Rest for the Soul

Shepherd Me “Rest for the Soul”

July 7, 2019

Introduction

This morning, we are continuing our series, “Shepherd Me.” In this series, we are taking a look at love was Max Lucado said about :

Do more beloved words exist? Framed and hung in hospital rooms, scratched on prison walls, quoted by the young, and whispered by the dying. In these lines, sailors have found a harbor, the frightened have found a father, and strugglers have found a friend.

And because the passage is so deeply loved, it is widely known. Can you find ears on which these words have never fallen? Set to music in a hundred songs, translated into a thousand tongues, domiciled in a million hearts.

This summer, we are going line by line, phrase by phrase through this touching Psalm.

Read Text (ESV)

¶ The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.

He makes me lie down in green pastures.

He leads me beside still waters.

He restores my soul.

He leads me in paths of righteousness

for his name’s sake.

¶ Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I will fear no evil,

for you are with me;

your rod and your staff,

they comfort me.

¶ You prepare a table before me

in the presence of my enemies;

you anoint my head with oil;

my cup overflows.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me

all the days of my life,

and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD

forever.

“He makes me lie down in green pastures.”

This phrases emphasizes rest.

Illustration: Sleep Deprived Parents

I kept trying to open the front door of my house by pressing the unlock button of my car key.

Passed on couch: Upon hearing the baby cry I woke up and started rocking my arm. Was the baby in my arm? Nope, it was the cat.

I folded an entire basket of dirty laundry.

When my baby woke up in the middle of the night crying I answered the door thinking it was someone ringing the doorbell.

During my first month as a new mom I texted my husband (who was in bed next to me) to ask him where he was.

I filled a sippy with milk and handed it to the dog.

After a long night I had to run to the drug store. I sat at a red light for what seemed like forever — I even swore at a car that honked at me — until I realized it wasn't a red light. It was a stop sign.

I had to go a whole day at work like this:

I made coffee without any coffee grinds. It wasn't until the second sip that I realized I was just drinking hot water.

I'd been up two days after coming home from the hospital and realized that I hadn't eaten, so I made frozen waffles — and poured dish soap on them instead of syrup.

I finished a full grocery shopping trip, then fastened the baby into her car seat and drove away — leaving all of the groceries in the cart in the parking lot.

In the middle of the night, I tried to flush my 8-week-old’s diaper down the toilet, rather than throw it out.

Desperate to get some sleep and calm our son down, I wrapped him in a swaddle blanket. When he started breaking out of it, as he always did, I slathered it in packing tape to keep it on. Miraculously, it worked, and we all got a little rest.

“When you’re exhausted, your scheduling ability just tanks. Our daughter kept us up all week, and I think I may have logged about 10 hours of total sleep. I woke up one morning thinking it was Friday, got ready for work, and drove to the office. I leave before my wife gets up, so she didn’t even notice. I was like, ‘Awesome! No traffic!’ Then I got there, and the building was locked.

This phrase that we are looking at this morning is all about rest. Before, we look at the two points in your sermon notes. I want to keep in mind two things.

First, green pastures symbolize the place of rest. Throughout the sermon this morning, we are going to be talking about places of rest. Green pastures symbolize the place of rest.

Second, green pastures are made possible by the shepherd. Green pastures in Israel didn’t happen by chance or accident. Green pastures happened because of the careful and deliberate preparation of the shepherd.

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.

Green pastures symbolized a place of rest prepared by the shepherd.

This morning, I want to show you two ways in which God provides rest for our souls.

1. Rest from our troubles.

Illustration: The photographer for a national magazine was assigned to get photos of a great forest fire. Smoke at the scene hampered him and he asked his home office to hire a plane. Arrangements were made and he was told to go at once to a nearby airport, where the plane would be waiting. When he arrived at the airport, a plane was warming up near the runway. He jumped in with his equipment and yelled, "Let's go! Let's go!" The pilot swung the plane into the wind and they soon were in the air. 

"Fly over the north side of the fire," yelled the photographer, "and make three or four low level passes." 

"Why?" asked the pilot

. 

"Because I'm going to take pictures," cried the photographer. "I'm a photographer and photographers take pictures!" 

