1 The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
3 HE RESTORES OR REFRESHES MY SOUL. Psalm 23
David was someone who had many demands on his time and his life. He had 400 men with him in the cave of Adullam and later 600 men with their families when he lived in Ziklag among the Philistines. Somewhere in the midst of all his troubles David under the inspiration of God’s Spirit wrote this short, but wonderful psalm, which we know today as Psalm 23.
The psalm begins with a simple statement that God is all sufficient!
23 The Lord is my shepherd; I SHALL NOT WANT. KJV Bible
Derek Prince said that if anything had been added to the phrase, ‘I shall not want’, it would have destroyed it. For example, I shall not want … wealth … health … victory over enemies, then there would have been lack in all other areas. David simply wrote that God could and would supply his needs, period!
This morning I was thinking more of another phrase from the psalm, ‘HE RESTORES OR REFRESHES MY SOUL’. I see this as a beautiful sign of God’s loving care for His son David and for us His children. He cares for our external needs but also for the inner needs of our souls and emotions. He knows better than us when we need refreshing to help continue with our daily lives.
In her book, ‘Seeing behind the veil’, Ana Werner describes a day when she had a sore throat, tonsillitis symptoms, but felt she had to keep going, with two young children and a church Healing Meeting.
‘My throat kept hurting. The more I talked the more it ached. … “Go lie down, Ana,” I heard the voice of the Lord command me.’ Ana lay down on the back row of chairs during the worship and raised her hands while lying down. She saw Jesus, He looked at her and blew Powerfully in her face and her throat stopped hurting. God gave her strength in that moment to pour out and minister to people and her own team. Page 52, ‘Seeing behind the veil’.
I was touched by what Ana said she’d learned that night.
“I learned two things tonight. Number one: it’s OK and necessary to take a step back, lie down and rightfully so, TO TAKE CARE OF MYSELF. GOD DOESN’T WANT SLAVES, BUT LOVERS. Sometimes we can work ourselves too much, FORGETTING THAT GOD VALUES THE PERSON OVER WHAT WE CAN DO.”
I thought that line by Ana Werner, ‘GOD DOESN’T WANT SLAVES, BUT LOVERS’ is a wonderful line. God loves us no matter the circumstances. Religion wants to make slaves of those loved by God. It’s not about performance, it’s about a loving God and His children here on earth and those gone on to heaven. Hallelujah
May the Lord bless and keep you today. Immanuel, God is with us.