2020-04-26 Psalm 23:2-3 THE SHEPHERD’S RESPITE

THE SHEPHERD’S RESPITE (Psalm 23:2-3) Date: ____________________ Read Psalm 23:1-6 – There are moments in life when just the routine gets us down, aren’t there? Life seems to overwhelm us. We’d like to run away from it all. Listen to a mother who had had enough: “I hereby officially tender my resignation as an adult. I would like to assume the responsibilities of a 6year-old again. I want to go to MacDonald’s and think that it’s a four-star restaurant. I want to see who can blow the biggest bubble. I want to think that M&M’s are better than money because you can eat them.. I don’t want to change clothes because they got a little dirty. I want to enjoy every day like it’s summer vacation. I want to return to a time when life was simple. All you knew was to be happy because you were unaware of all the things that should made you worry or upset. I want to be excited about little things again like my new hot wheel or my new jump rope. I want to live simply again. I don’t want my day to consist of computer crashes, paper work, cleaning children, chores, depressing news, illness and loss. I want to be in the roller derby and believe the three stooges are real. So here’s my checkbook and my car keys, and my credit card bills, and my 401-K statements, my pager, my cell phone, my palm pilot – okay I’ll keep that – my fax machine and not least of all mortgage book. I’m officially resigning from adulthood. If you want to discuss this further, you’ll have to catch me because – Tag – You’re it! See you later, Alligator!” Pile COVID-19 on top of all that and you wonder if it’s all worth it, don’t you? We need some time with the Shepherd. David says, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.” God is our shepherd. So when life runs us over, we can be sure, we’ve been straying a bit. It wasn’t a compliment when God used sheep to illustrate us. Sheep are defenseless; they’re dependent; they’re dumb. You won’t see any performing sheep acts in the circus. Churchill once called a rival a sheep in sheep’s clothing; it was not a compliment. Sheep are directionless; they have terrible eyesight and they stray. So, let’s take a few moments this morning to come back to the Shepherd’s respite. Here’s what He’ll do. He’ll make us lie down in green pastures; He’ll lead us beside still waters. He’ll restore our souls. With Him as our Shepherd, we lack nothing. I. The Shepherd Provides Rations To lie down in green pastures and beside still waters suggests the provision of daily physical needs. And so our Shepherd promises. He advises we pray, 1 “Give us this day our daily bread.” That includes the totality of our physical needs. Paul says in Phil 4:19: “And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” That’s about physical needs. That doesn’t mean we can just sit around and wait, right? Sit down at dinner, look to God and say, “Okay, Lord, you promised. Where’s the beef?” No. We do our part. Paul worked as a tentmaker most of the time throughout his missionary journeys to pay the bills. But as he worked, God provided. But David has more in mind than that. Physical food is always reminder of the spiritual nourishment we need far more than we realize. Jesus told Satan, Mt 4:4: “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” We need spiritual food as much as physical. Miss a few meals and your body begins to diminish, doesn’t it? And miss a few spiritual meals, and your life will get chaotic. But while we see the cause relationship with the physical, we don’t see that with the spiritual. We wonder, why is my life such a mess? It’s because you’re not giving it any nourishment. Dale Carson, was former FBI, then sheriff in Duval County (Jacksonville). The jail used to put troublesome prisoners on a bread and water diet. But the young guys gloried in that – bragged about how tough they were. So Carson substituted baby food. They’d eat it when they got hungry enough. But they didn’t brag about it. He says, “One day usually got them back on their best behavior.” Well, spiritually, we need the milk of the Word, but we also need the meat. We need to eat it, then lie down and chew it, ruminate it, make it our own. We’ve no idea how much we need it. II. The Shepherd Provides Rest “He makes me lie down in green pastures.” Note, the shepherd sometimes has to make us lie down. It’s a beautiful pix David gives us. The shepherd was the gate for the sheep. Early in the morning he’d get up, they’d head out, find some grazing grass and eat. By mid-morning, the sheep were encouraged to lie down. Some do it naturally; some have to be convinced, but they