After a pause the pilot said, "You mean you're not the instructor?"

Sheep can’t rest when there is trouble. Trouble for sheep can anything from dangerous animals seeking harm to the sheep to agitation from tiny insects that drive sheep crazy. Trouble that keep sheep from rest could also come in the form of tension within the flock. Sheep can’t rest when there is trouble.

Same is true of us. It’s hard for us to find when there is trouble in our lives. Life is filled with trouble.

We live a most uncertain life. Any hour can bring disaster, danger, and distress from unknown quarters. Life is full of hazards. No one can tell what a day will produce in new trouble.

What troubles are we facing in life? What are the things weight us down? What are the things causing frustration, anxiety, and fear in our lives? What troubles keeping our souls from finding rest?

Maybe, we are facing health issues. Maybe, we are facing a period of change in our lives. Our lives have been turned upside down because of that change. Maybe, we are facing marriage or family problems. Maybe, we are dealing with fear of the unknown. We are not sure what’s going to happen next. Maybe, we are struggling with an addiction or have a family member struggling with an addiction that is ruining their lives. Maybe, we are struggling to pay the bills. Maybe, we are worried about our future. Life is not going as planned.

What troubles are keeping our souls from finding rest?

God offers us rest from our troubles. God doesn’t always take our troubles away, but God does give our souls rest from our troubles.

(NKJV) Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

In your sermon notes, you might to underline the phrase, “Come to Me.” God’s presence is the place of rest in times of troubles. (Repeat)

Philip Keller said, “In the Christian’s life there is no substitute for the keen awareness that our Shepherd is nearby. There is nothing like Christ’s presence to dispel the fear, the panic, the terror of the unknown.”

God’s presence is the place of rest in times of trouble. We don’t go through our troubles alone. God is with us. His presence is the place of rest in times of trouble.

We can enter into God’s presence at any moment through prayer, worship, reading His Word, meditating on Scripture. God’s presence is the place of rest in times of trouble.

There is a hymn that written in the early 1900’s that we sing from time to time. The title of the Hymn is “Near to the Hear of God.”

Here are some lyrics from the song:

There is a place of quiet rest near to the heart of God.

There is a place of comfort sweet near the heart of God. A place where we are savior meet, near to the heart of God.

The hymn was written by Clinton McAfee. This hymn was written in a time of trouble for McAfee’s family. Two of his infant nieces had died in 1903. God offers us rest in times of troubles. God’s presence is our place of rest in times of trouble.

There is a place of quiet rest, near to the heart of God.

2. Rest from Divine judgement.

Illustration: Danger

Sheep can’t rest when there is the immediate threat of danger.

Our greatest danger as a human is Divine judgement because of our sins.

(NLT) And by the same word, the present heavens and earth have been stored up for fire. They are being kept for the day of judgment, when ungodly people will be destroyed.

Our great dangers as humans is the Divine judgement because of our sins.

One of the most beloved stories in all the Bible is the story of Noah and the ark. It’s more than a story about Noah, an ark, and animals. It’s a story of Divine judgement, rest, and salvation.

(NKJV) Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. So the LORD said, “I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth

God was going to destroy the world through a flood. That’s divine judgement. We know how the story goes. Noah build an ark to save his family from the flood.

Do you what Noah means in Hebrew? Rest

Noah experienced rest from Divine judgement. Noah experienced salvation through the ark. He experienced rest from Divine judgement. The story of Noah point us to Jesus.

We have all sinned and deserve Divine judgement because of our sins. We can experience rest from sin and Divine judgement. Our place of rest from Divine judgement is the cross. We can experience rest, salvation because of Jesus’ death on the cross.

At the beginning of the message, I asked you to keep in mind two things. Green pastures symbolize the place of rest. God’s presence is the place of the rest from our troubles. The cross is the place of the rest from Divine judgement.

I also asked to keep in mind that Green pastures or places of rest do no happen by accident. They happen because of careful preparation by the shepherd.

Jesus prepared our place of rest from Divine Judgement.

Max Lucado,”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.”

Our rest from Divine Judgement didn’t happen by accident. Our rest from Divine judgement is made possible through Jesus’ death on the cross.

Conclusion

Is your soul looking for rest this morning?