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The 3 phrases of Psalm 23: 2 – How beautiful but how difficult!

“He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters,

he restores my soul”

These 3 very well known phrases from the famous Psalm 23 actually hide a truth which is not easy for us to accept. Let’s look at them one by one.  

The first phrase: “He makes me lie down in green pastures” is the dream of our generation! Who doesn’t want genuine rest? The demands of today’s life – with the needs of the family and the pressing necessities of so many jobs make us dream of the time when we can have some R & R – rest and relaxation. How often the story is told of mothers who have become taxi drivers ferrying their children to the various extra-curricular activities, of fathers who have to work increasingly longer hours to keep up with the job. The invasion of our private lives made by the cell-phone and internet has certainly brought many advantages has also brought with it so many new challenges. Life is very often a true ‘rat-race’. Yes, even in the quite town where I live, Ferrara, many people dream of rest.

Although the imagery of this first phrase is one of rest, the way to achieve it is not the way most of us expect. We’re normally accustomed to planning our own ways of resting and relaxing. The sort that this is here spoken of is not ‘self-chosen’ – it’s ‘God-imposed’. “He makes me lie down in green pastures” means that He has chosen both the time and the place – and that’s not necessarily my dream vacation place!

We really cringe at the thought of another thing imposing itself on us. Rest normally means that I can do what I want, where I want, in the way I want – but here it’s not that way. God is stopping us. He’s making us lie down in the place of His choice.

This is what the second phrase speaks about, too. “He leads me beside quiet waters”. It’s true that we normally dream about quite places, but not always where there are ‘calm waters’. Our choice for rest might be somewhere a long way from water. How many times when we are looking for calm and rest we actually turn on the television? Some of us take out our ipods and turn to the store of games and music in order to relax. It might even be dancing or ball games that hold relaxation for us. The point here is that once again it’s the Shepherd who is deciding what we need. And if the reader doesn’t mind me asking, let me formulate the question: “When was the last time you sat down, Bible in hand, to spend an hour with the Shepherd?”

How you answer that question doesn’t really matter because whatever your answer is, it show you just where you generally seek your own comfort and consolation.

This is the point of the third phrase: “He restores my soul”. Isn’t this wonderful?! This is God’s goal – to give us a heart which is at rest, peace in the depth of our person. It’s not just a question of mental entertainment for an hour or two. It’s not just a question of an emotional rest for a week, or even a month of just-doing-nothing. It’s God’s presence touching our lives. It’s Him speaking to us and I am totally renewed.

In the Bible it’s fascinating to see how Elijah (1 Kings 19: 9-18) doesn’t hear God in the powerful wind, nor in the earthquake, nor even in the fire but in the “gentle whisper”. What a surprise! God meets with him and tells him not ever to run away again but to always obey Him!

Dear reader, these 3 simple phrases, so well-known to many of us, each containing some of the most precious promises of God, are so hard for us to accept in practice. And yet it’s just what God wants – for us to let Him be the real Shepherd of our lives. What renewal, what nourishment, what re-charging comes to us when in His presence we lie down and recognise that He does know what is best for us. This really is new life!!