grow best when they are lying down, chewing their cud – absorbing what they’ve eaten. God has made us as creatures who need rest. We grow best when we’re lying down. Rest is of first importance. This psalm begins not with motion, but with rest. God created everything in six days, including man on the 6th day. He told Adam and Eve what to do – have dominion – and then He gave them a day of rest before they did it. We need rest. And here’s a secret. If you don’t plan for it; figure a way to put it into the schedule; a little every day and occasional 2 retreats or vacations – if you don’t plan for it; it won’t happen. Satan will have wrapped around the busyness axel, overwhelmed and exhausted. Like the guy who went for his annual check-up showing signs of hypertension and stress. The doc warned him to slow down, take up a hobby, maybe painting. He readily agreed. The doc called a week later and asked how he was doing. He said, “Great, Doc. This painting stuff is wonderful. I’ve already finished 25 of them!” That misses the point, doesn’t it? We need physical rest, and it’s on us to get it. Your boss isn’t going to help; the world will lie and tell you that you have to have your kids in every activity and your own ambition will push you beyond your limits if you don’t plan in times of rest. It would be better if the Shepherd didn’t have to make you lie down – so, plan it in. But even more, we need spiritual rest. Sheep do not lie down easily. The shepherd Philip Keller says four needs must be met before sheep will lie down. They won’t lie down if they are afraid, if there is friction between them, if they’re tormented by flies or if they’re hungry. Those needs must be met before they’ll lie down. And, they fear rapidly running water. A shepherd would often create a little damned up pond to provide quiet water for the sheep. All of this our Shepherd will provide – if we stay close. That means daily time with the Shepherd. You say, “But I’m too busy.” But someone has said, “If you don’t have time to spend with the Lord each day, then mark it down, you are busier than God ever intended you to be.” Remember when Jesus visited Mary and Martha. Martha’s busy – making sure the house is perfect; making sure the meal is perfect; making sure her appearance is perfect. It’s clear Mary helped. At some point she “left” Martha once things were in order. She went to be with Jesus. Martha was ticked. She told Jesus, “Tell her then to help me” (Lu 10:40b). That’s the sheep ordering the Shepherd around! That’s what happens when we get out of balance. Jesus replies gently, 41) Martha, Martha, you are anxious (literally divided) and troubled about many things 42) but one thing is necessary. Mary has chon the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.” One thing is necessary. What’s that? Time with the Shepherd. We need to be reminded every morning who runs the universe. Life will get a lot easier when you get that fixed in your mind. And we need to remind ourselves every evening who runs the universe. Sleep comes much easier when we give it up to the Shepherd. David says in Psa 3:1: “O Lord, how many are my foes! Many are rising against me.” Know who those foes were? It was his own son, Absalom, and 3 his favorite advisor and many of his own soldiers. Talk about mixed emotions. You’d be afraid you were about to die; and you’d be afraid you might have to kill your own kin. A horrible dilemma. Yet David says, Psa 3:5: “I lay down and slept; I woke again, for the Lord sustained me.” That’s an incredible example of faith in the Shepherd. Some of us need to lay down and sleep. At a training center in Tibet for Buddhist monks, David Platt saw them walking in great circles, reciting mantras, spinning prayer wheels, bowing to gold statues – seeking the 8-fold path to nirvana. He asked one of them why he did what he did. He responded, "Because I want to find peace and rest." I asked, "How will you find peace and rest?" He answered, "I don't know; I'm still searching." Jesus has a simple answer to that. Matt 11: 28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” The only genuine peace and rest comes from knowing the Good Shepherd. III. The Shepherd Provides Restoration “He restores my soul.” Soul is the word used in Gen 2:7 when God “breathed into [Adam’s] nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature [soul].” So, David depicts the shepherd giving life back to the sheep. Why might he need that? He has strayed, gotten himself into trouble. Keller explains that a heavy, fat or fat sheep will lie down in some little hollow. Then it rolls on its side slightly to stretch out or relax. But