Praise God our shepherd does what we cannot do as we rest in Him trusting Him to do it.
“He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters.” Ps 23:2 ESV
Please note the phrase “makes me lie down.” We must either choose to lie down and rest in God…or He will make us! Sometimes we humans want to keep on moving and hustling, but God wants us to sit with Him and simply BE with Him. We may have good intentions of wanting to work FOR God, but if we are not being WITH God, then we are only going to wear ourselves out. Moreover, nothing permanently good will come out of all our toil and labor anyway because we are not doing it WITH God. Every time we sheep stray, we are opening the door to trouble. Let’s work FOR God WITH God, and rest IN God in-between.
Then again, sometimes we get stuck and are not moving forward so God has to make us sit with Him for a while so we can be able to get going again. I remember many times when Beckie was going through her trials when God would allow yet one more episode that would bring us in for yet another hospital stay…but the problem is, when I was home, I wasn’t focusing on Him or learning from His Word, so He had to MAKE ME lie down in green pastures…recall green means life, life-enhancing and life giving. This was not only where Beckie could get some healing, but also where I could get some growing. God literally made me stop everything, all I had to do was watch over Beckie and focus on growing in Christ once again. Please understand I am not saying God made her sick so I had to lie down, but since she was going to be sick, He used those occasions as a means to make me lie down. There’s a huge difference. God works with what He is given, and using whatever is going to happen for our benefit is one of the many ways He works all things for our good.
Join me in memorizing 52 verses this year:
January: 1- Jn 3:16; 2- 2Co 5:17; 3- Jas 2:26; 4- Eph 2:10
February: 5- Jn 10:10; 6- Ro 6:23; 7- Rev 21:4; 8- Php 4:13
March: 9- 1Pe 5:7; 10- Jn 8:32; 11- Dt 30:19; 12- Jn 3:30; 13- 2Chron 20:3
April: 14- 2Chron 20:12; 15- 2Chron 20:15b; 16- 2Chron 20:17
May: 17- Ro 8:28; 18- 1Co 13:13; 19- Php 2:12; 20- Mt 5:4
June: 21- Lk 23:42; 22- Jas 4:7; 23- Pr 22:6; 24- Mt 5:3; 25- Jn 14:6
July: 26- Jas 2:19; 27- Dt 31:8; 28- Jn 14:15; 29- Jn 8:11
August: 30- Ro 8:1; 31- Pr 4:23; 32- Pr 18:21; 33- Ps 118:24; 34- 1Jn 4:4
35- Mt 16:24
36- Isa 53:6
37- Ps 23:1-2
<>< Peace, Diane
