Worship
As you begin your quiet time today, I encourage you to listen to “Abide (live)” by UPPERROOM and Aaron Tedeschi You can find the playlist of all the music from our daily devotional with the links to your preferred platform here
Scripture
Psalm 23:1-3
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. 2 He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. 3 He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
Devotional
Each of us goes through life as sheep without a shepherd until we meet Jesus. Isaiah 53 says that we have each like sheep gone astray, each turning to his own way. We are spiritual beings, purpose built for worship, looking for meaning, purpose, hope, security, safety, comfort and provision. As a consequence, because we are built for worship, we make god’s out of any manner of things until we meet the one true and living God, the shepherd of our souls, Jesus.
King David, who wrote this psalm was a shepherd himself by trade. He grew up tending to his father’s sheep and reflected the Father’s heart as a shepherd of his people. He was kind, wise, protective, nurturing and tender. It is likely that David was such a good shepherd of both sheep and the Lord’s people because he understood how to be loved by the Lord himself, his insights into the Lord as his shephard are a powerful reflection of this.
In Psalm 23 David, inspired by the Holy Spirit reveals to us what it is like to be led by the Lord, the first thing that David says about the leadership of the Lord is that because God is his shephard, he is in want of nothing, for God is a good shephard - all of his needs are met in and through the Lord.
Our souls, built to worship, are tossed around, restless and buffeted by the deceitfulness and futility of idolatry until they find the Good Shepherd. The Lord makes us lie down in green pastures, he takes us to places of sustenance, health and nourishing for our souls. He knows where the good grass is and he makes us lie down, he gives us rest for our weary souls. Is this not what Jesus taught us? He, the Good Shepherd said ‘come to me all who are weary and heavy burdened and I will give you rest for your souls’. This does not mean that Jesus is the way to an easier life - not at all, it’s so much better than that. Jesus is the green pasture, he is rest. What this means is that if he is your shephard, no matter what is going on in your life - as you stick close to Jesus you will have rest for your soul.
For so many of us this is the healing our hearts need today, soul rest. Are you weary? Are you tired? Come to the Good Shepherd and lie down in his arms.
David then wrote of the Lord that “He leads me beside still waters”. Jesus gives us living water to drink, refreshing our dry and parched souls. When we come to him we come to the river of living water, not a tumultuous torrent that’s impossible to drink from, or a broken cistern that cannot hold water - no, the Good Shepherd Jesus leads us to the calm and still waters of his presence to find refreshment for our souls. As David says: ‘He restores my soul’. This is the work of the Good Shepherd, the restoration of our souls. This word restoration also means to ‘turn back’, so Jesus restores, resets and refreshes our souls.
Are you stressed today? Overwhelmed? Anxious about many things? Come to Jesus, lie down in his presence, drink from the still waters and let him restore your soul.
Prayer
Yes Lord, my soul needs refreshing today! I can tend to get overwhelmed sometimes, my mind races, anxious thoughts assail me - I really need deep soul rest. My body lies down but my mind races, my eyes shut but my heart does not seem to rest. I need you Jesus, my good shepherd. Restore my soul Lord.