Psalm 23:2
He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still water.
The Shepherd’s Care for My Body: He abundantly provides for me, even when I am in a wilderness
Today is Day 2 of a set of meditations from Psalm 23.
Here we further encounter the Shepherd and come to know more of His sensitivity to the physical needs of his sheep.
The Holy Spirit has given this psalm to us by which we can take encouragement both from His relationship to us, as well as our experience of His goodness to us because we belong to Him.
What a joy that our Shepherd is “Yahweh,” the “I am that I am.” He is the one who revealed himself to Moses in the burning bush while in the wilderness. Yahweh, hearing the cries of His suffering people, was calling this shepherd of sheep to become shepherd of the Hebrews to deliver them from Egyptian captivity. This same Yahweh is our shepherd, the one who even today hears the cries of his needy people and takes action.
He is not simply a shepherd; He is “my shepherd.” He is your shepherd. He is Yahweh, your covenant God.
Previously, we look at how the shepherd lovingly cares for His sheep. As a faithful shepherd, He will not let the wandering sheep be lost, but he will go seek it. Isaiah 40:11 pictures for us the tender heart which He has towards the vulnerable lambs which he carries close to His heart, towards the pregnant ewes needing protection. Remember, this Yahweh is the same one who created all things simply by speaking it into being! We can have complete confidence in His all powerful, all loving provision for us.
He is not simply a shepherd; He is my shepherd. He is Yahweh, my covenant God.
He leads me beside the waters of peace
As we reflect upon this second verse of Psalm 23, we will observe how Jesus, as our shepherd, has concern regarding our physical wellbeing. As God Incarnate, as the second member of the Trinity having taken on flesh and blood, even as ours, having lived in a body, aware of what it is like to be hungry and thirsty, weary, without even a place of his own to lay his head.
For Each Study, we will be going through six steps:
Relax and Refocus
Read
Reflect
Respond
Rest
Trying it on
Relax and Refocus
Find a spot where you can sit comfortably, away from other distractions as much as possible. Are you thirsty? Even if you are not aware of being so, you may be even a bit dehydrated. Support yourself in being able to be calm and focus by rehydrating. Drink some water with a pinch of salt or electrolyte water.
As you pull aside from all the responsibilities, the many cares, the overwhelming burdens of your day, remember that the Lord loves you. He cares about the matters which weigh you down, and you can entrust them fully to Him as you look to Him now.
Take a moment to say to yourself, “The Lord is MY Shepherd.” Furthermore, “The Lord says that He is my shepherd, that He is __________ shepherd.” Put your name in the space.
I praise you, Yahweh, my shepherd and king, for making me one of your beloved. I praise you for your kindness and compassion upon your helpless sheep.
Even though you already know my needs, you still invite me to bring my needs to you, as your beloved child. Even as you revealed yourself to Moses in the wilderness, I know that you are present with your sheep, with your people, with me, particularly when I am in a wilderness, in a place where I cannot envision how my needs are going to be met.
In peace I will both lie down and sleep, For You alone, O LORD, make me to dwell in safety.
Psalm 4:8
Pause and Pray
Read
Each day we will prayerfully read through the entire psalm, focusing on a particular verse. As you read this psalm aloud, focusing on verse 2, reading and rereading it, emphasize a different word each time you read it.
Psalm 23
Yahweh is my shepherd; I lack nothing, for with Him I have everything that I need.
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still water.
3 He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness
For His name’s sake.
4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me;
Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
You have anointed my head with oil;
My cup overflows.
6 Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life,
And I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.
still waters
Notes:
In the original Hebrew, the word for “makes me lie down” means “to stretch out.”
In Hebrew, “still water” refers to “resting place, quietness”
A wadi (/ˈwɒ.di/ WOD-ee; Arabic: وَادِي) is a river valley or a wet (ephemeral) riverbed that contains water only when heavy rain occurs. This water runs swiftly, picking up and carrying sediment with it as it flows.
The topography of Israel is such that a shepherd must be very mindful of the regions in order to find adequate water and food for his flock. The western hills, as opposed to the Judean wilderness of Israel, receive very different quantities of annual rainfall, making pasturing the flock a challenge. In the Judean wilderness there might be only as little as 2 to 5 inches of rain annually, making every little bit of green growth appearing between the rocks to be of value. When rain falls in the northern regions, it flows rapidly between the rocks, cutting a trench as it flows. The southern shepherds do not necessarily know about the rain until a rapid flow appears. Shepherds will use these wadis, these trenches-even steep caverns, for moving their sheep from pasture to pasture. They need to be mindful as to the possibility of swift water appearing through the wadi.
About a 3,000-foot difference in elevation exists between Capernaum on the Sea of Galilee, below sea level, and the city of Jerusalem, only about 80 miles distance away.
