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.”
We want to be in charge don’t we? We want to tell God what to do. Well, that ain’t the way it works. The Lord is MY SHEPHERD and He wants to be YOUR SHEPHERD. But you have to LET HIM be in CHARGE.
The word SHEPHERD in the HEBREW means to feed, to pasture, to tend. But it also means COMPANIONSHIP.
David knew all about being a SHEPHERD. He LIVED IT HIMSELF when he was a younger man. He STAYED with his sheep when they were out in the MEADOWS GRAZING. He stayed with his sheep during the night watching out for them.
And listen, God wants more than just to RULE OVER US. He wants to be a COMPANION to us. He wants to have a RELATIONSHIP with each one of us. When God looks out over His flock he doesn’t just see us as a GROUP. He sees us as INDIVIDUALS. He knows each one of us by name. And He CARES about you and I. That’s why He has promised to meet our needs. “The Lord is MY SHEPHERD, I shall not want”
And so for God to meet our needs we have to let Him be the SHEPHERD. We have to let Him be in CHARGE. We have to GIVE UP our own WANTS and DESIRES. And too many people aren’t willing to do that. And that leads me to my second point. Kind of what I started out with.
II. “The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want. “He MAKETH.” Let me repeat those last two words. “HE MAKETH” Now HOW can He make me do something? Well, He’s the SHEPHERD, that’s how. He’s in CHARGE.
“He MAKETH ME to LIE DOWN” I found this interesting. Did you know that SHEEP must be managed. If you allow a sheep to eat all the grain it wants, it could die within 24 hours. If it gets into a grain bin of wheat, barley, or oats, it will get ACIDOSIS which is the buildup of ACID in the bloodstream.
And if a flock of sheep goes into a new lush pasture area they will EAT and KEEP EATING until they are BLOATED. A herd of sheep must be managed. They must be MADE to do the right thing. Only allowed so much Grain and LUSH PASTURE. The SHEPHERD does this for the good of the FLOCK.
And there are times that our GOOD SHEPHERD does things that may seem hard. He may not allow certain blessings in our life because we just can’t handle it. He may MAKE US go through some hard times for our own good. Things that we don’t understand. And there are times He makes us LAY DOWN. Why? Because we need REST!!!
Even when we’re in GREEN PASTURES. We say, “Man, this is NO TIME to rest. Look at all of the GOOD THINGS we have in our lives.” Even when things are going well. Even when we don’t want to STOP, WE NEED REST.
There comes a TIME for all of us to LAY DOWN. And if we refuse to do that sometimes God has to MAKE US.
Listen, when God created this world, after the 6th day, He looked at what He had created and He said that it was GOOD. He had created this beautiful world. He created all of the animals and then He put Adam right in the middle of it and it was good. And then in Chapter 2, Verses 1-3 it tells us,
“Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.
2 And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.
3 And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.”
These Verses are in the Bible for a reason. WE NEED REST. God put this in here to show us the IMPORTANCE of REST. In fact, later He put it into the Levitical Law. REST. Leviticus 23:3 “Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day is the sabbath of rest, an holy convocation; ye shall do no work therein: it is the sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings.”
Listen, we can make all of the excuses. “I need the money. I need to get that done. I need to get ahead.” Listen, too many times we can change out the word “NEED” for “WANT.”
If we’ll be honest, “I WANT the money. I WANT to get that done. And I WANT to get ahead.” I want it more than I need it.
And so we need to understand WHO the Shepherd is and who we are. He’s the Shepherd, we’re the sheep.
We need to see the importance of REST.
III. And thirdly, the Shepherd provides THAT REST.
ILLUS: I was reading about what it takes to actually get a Flock of Sheep to lay down. And this is what a real shepherd had to say. He said sheep will only lay down when 4 needs are met.
1. When they are Free of all fear. They are NOT gonna lay down and rest when there are WOLVES circling the FLOCK. When there is a risk of being eaten alive.
2. Free from friction with others of their own kind. There is NO REST when there’s turmoil within the FLOCK.
3. Free from torment by flies or parasites. They can’t rest when FLIES are BUZZING all around and LICE are crawling in their wool.
4. Free of hunger and thirst. They WILL NOT lay down if their bellies aren’t full.
“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.”
So how does God take care of us?
“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.”
EVERY NEED IS MET by our GOOD SHEPHERD.
1. “He maketh me to lie down in green pastures”
NO HUNGER. Plenty of grass.
