www.bible.com/1713/psa.23.1-2.csb
What do you do to relax? Do you take in a movie? Read a book? Watch your favorite TV program? Maybe you go out with friends, or spend time alone. Regardless of how you recuperate, one thing is certain: you need rest.
Rest is more than sleep. Rest is peace. Rest is comfort. Rest is essential to our function. If we operate continually without rest, we will suffer, both mentally and physically. Are you in a place where you cannot rest?
This Psalm composed by David under the direction of the Holy Spirit tells us about rest. The Lord leads us to rest. If we are to find peace and comfort in this life, it can only be at the direction of the Shepherd. Sheep are willful, fearful things. They wander off, they do what they want, often to their own detriment. It takes a shepherd to lead them to their food and their contentment.
Yes shepherds do this to make a profit. This is how they make their living. Sheep are good for a couple things, making wool and providing meat. Sheep who are well-cared for can provide a shepherd with a good living. He knows what environment makes for sheep that are content. And he does his best to provide it. When David and Jesus apply this model to people, they aren’t taking about the profit, but the care and relationship between sheep and Shepherd. God doesn’t need anything. And there is nothing we have to offer Him that will give Him profit. God cares for us because He made us. We are His children. He loves us because He made us with His own hands. But rather than act like men, we often act like sheep.
Do you wander off and try to find your own way? You will find no rest that way. Do you seek to make yourself the center of your life? There’s no rest there either. God offers the rest of the comfort of the Father’s arms wrapped around you.
My wife showed me a video yesterday of a returning serviceman greeting his young son after a long absence. The young boy’s reaction was predictable, but precious. As soon as he recognized him, the young boy fiercely hugged his father. In front of all of his peers, as this was filmed at a school, the boy forgot everyone else. His father was all that mattered in that moment. His father’s embrace was no less. Do you long for that love? That’s the rest that our Father calls us to. That’s the embrace of heaven on the first day.
Are you longing for rest today? Spare a moment with your father. Enjoy the embrace of His love for you, even as the Father for the Prodigal. “Prepare the fatted calf! This son of mine was dead, and is now alive!” Experience the joy and rest of the Father, no longer a Judge of your sins, but Redeemer of your soul.
Enter thou the joy and rest of thy Lord.
Meritt Musings 