith, we enjoy rest. The first is peace with God (Romans 5:1) and the second is peace of God (Phil. 4:6). It is by believing that we enter into rest (Hebrews 4:3).
Sanctified Rest - Hbr 4:3 For we who have believed enter that rest, as he has said, "As I swore in my wrath, ’They shall not enter my rest,’" although his works were finished from the foundation of the world. Hbr 4:4 For he has somewhere spoken of the seventh day in this way: "And God rested on the seventh day from all his works." Hbr 4:5 And again in this passage he said, "They shall not enter my rest." Hbr 4:3 For we who have believed enter that rest, as he has said, "As I swore in my wrath, ’They shall not enter my rest,’" although his works were finished from the foundation of the world. Hbr 4:4 For he has somewhere spoken of the seventh day in this way: "And God rested on the seventh day from all his works." Hbr 4:5 And again in this passage he said, "They shall not enter my rest."
God sanctifies us for continued rest!
Sanctified rest is for believers who are living their Christian life in the power of the Spirit by keeping short account, and thus experiencing peace of God. Ray Stedman in his sermon; “The Rest Obtained Is New Creation Rest”, says; “Those who have entered salvation rest be faith have experienced breakdown in their Christianity under the pressures of stress and/or responsibility because they try to work out their salvation in their own power. Sanctified rest allows the believer to rest in the power of God’s grace that works best in our weakness.
Glorified Rest - Hbr 4:11 Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience.
God glorifies us unto permanent rest
We don’t have to go far to see glorified rest because verse 6 of Psalms 23 says; “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever”.
Glorified rest is a reward of the believer’s labor for the Lord. Paul says; “I’ve fought the good fight, I kept the faith, now is laid up for me crown in glory”. Praise that we may not experience full satisfaction in rest down here but soon and very soon we will experience rest everlasting when we see Jesus in heaven.
III. The Sufficiency of Green Pastures
What are the "green pastures"? Although, we cannot be dogmatic, surely this picture includes the nourishment found in the Word of God (cf Jer 15:16 ) which alone satisfies the Good Shepherd’s flock. As the Good Shepherd of the sheep He meets every need of His flock (Php 4:19note), and there is no want to those who trust him. When we follow the Shepherd closely, His will and desires will become our will and desires. We can trust the Good Shepherd to be consistent with His own nature. As someone has well said, the "Secret" of growing in grace is to be like a sheep & to FILL UP, LIE DOWN & RUMINATE (Meditate) A hungry, ill fed sheep is ever on its feet, on the move, searching for another scanty mouthful of forage to try and satisfy its gnawing hunger. Such sheep are not contented, do not thrive & are no use to themselves nor to their owners. They languish and lack vigor and vitality. Can we not see the clear spiritual application? ARE YOU RESTING IN THE PRESENCE OF THE SHEPHERD OR RESTLESS BECAUSE YOU’RE ALWAYS LOOKING FOR GREENER PASTURES of INFERIOR FORAGE?
Point: God provides peaceful rest through His Word
Say what you want about sheep as being dumb and stupid, there is one characteristic of sheep that we must give them credit for; “When led to green pastures, at least, they have sense enough to nibble unto their bellies are full”.
Many believers are spiritually hungry and can’t rest because they refuse to nibble on the green pastures of God’s word.
The green pastures of a rural beauty expands before us. We see a happy flock resting in calm quietness in fields rich in luxuriant plenty; we see them guided to meadows through which refreshing streams glide tranquility. The scene is perfect and nothing disturbs the calm enjoyment.
The believer’s soul is secure from all alarms, peaceful in knowledge of the Lord’s protection, feasting on the rich provision of God’s word, regaled with sustaining promises, nurtured by the Spirit’s rich supplies, reposing under the shadow of the cross, drinking the cooling streams of scriptural teaching. How ample is this sweet provision?
Laying down in green pastures is resting in God’s word that provides all we need to rest in life’s difficulties.