Reflect
Questions to guide you in pondering the passage
Yahweh is my shepherd, I lack nothing, for with Him I have everything that I need.
He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters,
He makes me stretch out in green pastures. He leads me beside the waters of rest (lit.)
He makes me stretch out in green pastures
*As you read the second verse aloud, consider what does the shepherd do for His sheep?
*What picture comes to mind with the words “lie down in green pastures?”
*What does the shepherd not do?
Reading this verse in the original Hebrew, the word for “makes me lie down” means “to stretch out.”
Do the sheep have the posture of anticipating the need for escape?
The Shepherd anticipates the need and leads the sheep to provision. He looks to ensure that we can rest securely in comfort and abundance, knowing what may create a temptation for anxiety. He provides compassionate care so that there is no need to be in a state of alertness, but rather can rest and calmness.
He cares about our bodies, recognizing our human limitations, for he himself lived in a body. He understands our capacity level, our stress tolerance. He fully understands our need for rest. Psalm 103: 14 says, “For He Himself knows our form; He remembers that we are but dust.” The One who participated in the Creation of all things, visible and invisible, forming Adam from the dust of the earth, designed His world with a provision for rest. He created a Sabbath rest each week for us!
Are we willing to receive His rest which He offers to us? Envision yourself lying down in bed, relaxing your body and your brain. How can you receive His rest? What do we do with our spinning thoughts and overwhelming emotions? How can we find peace? Where does peace come from? By placing our full heart attention on Him, by giving full focus upon His Word.
Jesus says in John 10 in his discussion of his being the good shepherd, “I came to give life and to give it abundantly.” What would be the picture of abundance for His sheep?
He fed the crowd of 5000 while in the wilderness, and there were 12 basketfuls of bread left over! This is the abundant power and compassion and provision of our Shepherd
He leads me beside waters of rest
*As the Shepherd leads, where is He located?
*How does the Shepherd lead?
*When you hear the words “still waters,” what comes to mind?
The shepherd knows the source of clean, pure water. As he leads them to refreshing water, he goes before them. What they see is not the path before them, but rather the Shepherd himself. He knows that the best water is spring fed, rather than the run-off water which flows through the wadis, the drainage paths cut in the wilderness by the rains from further north. The sheep do not know the difference and will find themselves in danger should they choose their own source of water. The spring fed water is what truly refreshes, what truly gives life and sustenance.
Our Shepherd, Jesus, offers himself as “living water” to the Samaritan woman beside a deep, spring fed well located in a wilderness space. Yahweh provided water out of a rock for His children while they lived in the wilderness those 40 years. Jesus, who calls himself the “living water,” leads us to the water of life. Yahweh urges His people, “You have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, to hew for yourselves cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water.” (See the passages listed out in Going Deeper: John 7: 37 – 39 and Jer. 2: 13.)
*Who is it that has the true power to do the restoring, the refreshing?
He says to me that I shall lack nothing
*If the shepherd is the One who does this, can any other person or source provide what my soul requires?
Does the author of creation do anything half-way?
*How do you cope with your own limitations? What limitations do you find most troublesome? What do you think that Jesus thinks of those limitations?
*The Shepherd provides a place of safety for us. Does this safety mean that we will not have challenges and grow?
*What does it look like for us to have compassion upon ourselves from God’s perspective provided here as opposed to that of the culture around us?
He makes me stretch out in green pastures. He leads me beside waters of rest.
Respond
What do you most want to say to Yahweh as a result of this meditation? What questions do you have for Him?
Perhaps write down your prayer? Writing our thought prayers can help guard us from getting distracted from other things.
O, Lord Jesus, my shepherd, Draw me close to your side. May I look to you for the true living water which can only refresh my soul. May I not turn to other sources of water which are not pure and nourishing to my soul. May my ears ever be turned to your voice, my heart in alignment to walk with you in prayer now and throughout my day. Amen.
Pause and Pray
Rest
Take a moment to soak in what has most struck you so far about Jesus as your shepherd. Write down this thought. Perhaps you will find yourself moving into worship or quiet rest in His presence.
Trying It On
How can this truth about Jesus impact your daily walk with Him? If these words about Jesus were not true, then what would your life look like?
How does God view us when we have many responsibilities and burdens upon us and we are weary, worn, and tired?
What are some choices which you can make in order to receive the rest, the Sabbath which He put into the Creation design? As He, as the master creator, took a day simply to rest and rejoice in His creation, how much more do we need to do so, as created in His image? How can you make plans to participate in worship with Yahweh’s people, take time to rejoice in Him and enjoy His presence through His Word? In what way do you need to pull away and rest
Shalom