Refresh

Ps 23:2b "He leads me beside still waters." ESV

 

Laying down in fresh, green grass is nice. My Shepherd wants to take me there...away from the stress and pressure that I may run from, He wants me to rest there.

 

But here is another place He wants me to be...by still waters. By pools of water that are calm, and still and cool and clear. He wants me to be there. He wants me to be rested and refreshed. What a Shepherd!

 

Sometimes I think that we believe that we need to burn ourselves out. That it is our obligation as believers to wear ourselves out. That is not where David was. If any guy had stress, if any guy had pressure, if any guy had a ton of responsibility, it was David. I am not sure when David wrote this. It could of been when he was shepherding sheep, or it could have been when he was shepherding Israel. Either way, he had to deal with burn out. If Saul was not after him, other nations were. In it all, he knew that he had a Shepherd who wanted him to rest and be refreshed.

 

How would he get there? God. God had to lead him. If he did it in his own power, in his own strength, in his own knowledge then he could expect pressure. But if he let God be is Shepherd, his Guide, his Leader, then God was going to take him to places of refreshment.

 

So it is with me. Who is leading me? Am I leading me or is the Great Shepherd leading me? All I need to do is look at my life. What characterizes it? Am I burning out or am I resting? Am I frantic or am I refreshed. Sure God will challenge me, but in that challenge I will find rest and refreshment, because it is what God wants for me.

 

So what is it? Am I rested and refreshed or am I tired and weary? They that wait upon the Lord, wait for His movement, wait for His leading, will renew their strength. They will mount up with wings like eagles. They shall run and NOT be weary, they shall walk and NOT faint.