Finding Peace
Psalm 23
The LORD is me 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 the path of righteousness for His name sake.
Yea, though I walk in the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for Thou are with me; The rod & Thy staff they comfort me.
Thou prepares a table before my in the presence of mine enemies; Thou annoints my head with oil, my cup runneth over.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all of the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.
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God is in control… in good times, in times of prosperity, if times of great fear and uncertainty, He is always in control. He leads us and guides us in all things, and though they may not always seem pleasant at the time, when we look back on them we realize the change that they brought about in our hearts and lives, and we are thankful.
God has walked with us through the valley of the shadow of death more than once, but he always brings us back to the green pastures and the still waters when we continue to follow Him along the path of righteousness. While those times in the valley were not pleasant, I would not be who I am today without that journey, thus I am thankful.
As Christians, or Christ-followers, we need to realize the promises that are captured in this passage!
God will provide for our needs… not necessarily our wants. He will give us His peace – that peace that is beyond our understanding or comprehension. Our soul is only truly at rest in Him. He will lead us along the path of uprightness and right standing with God – righteousness – but for His glory, not ours.
We will experience dark times, yes, that is also promised many times throughout the bible. But take heart! He will be walking beside us through all of them! His intention is for us to walk through the valley, not pitch a tent and set up camp! So often we begin to wallow in self pity when we are going through tough times, when we need to be clinging to Him and His promises! His rod is for discipline, and yes, being disciplined can truly bring comfort… weird, I know. When we have sinned, our souls are not at peace, but when we have been brought to a point of repentance we can truly be at peace!
At times it may seem that we are surrounded on all sides by our enemies… and gaining more each day. Even in the midst of that crowd, God can still give us an anointing for His calling in our lives. He can still grant us a blessing that will help us to achieve His plan for our lives.
I love the final verse though. “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all of the days of my life, I will dwell in the house of Lord forever.” The great goodness and unmerited favor of God will always be with us! We will be able to find our rest in Him at all times, now and for eternity! That is truly a promise that we all need to remember!
Just remember, God does not promise that our lives will easy, in fact He promised just the opposite! But, He does promise to be there by our sides through all of it. We will have hard times, times of persecution, trials and times of testing, but these times are used to bring us back to repentance and to draw us closer to God. Allow Him to lead you through everything in your life, both the good and the bad, and your soul will find rest.
August 6, 2008 1 Comment
