The chapter I'm quoting from is, I Will Give You Rest, pages 37-43.
"Only one other living creature has as much trouble resting as we do. These creatures are woolly, simpleminded, and slow. No, not husbands on Saturday-sheep! Sheep can't sleep.
For sheep to sleep, everything must be just right. No predators. No tension in the flock. No bugs in the air. No hunger in the belly. Everything has to be just so.
Unfortunately, sheep cannot find safe pasture, nor can they spray insecticide, deal with the frictions, or find food. They need help. They need a shepherd to 'lead them' and help them 'lie down in green pastures.' Without a shepherd, they can't rest.
Without a shepherd, neither can we.
In the second verse of the Twenty-third Psalm David the poet become David the artist. His quill becomes a brush, his parchment a canvas, and his words paint a picture. A flock of sheep on folded legs, encircling a shepherd. Bellies nestled deep in the long shoots of gass. A still pond on one side, the watching shepherd on the other. "He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters" (Ps. 23:2 NKJV).
Note the two pronouns preceding the two verbs. He makes me....He leads me...
Who is the active one? Who is in charge? The shepherd. The shepherd selects the trail and prepares the pasture. The sheep's job-our job-is to watch the shepherd. With our eyes on our Shepherd, we'll be able to get some sleep. "You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You" (Isa. 26:3 NKJV).
We see the waves of the water rather than the Savior walking through them.
Change your focus and relax.
Life can get so loud we forget to shut it down.
God's message is plain: "If creation didn't crash when i rested, it won't crash when you do."
Repeat these words after me: It is not my job to run the world.
A century ago Charles Spurgeon gave this advice to his preaching students:
Even beasts of burden must be turned out to grass occasionally; the very sea pauses at ebb and flood; earth keeps the Sabbath of the wintry months; and man, even when exalted to God's ambassador, must rest or faint, must trim his lamp or let it burn low; must recruit his vigor or grow prematurely old...In the long run we shall do more by sometimes doing less.
...for you to be healthy, you must rest. Slow down, and God will heal you. He will bring rest to your mind, to your body, and most of all to your soul. He will lead you to green pastures.
Green pastures were not the natural terrain of Judea. The hills around Bethlehem where David kept his flock were not lush and green. Even today they are white and parched. Any green pasture in Judea is the work of some shepherd. He has cleared the rough, rocky land. Stumps have been torn out, and brush has been burned. Irrigation. Cultivation. Such are the work of a shepherd.
Hence, when David says, "He makes me to lie down in green pastures," he is saying, "My shepherd makes me lie down in his finished work." With his own pierced hands, Jesus created a pasture for the soul. He tore out the thorny underbrush of condemnation. He pried loose the huge boulders of sin. In their place he planted seeds of grace and dug ponds of mercy.
And he invites us to rest there. Can you imagine the satisfaction in the heart of the shepherd when, with work completed, he sees his sheep rest in the tender grass?
Can you imagine the satisfaction in the heart of God when we do the same? His pasture is his gift to you. This is not a pasture that you have made. Nor is it a pasture that you deserve. It is a gift of God. "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God" (Eph. 2:8 NIV).
In a world rocky with human failure, there is a land lush with divine mercy. Your Shepherd invites you there. He wants you to lie down. Nestle deeply until you are hidden, buried, in the tall shoots of his love, and there you will find rest."