“He leadeth me beside the still waters.”
NO THIRST. Plenty of water to drink.
Philippians 4:19 “But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”
We can LAY DOWN and REST because we don’t need to worry about where our next meal will come from. This Verse doesn’t mean we’ll eat RIBEYE STEAKS every meal but it does mean that He will take care of us.
2. “He restoreth my soul:”
We can lay down and rest because we have PEACE. Peace from within. Everything is made right within our soul. Jesus told us in John 14:27,
“Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”
3. “He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.”
PROTECTION. We are LED RIGHT to the place where we need to be. Right where God wants us to be. And that is the PLACE of SAFETY.
And what about the different things that come up in our lives that seem small but they can cause us so much harm.
ILLUS: I was studying the things a shepherd would do to protect his flock from things like FLIES and LICE. Things that would cause them AGONY and PAIN.
Well one thing that he would do is Anoint the sheep with oil: In an old and well-known practice, shepherds would mix oil with substances like sulfur and smear it on a sheep's head. The oily film would repel flies, preventing them from laying eggs in the sheep's ears and nostrils, which can lead to serious and even fatal nasal botfly infestations. Other essential oils, such as lavender, are also used as repellents.
And God anoints us today with His Protections and His Blessings. Why? So we can LAY DOWN and REST. Because folks, there’s HARD TIMESd COMING.
David goes on and tells us what’s ahead.
IV. Let’s look at the first part of Verse 4.
“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,”
Death was right there. It was casting it’s SHADOW upon David. We’re not really sure when David wrote this Psalm. Was it during the time that King Saul was trying to KILL HIM? Or was it when Absalom, his own son, was trying to take the Kingdom from him?
We don’t really know the time but we do know that David felt the SHADOW of DEATH. It was that close. But yet he was able to REST IN HIS GOD. And he was able to say.
“I will fear no evil: for thou art with me;”
David doesn’t say that the EVIL wasn’t there. He never says that he was surrounded by nothing but GOOD PEOPLE. In fact the very next Verse tells us that his enemies were RIGHT THERE. But yet he felt the COMFORT of God.
“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.”
Everything David needed to REST in the LORD.
PROTECTION. God’s ROD and STAFF.
PROVISIONS. FOOD from the TABLE of GOD.
A FULL OVERFLOWING CUP to QUENCH his THIRST.
And the ANOINTING upon his head to keep him HEALTHY. Because of this, DAVID WAS ABLE TO REST in the Lord.
Some of you all here today are LIVING in the SHADOW of DEATH. YOU or a LOVED ONE may have been given a DIAGNOSIS. You have some hard decisions to make. Maybe some hard treatments to go through.
Or maybe someone close to you has PASSED on and you still feel the SHADOW of their DEATH with you today.
Maybe you just can’t get out of the PIT that you’re in.
DEPRESSION, ANXIETY, FRUSTRATION. These are things that we all deal with at times.
And listen, it’s a HARD TIME to rest when these things are CONSTANTLY on our minds.
But David tells us here that IT’S POSSIBLE. Look how he ends this Chapter.
“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.”
God’s GOODNESS, His PROVISIONS, His MERCY will be with us ALL the DAYS of our LIVES and when this life is over, we will be WITH HIM forever. John 14, Verses 1-3,
“Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.
2 In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.”
That’s pretty good. We can REST IN Jesus while we’re living here in this world and then we can rest WITH Jesus over there.
ILLUS: I remember reading a story about a father who was playing with his kids in the back yard. The old neighbor was watching from his back porch.
They were playing COPS and ROBBERS with their cap guns. Shooting at each other. (I know this is just horrible now-a-days but back then it was OK. LOL)
But one of the boys got the upper hand on his dad and shot him dead. The dad, in great drama, fell over dead on the ground and ... just laid there. And so the old neighbor watched and wondered what was going on, the dad never got up, so he finally trotted over and leaned down to check on him. Daddy opened one eye and said “SHH, it’s my only chance to get some rest.”
And sometimes we probably all feel that way. It’s SO HARD to find time to REST. But listen, we can REST in JESUS. Take Sundays off. Relax with the family. Monday’s work will still be there.
And if you know Jesus as your PERSONAL SAVIOR, someday you can REST WITH for all eternity.
I know this hasn’t been a STRONG SALVATION message but if the Lord has spoken to your heart, our alters are always open.
Let’s Pray
