A David Psalm
God, my shepherd!
I don’t need a thing.
You have bedded me down in lush meadows,
you find me quiet pools to drink from.
True to your word,
you let me catch my breath
and send me in the right direction.Even when the way goes through
Death Valley,
I’m not afraid
when you walk at my side.
Your trusty shepherd’s crook
makes me feel secure.You serve me a six-course dinner
right in front of my enemies.
You revive my drooping head;
my cup brims with blessing.Your beauty and love chase after me
every day of my life.
I’m back home in the house of God
for the rest of my life.
This well known, treasured psalm refers to the gamut of life, all of it. I would like to consider one part of it: Our need for rest.
You have bedded me down in lush meadows,
you find me quiet pools to drink from.
Away from the pressures of all the responsibilities of life, not to mention all the drama and trauma which inevitably impacts our world along with the world at large, we need those escapes, even getaways, but I’m especially thinking of simple rest in whatever form that takes for us. We need it daily, but it’s good to have a special time of rest set apart once a week, as in the Sabbath Day of old. And it’s good to have seasons and times when we simply rest.
The portrayal of the Lord’s shepherding of us here includes this so that we can say it’s a necessary element of life. All too often we continue on day after day, and even through weekends in a more or less frazzled state, not catching our breath, but rather gasping for breath. That is not the life God intends for us.
Instead we need to accept the good shepherd’s shepherding of us, his sheep. Together as his flock, as well as what that means for us as his individual sheep. After that we’ll be ready for what lies ahead until the next needed rest comes.
True to your word,
you let me catch my breath
and send me in the right direction.
In and through Jesus.
Jesus community 