He maketh me to lie down in green pastures. Psalm 23. 2

The only creature that has more trouble sleeping than we do is a sheep. Everything must be just right: no wolves, no insect pests, and no hunger. Since sheep can’t find pasture, deal with pests or protect themselves, they need a shepherd. So do we!

Listen: ‘He makes me lie down in green pastures’, Ps. 23. 2 NIV. Note: our Shepherd chooses the path, prepares the pasture, and protects the sheep. What’s our part? Just follow, eat, rest, and stay close!

Of the ten commandments God gave to Moses, which one do you think required the most words? Adultery? Five words. Murder? Four words. Taking a day off? Ninety four words! That has got to say something to us surely? God knows us so well: He knew the storeowner would say, ‘Somebody’s got to work that day; if I can’t, my son will’. So God says, ‘Nor thy son’. ‘Then my daughter will’. ‘Nor thy daughter’. ‘Then an employee’. ‘Nor thy manservant’. God says, ‘One day a week you’ll say ‘no’ to work and ‘yes’ to worship. ‘You’ll slow down, sit down, lie down and rest. After all, I rested on the seventh day and the world didn’t crash. So, My child, repeat after Me, “It’s My job to run the world, not yours”’.

Spurgeon said, ‘Even the sea pauses at ebb and flood; earth keeps the Sabbath of the wintry months and man must rest or faint, trim his lamp or let it burn low. In the long term, we shall do more by sometimes doing less’. Today, if you allow Him, God will bring rest to your mind, your body and most of all your soul.

Selected from Word for Today, issued free and available from [email protected]