“Go in Peace: Strength for the Way”
Psalm 23:2-3a
“He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he restores my soul.”
Why would God be in the restoring, renewing, reviving business? Perhaps it’s because we are so often weak and tired. Americans are notorious for sleep deprivation. Americans can’t sleep; we have great trouble resting. We are too busy, too success driven, too desirous of material things, too competitive, too insecure, too full of fear. Our minds, our bodies, and our souls are worn out, tired, and weary.
Yet this shouldn’t surprise us. Remember, we are sheep. Sheep cannot sleep well. In fact, everything must be perfect for sheep to sleep soundly. Only when a good shepherd has cleaned them, disinfected them, led them to good pasture and clear water, and found them appropriate places of safety can sheep lie down and sleep well. Like sheep, for sound sleep and healthy rest, we need a good shepherd. Thankfully, God is in the restoring, renewing, reviving business.
The truth is, WE OFTEN FALL. What does falling look like? There are times we burn out, become apathetic and immobilized by exhaustion. We cry out, like the old TV ad, “I’ve fallen and I can’t get up!” But why does it happen? Once again we get our cue from sheep. Sheep sometimes go belly up. They end up lying on their backs and cannot then get up. It’s called being “cast.” There they lie, their feet flailing in the air, lashing about. If no help comes soon, they will die from either suffocation or from an enemy attack.
Sheep become cast in, basically, three ways. First, they BECOME TOO COMFORTABLE. Sheep sometimes look for a soft hallow spot in the ground - a sort of natural resting place. Because it’s hallowed out, when they lie down it is all too easy for them to roll over onto their backs - and once on their backs, they are stuck – and all because they sought comfort.
It is so easy for us to want no demands, to crave only comfort. Perhaps that’s why Paul wrote (I Cor. 10:12): “So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall.” Think of the rich young ruler who approached Jesus. He liked life the way it was, even though he wasn’t sure about eternal life. He just wasn’t willing to meet Jesus’ demands; they made him uncomfortable. In Rev. 3, we hear Jesus speaking to the church in Laodicea. Verse 17: “You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked.” Like them, it’s easy for us to have little enthusiasm, sense no urgency, and have no compassion for those who are broken or lost. It is so easy to be a mild Christian while facing little hardship, living an easy life, blocking out all demands, with no sense of surrender. We become so comfortable that we seek accommodation with the world’s mindset, give in, and compromise so as to avoid conflict and pressure. Then when a real challenge comes, when we are face to face with Jesus’ demands, we have no strength or desire to respond and we go belly up.
Sheep also cast because they BECOME TOO DIRTY. Their wool gets too long and is matted with manure, burrs, and other debris. In other words, they are weighed down by their own wool! Now in Scripture wool represents the old self-life and sin. My wool is my own desires, my own hopes, my own dreams. Wool represents our worldly pursuits, our selfish ambitions, our wandering away from God’s commands. Our wool is all our busyness and baggage which weigh us down. It stands for anything which drives us away from God, even, perhaps, some “good things.” Maybe that’s why no High Priest could ever wear wool into the Holy of Holies - it stood for pride and personal preference. Our dirt prevents us from jumping up to follow Jesus; it’s not that we don’t want to – we just can’t. We’re too burdened down by all our dirt. We try to get up but have no strength, and we go belly up. This is why the writer of the letter to the Hebrews urges us (12:1) to lay aside every sin and weight which clings too closely!