the center of gravity shifts so it finds itself on its back with legs in the air. It paws frantically, but only makes the situation worse. It will die if the shepherd does not find it and get it turned right again. We used to have a turtle that our cocker spaniel dog loved to turn on its back. If not for our help, it would have died. So our Shepherd breathes new life into us when we stray. Compromise is so easy. Sin never presents as something bad, always as something good, even as something God is holding out on. Like Satan to Eve, Gen 3:1b, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden?’” “He’s holding out on you, Eve. That’s the best tree of the bunch.” And down she went. Thankfully, we have a Shepherd who restores souls. Ezek 34:16a: “I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak.” Sometimes we submit willingly when we see the problem. But often we don’t. Then discipline is required. A sheep might become a persistent strayer. Despite all the rescues and all the training the 4 shepherd tried to give him, he would continue to go his own way and get himself into trouble. So, as a last resort, the shepherd would finally break a leg of the little wanderer. Then he’d bind him up, put him on his shoulder and carry him until he became mobile again. Unkind? No – love. Restoration. Jacob cheated his way through life until He met up with God one night as he feared for his life before confronting his brother Esau whom he had cheated out of the family blessing. God showed him he had something more than Esau to fear. A man appeared and wrestled Jacob all night until he put his hip out of joint. But then Jacob knew he was dealing with Yahweh in human form. He lost the match, and he limped the rest of his life as a reminder, but the Shepherd restored his soul. Discipline is an act of love. Heb 12:5-6: “And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. 6) For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.” Discipline is hard – but discipline in the end is sweet. Recall how Peter went far astray – denying Jesus with curses for fear of Jesus’ attackers. At one point Jesus caught his eye, and that was all it took. Lu 22:62: “And he went out and wept bitterly.” He’s a miserable failure – like Moses once was, and David, and Abraham. But how gently the Shepherd restored him. John 21. Do you love me, Peter. You know I do. Then feed my sheep. Three denials; three confessions; and complete restoration. Perhaps you’re flirting with the world this morning. Jesus is a distant 2nd in your life. That flirtation at work is about to get you in deep. That ambition to make it big has already changed your values. The desire to get into college has led to cheating on tests. The pull of the crowd and the desire for more “likes” on Facebook has you doing things you never thought you’d do. Now is the time to turn around. The Shepherd is waiting. He’d rather not have to break a leg. Restoration is a prayer away. I Jn 1:9: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Confess the sin and let the guilt go. You can breathe again, face the Shepherd again. Come into the fold again. He’ll restore your soul. Conc – A man came into Chuck Swindoll’s office one morning and slumped into a chair sobbing heavily. He’d worked his way thru college, then worked his way up in the business world until he was at the top of his profession. Highly successful. But he said, “Pastor, just this week I’ve had to stand in court and hear completely false accusations made against me. I’m helpless. From age 18 I’ve done it all myself. But now, for the first time in my adult 5 life, all the crutches are gone.” He went on, “I’m innocent, but if I’m indicted today my career would be changed, my family hurt. I’d be ruined.” Then he said, “But I'll tell you something. Right now – right now I am willing to trust God totally. I've never said that before, but I'm saying it now." They prayed together, giving it to the Shepherd. The following Sunday Swindoll asked him, "How did it go?" With a big smile he reported, “They didn’t indict me. But you know something? That was the best thing that ever happened to me. For the first time in my life I can honestly say I want to get my priorities straight. I want the Lord to be first. Not business. Not success. Not money. Not even family. I want Him to be first.” That’s a man who’s ready to lie down in green pastures with a restored soul. How about you? Are there some priorities that need to change? Give it to the Good Shepherd. He will meet every need, and often far beyond the needs. But you have to trust Him. Don’t wait for the discipline. Do it now. Let’s pray. 6