Day Five "Green Pastures and Quiet Waters

“He makes me lie down in green pasture; he leads me beside quiet waters.”

[Ps. 23:2]

Most of us are overcommitted. Our plates are full. We live life in a hurry. There is always somewhere to be and something else to do. Many days we have more to do than we have hours to get it done, but we try anyway. We get up early and go to bed late, burning the candle at both ends.

We learn to cope though we fight fatigue. We wear the badge of busyness like a badge of honor worn by a Boy Scout. We like having numerous irons in the fire and living at breakneck speeds. We see our over-commitments as what gives us validity and a sense of respect in our church and community.

God never intended us to live that way. Livestock have to have a break. Machines cannot run and endure when being red lined on the rpm’s continually. People cannot live at the pace of their lives without some negative consequences. Something has to give. It is not the job. Our livelihoods depend on that. It is not the kids. A good supportive parent will not only encourage their children’s over-involvement in sports, band, choir, academic excellence, and agriculture related events. They will also drive them as far as needed to ensure they get the best training and play on the best teams.

What about our souls? Something has to give when we live life at that pace and most often it our souls. We talked yesterday about God repairing our souls but those repairs will not last if we do not slow down to allow Him to continue to work on them. That is why I find Ps 23:2 so interesting.

The first thing that jumps out at me is David said God made him lie down in green pastures. This symbolizes to me a place of abundance, nourishment, and refreshing. God implemented this strategy in the Ten Commandments. “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of the Lord your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you.” [Ex 20:8-10]

When was the last time you intentionally rested and refreshed your soul in the Lord? Far too many are burned out physically, emotionally, and spiritually. If we are going to be revived this may sound foreign, but we might need to do less instead of more. We need times to live life slowly, to think deeply, to pray unhurriedly, and enjoy the presence of the Lord. You cannot enjoy God when you are constantly hurrying through devotions because you have somewhere else you need to be.

Our souls begin to dry up and wither. We continue doing, but cease feeling, and more importantly, cease being authentic on the inside. We have learned how to fake it but God is not handing out academy awards for our portrayal of Christianity. He calls for us to rest in Him and be revived. He calls us to live at a slower pace even if that means saying “no” to some people from time to time. It is time to slow down by the quiet waters. Let the peace and serenity of those times with the Lord revive you. A.W. Tozer said something that has stuck with me for years. He commented, “I prefer to keep company with God than men.” That doesn’t mean Tozer didn’t like people. It only means he loved God more. He carved out large amounts of time for private worship in the green pastures and quiet waters of God’s presence. We all could use more of this.

Steps to Revival

1. Write down your weekly schedule. Is your life out of balance? What things do you need to let go of in order to have more time with God?

2. What is your schedule doing to your family? Are you modeling a healthy revived soul before your family or are you faking it?

3. Do you prefer to keep company with God rather than men? If not, what do you prefer over God?

4. After today’s study what is God showing you about green pastures and quiet waters for you? What would those look like in your life?

5. Make a plan to incorporate green pastures and quiet waters into your daily routine.