The third reason sheep become cast is that they BECOME TOO FAT. They eat too much food, too much of the wrong kind of food, and get too little exercise. It reminds me of Isaiah 55, where God asks, “Why spend your money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy?” Sounds like us at times, doesn’t it? We work so hard and such long hours to gain only bread and receive what does not eternally satisfy. Then we may have a moment when we think maybe we’ve done well in the world. We’ve “arrived.” But soon we discover that it’s all wealth and little health. Too much wealth for our own good, and too little exercise of faith. Remember the farmer Jesus spoke about who didn’t know what to do with all his produce, so he built more and bigger barns? Jesus told him He would soon be belly up. Success is not a sign of spiritual health; affluence is not a sign of godliness. Too much wealth too often leads to a false sense of no need - at least the rich young ruler sensed a need! The tragedy is that the fatness comes on so slowly that people do not even realize it - sort of like freezing to death. The great newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst was an art patron and spent a great deal of money on treasures for his personal collection. One day he found a description of an art work that he felt he must own, so he sent his agent abroad to find it. After months of searching, the agent reported that he had found the object. It was already in Hearst’s warehouse, with many other treasures, still in crates. He was searching for a treasure he already owned! He was too fat to know where to find the treasure of his heart. So we become too fat and, when trying to respond to Jesus, have no strength and go belly up.
That’s why God is in the restoring, renewing, reviving business. David wrote that the Shepherd “…makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he restores my soul.” Notice the verbs: the Shepherd makes, leads, restores. God is the initiator. The Bible shows us that GOD ALWAYS TAKES THE INITIATIVE. In Genesis 3 we see Adam and Eve after they sinned. “Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. But the LORD God called to the man, "Where are you?"” God took the initiative to seek them out. And remember that God did not send Israel into the wilderness to find its own way to the Promised Land. Rather, he led them with a cloud and pillar of fire. God took the initiative to lead. God did not wait for Abraham to ask for permission to be that father of many nations; God took the initiative to call him. God didn’t wait for the prophets to go to school to get trained and qualify for prophet status – He took the initiative to call and appoint them. God didn’t wait until we were worthy to save us – he took the initiative to send Jesus to die for us while we were yet sinners. And Jesus did not wait for people to inquire about following Him – he took the initiative and said, “I am the Way…no one comes to the Father except through me.” “… He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice.”
But how is it that God makes us lie down and leads us to still waters? GOD USES A VARIETY OF MEANS. Sometimes, for example, as the shepherd, HE MOVES US TO TOUGHER PASTURES. Perhaps we lose our job, money becomes tight, relationships are broken. Somehow life gets a little tougher. It may well be God’s loving act to wake us up and restore us. C. S. Lewis wrote, “God whispers to us in our pleasures; he speaks to us in our work; he shouts at us in our pain.” For our own good He will not let us stay too comfortable! As unlikely as it sounds, the birth of a giraffe teaches us a similar lesson. When a baby giraffe is born it drops 10 feet to the ground and lands on its back. Within seconds, it rolls to an upright position with its legs tucked under its body. The mother giraffe lowers her head long enough to get take a quick look. Then she positions herself over the baby, waits for about a minute and then, incredibly, swings her leg outward and kicks her baby so that it is sent sprawling head over heels. When it doesn’t get up, the process is repeated over and over again. The struggle to rise is monumental. As the baby calf grows tired, the mother kicks it again to stimulate its efforts. Finally the calf stands for the first time - and then the mother kicks it off its feet again. Why does the mother persist? Because she knows the giraffe cannot get comfortable; it must stay with the herd for safety. Too many animals enjoy eating young giraffes. Isn’t that like our life? Just about the time we get comfortable we may get knocked down. It might just be God moving us to tougher pastures - for our own sakes.
God also USES OUR SUFFERING. A woman in Switzerland saw a single sheep lying separated from the rest of the flock. As she drew closer she realized it had a broken leg. She asked the shepherd what had happened. He explained, “I broke it myself. Of all the sheep in my flock, this was the most wayward. It would not obey my voice and would not follow when I was leading the flock. On more than one occasion, it wandered to the edge of a perilous cliff. And not only was it disobedient, but it was leading other sheep astray. ...I knew I had no choice, so I broke its leg. The next day I took food and it tried to bite me. After letting it alone for a couple of days, I went back and it not only took the food, but licked my hand and showed every sign of submission and affection. ... When this sheep is well, it will be the model sheep of my entire flock... It will have learned obedience through its sufferings.” So through our sufferings God may teach us to rely on his care.
