Psalm 23 — “He Maketh Me to Lie Down in Green Pastures”
“He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.”
— Psalm 23:2
When David wrote these words, he wasn't describing something he had only read about.
He had been a shepherd.
David knew what sheep were like.
Sheep don't always know when they have had enough. They can wander looking for food when there is already plenty around them. They can become restless, frightened, or confused.
A good shepherd knows when it is time for the sheep to stop and rest.
David had learned something about God through caring for sheep:
Sometimes the shepherd has to make the sheep lie down.
“He Maketh Me”
That little phrase is easy to overlook.
David doesn't say:
“I decided to lie down.”
He says:
“He maketh me to lie down.”
There are times when God allows circumstances to slow us down.
We may have plans.
We may think we know where we're going.
We may even think we need to keep moving.
But sometimes the Shepherd knows something we don't.
We need to stop.
We need to rest.
We need to be still.
And sometimes the only way we will become still is when God removes the opportunity to keep running.
Green Pastures
For a shepherd, green pasture meant more than something pretty to look at.
It meant food.
It meant the sheep could rest without worrying about where the next meal was coming from.
David understood provision.
The same David who had spent years running from Saul could look back and recognize that God had provided for him along the way.
God didn't give David the throne immediately.
There were years between the promise and its fulfillment.
But God gave David what he needed for each step along the way.
That is an important distinction.
God doesn't always give us everything we need at once.
But He knows what His sheep need.
“He Leadeth Me”
David doesn't say:
“He tells me where to go and then leaves me to figure it out.”
He says:
“He leadeth me.”
The shepherd doesn't simply point toward the pasture.
He goes with the sheep.
That makes the next part even more beautiful:
“He leadeth me beside the still waters.”
Sheep can be frightened by rushing water.
A shepherd knows where the sheep can safely drink.
Again, David is describing something he knew from experience.
The Shepherd knows where to lead.
The Shepherd Knows What We Need
There is something comforting about the order of this Psalm.
First:
“The LORD is my shepherd.”
Then:
“I shall not want.”
Then:
“He maketh me to lie down.”
Then:
“He leadeth me.”
David's confidence isn't in his own ability to find the right pasture or the right water.
His confidence is in the Shepherd.
That changes the way we can look at our own lives.
Sometimes we are anxious because we don't know where the next pasture is.
We don't know what tomorrow will bring.
We don't know how something is going to work out.
But the sheep doesn't have to know everything the shepherd knows.
The sheep needs to know the shepherd.
Sometimes Rest Is Part of the Leading
We often think of God's leading as movement:
Go here.
Do this.
Move forward.
But Psalm 23 begins with something different.
Rest.
Before David talks about walking through the valley, fighting enemies, or facing death, he talks about lying down.
Maybe there is a lesson there.
We can become so busy trying to figure out what God wants us to do next that we forget that sometimes He wants us simply to rest in what He has already done.
The Shepherd isn't nervous.
The Shepherd isn't confused.
The Shepherd isn't wondering where the next pasture is.
He knows.
“Still Waters”
The Shepherd doesn't lead His sheep to water that will frighten them.
He leads them to still waters.
There is a difference between simply having water and having a safe place to drink.
God's provision isn't careless.
He knows not only what we need, but how we need it.
David had experienced plenty of storms in his life.
Yet he could still write about still waters.
The peace wasn't necessarily the absence of trouble.
The peace came from knowing who was leading him.
A Thought to Carry With You
David knew what it was like to be responsible for sheep.
He also knew what it was like to be one of God's sheep.
And perhaps that is why Psalm 23 continues to speak so clearly.
The Shepherd provides.
The Shepherd makes us rest.
The Shepherd leads.
The Shepherd knows where the water is.
We don't have to see the entire journey.
We only have to follow the Shepherd.
“He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.”
The sheep doesn't need a map.
The sheep needs a Shepherd, but remember the place where we find peace is in His Word. David was a special a person a person after God's on heart and King of Israel we find or still waters and green pastures in the Book.
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