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EXCERPT
Welcome to volume two of the Psalm 23 study! We’ll be
picking up with the second part of verse two.
Psalm 23, Verse 2
“He leads me beside
the still waters.”
In the second part of verse two, King David continues on to
describe another action of Jehovah as Shepherd over his life. Upon first
reading this passage, we easily gather that David is being led to a place next
to waters that are calm and still. However, as we saw in the previous volume of
this study, there is much more to discover about these verses when we look at
the original text. So, let’s take a deeper look.
“He leads me beside the still waters.”
“leads” - nahal (Hebrew transliteration) – v. 1)
to lead with care; 2) to give rest; 3) to refresh (as with food)
1) To Lead With Care
As we look at this first definition of “lead,” we find that
our heavenly Shepherd guides His sheep and directs us in the way that He wants
us to go. Not only does he guide us, but he does so with patience and
gentleness, insuring that we are safe and in good condition. This reinforces
some of the things that we discovered in volume one of the study. Here again we
see that God is not using force against His sheep to make us comply. Instead, He
leads with a gentle hand of protection. His actions are borne from love and we
as His sheep should respond in loving obedience. This loving interaction is the
very nature of the Shepherd/sheep relationship.
2) To Give Rest
When thinking of how we use the word “lead” from day to day,
this particular definition may seem a little odd. We normally do not associate
leading with giving someone rest. However, when you consider the first passage
of verse two (“He makes me to lie down…”), we find that God’s leading in this
second part is simply a continuation of the peaceful rest that we discovered in
the first passage. Though He is leading, and as His sheep we are engaged in the
act of following, we are still at rest as we do so. Only through God can we
accomplish being in action AND being at rest at the same time!
This sort of active rest is just one of the benefits of
being under the yoke of God. (See Matthew 11:30) As His submitted
sheep/followers, we allow God to use His authority and power to lead the way
while we remain at rest in Him. Does that mean that we never take action? No,
not at all. It simply means that we do not try to plot our own paths nor do we
run ahead of God and try to forge our way with our own strength. The Shepherd
goes first for a reason! It is His job to clear the path of obstacles that can
harm His sheep and to scare off any vicious animals waiting to attack. When we
get anxious, or leave our state of rest to run ahead of God, we put ourselves
in danger.
3) To Refresh (as
with food)
So far, we have discovered that the Shepherd’s leading
involves His gentle, loving guidance and peaceful rest for His sheep/followers.
In this final definition of “lead,” we find yet another benefit – a refreshing!
To refresh means “to give new strength; to reinvigorate,” but this particular
reinvigoration involves God feeding His sheep as a part of His leading. What
does this mean exactly? Consider John 6:25 – “Jesus replied, I am the Bread of Life. He who comes to Me
will never be hungry, and he who believes in and cleaves to and trusts
in and relies on Me will never thirst any more (at any time).”
(Amplified) Here we see that Jesus is
our bread so as He leads us, we are feeding on Him!
We know that we
are not literally eating his flesh, but rather we are being refreshed,
strengthened, and reinvigorated by His love, grace, joy, wisdom and all the
other attributes of His righteousness. Here is where we begin to really
understand that our Christian journey is just as important as our final
destination. Yes, there are many wonderful blessings waiting for us at the
place where God is leading us to, but being able to partake of His fullness on
the way there is an invaluable gift. Take time to enjoy the Lord as He is
leading you!
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