God also ‘leads and makes’ as HE DISCIPLINES US. Hebrews 12:5-11: “And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons: ‘My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son.’ Endure hardship as a discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons. Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live! Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.” It’s like a parent whose child has suffered a concussion and the doctor says to keep him awake at all costs - so an occasional shaking is really health producing! Always remember that GOD KNOWS WHAT HE IS DOING WITH US, even if we don’t know. Many years ago there was found in an African mine the most magnificent diamond in the world’s history. It was presented to the King of England to wear in his crown. The king sent it to Amsterdam to be cut. It was put into the hands of an expert lapidary, who eventually cut a notch in it and struck a hard blow, splitting it in two. That blow had been planned for weeks; drawings and models had been made of the gem. Its quality, its defects, its lines of cleavage had all been studied with minutest care. When that blow was struck, the lapidary had done the one thing which could bring that gem to its most perfect shapeliness, radiance, and jeweled splendor. In the same way God sometimes lets a stinging blow fall upon us. We fall and can’t get up. The blow seems to be a severe mistake. But God is only using his lapidary’s skills to bring us into radiance and splendor. He knows what he’s doing with us!
So we fall. And GOD, THE SHEPHERD, RESTORES US. The phrase “He restores my soul” is literally “HE BRINGS BACK MY SOUL.” Phillip Keller describes this from a shepherd’s perspective: “Again and again I would spend hours searching for a single sheep that was missing. Then more often than not I would see it at a distance, down on its back, lying helpless. At once I would start to run toward it - hurrying as fast as I could - for every minute was critical. ... As soon as I reached the cast ewe my very first impulse was to pick it up. Tenderly I would roll the sheep over on its side. This would relieve the pressure of gasses in the rumen. If she had been down for long I would have to lift her onto her feet. Then straddling the sheep with my legs I would hold her erect, rubbing her limbs to restore circulation to her legs. ... (It took a long time ) ... Little by little the sheep would regain its equilibrium. It would start to walk steadily and surely. By and by it would dash away to rejoin the others, set free from its fears and frustrations, given another chance to live a little longer. All of this pageantry is conveyed to my heart and mind when I repeat the simple statement, ‘He restores my soul.’” Does that bring new meaning to Jesus and the story of the 90 and 9? Jesus shows the same care for us, his sheep. WE HAVE A SHEPHERD WHO BRINGS US BACK TO HIMSELF. He always comes after us with our best interests at heart. It’s always been that way. In Eden, God came, after the fall, to Adam and Eve to restore them. The incarnation of Jesus is God coming down to us to bring us back to Himself – to the lush pastures of His fullness and the still waters of His Spirit. Jesus’ 2nd coming will be the last time He comes to us - to bring us back!
John F. Chaplain has written a poem entitled “He Leadeth Me”:
In pastures green? Not always! Sometimes He
Who knoweth best in kindness leadeth me
In weary ways where heavy shadows be.
Out of the sunshine into the darkest night,
I oft would faint with sorrow and affright.
Only for this – I know He holds my hand.
So whether in the green or desert land,
I trust, although I may not understand.
And by still waters? No, not always so!
Oftimes the heavy tempests round me blow,
And o’er my soul the waves and billows go;
But when the storms beat loudest and I cry
Aloud for help, the Master standeth by
And whispers to my soul, “Lo, it is I.”
Above the tempest wild I hear him say,
“Beyond this darkness lies the perfect day.
In every path of thine I lead the way.”
So whether on the hilltops high and fair
I dwell, or in the sunless valleys where
The shadows lie – what matters? He is there.
So where He leads me, I can safely go,
And in the blest hereafter I shall know
Why in His wisdom He hath led me so.
What a God! What a Shepherd! What a Savior! WE NEED TO TRUST HIM. When we have fallen and can’t get up He restores us - time and time again. He always brings us back. Trust him. Go in peace. Until the day He comes again to take us to himself. As Rev. 7:16-17 promises: “Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst. The sun will not beat upon them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; he will lead them to springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes."
So I fall; so I go belly up. The Lord is my shepherd; he restores my soul. I will trust him.
