He makes me lie down in green pastures.
Let me begin with the obvious, the Shepherd will not make anyone lay down if He, Jesus Christ, is not the Lord of your life. While it is obvious to many of us, it is not obvious to everyone.
One of the signs to a lost and lonely world that Jesus is the Lord of our life is a peaceful countenance. The world is an angry bitter but we are Kingdom dwellers walking in a foreign land. We are sojourners.
My place of peaceful recline is under a sprawling oak tree with lots of shade on top of a hill covered with lush green grass.
Obviously that is a vision of my soul at rest and I have not been there enough lately. My restlessness is stirred by my vision of so much to be done and so little time to do it.
Then I look at all the things that are troubling me and I have no control over any of it.
The Lord is my Shepherd.
The next line is “I shall not want.” But I do want, even as I take a moment to rest and reflect on all that my Shepherd has done for me I see He had purpose in saving me from death more than once. Not a spiritual death but a physical death. I know for a fact it was my Lord who took His staff, hooked me by the neck and pulled me back from the brink of a real death.
My gratitude for those moments left me with a real sense of debt to live this life led by Him.
Today He makes me lie down in green pastures. It is my only cure for this restlessness.
God’s will be done is not a euphemism, it is real and sometimes I get so caught up in the doing I forget that. Lying down in green pastures is only possible to enjoy fully when we trust God is fully in control and there is nothing being left undone that has to be done right now.
It’s a green pasture and I can eat freely when I get hungry. But for now, I am full.