Reading: Psalm 23
Theme: Led Beside Still Waters.
With the Lord as our personal Shepherd and all the care and
comfort of Psalm 23 is ours to be known, enjoyed and
delighted in. It is good to know we are loved and cared for
by the Lord as our Shepherd and this is our position whether
we realise it or not - but it is much better to realise such, as
we can delight in all He does for us. Last week we saw
further of the Lord’s Provision and noted He makes us to lie
down in green pastures - which are places of superabundant
provision - His verdant word and the greens of grace. In
such places we can richly feed as we think about, meditate
on such and chew over the word of God to extract all its
goodness. Yet there is also an active experience, where He
leads us besides still or quiet waters.
The Shepherd of our souls has a flock with so many in it,
that no person could number them, yet the Lord leads, loves
and cares for each one of us as individuals as He leads us all
on to the promised land of heaven. He will bring all there
without losing one single sheep. If we were to look at the
flock we would see young ones, old once, ones who are
strong and healthy, others who are feeble and weak; we
would see those limping along as well as those prone to
wander off here, there and everywhere. The flock Christ has
would be a shepherd’s nightmare, but the Good Shepherd
knows and cares for each one and will bring each one safely
home. That is quite amazing - sheep are bad enough at
wondering, getting lost and into trouble, but spiritual sheep Christians - are even worse.
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The Lord Jesus does not lead His flock through an easy land
with rolling hills, neat hedged paths and roads, but through a
barren and dangerous wilderness with so many alluring
temptations and seductions along the way. With an enemy
like a roaring lion and wolves who would attack His flock.
The world is a desert wilderness and provides no
refreshment for the soul of Christians. Yes it gives us many
distractions, many seductively attractive watering holes, but
these are not the refreshment a Christian needs. We are
going to look at what David says in the 2 nd part of v2 and
apply it to the Lord’s care of and provision for our souls. I
want us to note 2 main things:
1. Ever Onwards.
The first thing we learn is that we are not to stay put in a
constant chewing over on and in God’s word. Our Lord
feeds us with the best with the aim to lead us onwards.
Green pastures and quiet waters go together so well, but the
Lord doesn’t want us to be always lying down after feeding,
for that nutrition is to help and equip us to move onward. He
leads us on - through the various stages and circumstances of
our lives. Sometimes we move on in our lives to a new
situation that is exciting and challenging, but at other times it
can appear fearful and daunting. Yet our Saviour is always
leading us on toward maturity, spiritual growth and toward
heaven.
The wonderful thing is that He leads us by and through His
word, by and through His providential dealings with us which eventually make sense in the light of His word.
Occasionally He leads us by divine promptings. We can be
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sure that our Shepherd will never lead us by the broadways
i.e. the paths of sin, of unrighteousness, of glamour and
show. The world around us likes those. The Lord does not
even lead us by easy religion and taking the path of least
resistance. As we will see in v3, it is always in the paths of
righteousness and sometimes we do not like that as it seems
such a difficult, upward and narrow path, but by those ways
He will lead us as we move onward and upward.
Those paths are not necessarily always green pasture
experiences. Sometimes He will lead us into dark, terrifying
places where we would rather not be or go through; other
times it will be into surrounded and dangerous places, but
even then we are to note that He leads us. The Middle
Eastern shepherd, unlike shepherds in the UK, leads his
flocks - calling them, even singing to them, but going ahead
of them and they follow him. In the UK, shepherds drive
their sheep. Our Shepherd will lead us and lead us so wisely
and gently. Sometimes we may feel we are being driven,
urged on into something and usually that is not the Lord. He
never harshly drives, but He gently leads and goes ahead of
us and if we listen we can, as it were, hear His voice calling
us on. Our own passions, our own pride, our own misguided
ideas and thoughts, as well as the devil’s influence will drive
us to do or want to do things.
As the Lord’s people we are well guided and well led. The
Lord, Jehovah, leads His people with wisdom and love and
always into that which is right and righteous. That said, it
does not mean it will be easy; nor that we will understand
everything as the Lord leads us as individuals. Are we
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listening to His voice in our lives? Are we keeping close to
Him and so have Him in view? One of my problems is to
distinguish what I want from what He wants! I have to
battle with my desires, my ideas being taken for His leading
and guiding. Sadly we can think our way forward is what
He is leading us into. Yes I know He can restore our souls
and sort out the mess we get ourselves into, but it is our
responsibility not to get into the mess in the first place! The
only way we can do this is to follow His lead and stay close
to Him. Wherever He leads us we can see those ways will
be:
2. Ever Refreshing.
Whether He leads us into green pastures, or even into a
wilderness experience, there will always be quiet still waters
to refresh us. As a shepherd boy, David knew that his sheep
needed water and where possible he would lead them by
quiet, still waters so that they could drink. Sheep, like
people, need water to maintain a healthy life. Water is
needed to help our bodies function aright. It is probable that
very few here drink enough water in a day - the
recommended amount is 3 litres a day and we are told this is
best to maintain a healthy body and digestion. Our Lord
always leads us in paths of righteousness and as He does so,
we can be sure there will be ever-present still, quiet waters.
Literally it reads “waters of rest”. What then does this
statement teach us in spiritual terms?
Charles Spurgeon, amongst others says that “What are these
"still waters" but the influences and graces of His blessed
Spirit?” These quiet, still waters are a symbol of the gentle
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and quiet work and ministry of the Holy Spirit. One of the
symbols, pictures of the person and working of the Holy
Spirit throughout Scripture is that of water. Other pictures,
symbols are used and these give us a many faceted
representation of the person and work of the Holy Spirit fire to indicate light, heat and power; oil for healing and
calming; a dove for the gentleness and peace. But here He is
pictured, symbolised as still, as quiet waters, waters of rest.
Water is refreshing and life-giving as shown in Isaiah 44:3
“For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on
the dry ground; I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring,
and my blessing on your descendants.” David here
represents by quiet or still waters - the heavenly peace and
inward calm produced that the Christian is privileged to
enjoy through the ministry and work of the Holy Spirit. Yes
the Lord may lead us through hard and difficult times and
places, but even then there will be available to us still and
quiet waters for us to partake of and to know His peace and
refreshing.
Sadly when we go our own way not following Him, we will
find no rest or peace and there will be no still waters for our
soul and we will end up dry and barren. That is the tragedy
of wandering away, we become dehydrated spiritually - dry
and barren, wilted, lethargic apathetic. We need the
refreshing water of the Holy Spirit in our lives as we feed on
God’s word, as we use the means of grace. This is not a
mechanical process. Sheep can get stuck on ledges in the
mountains by getting down to a grassy green outcrop, but
not been able to get back and although there is green grass to
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eat, they will soon become weak as they need moisture,
water to not only drink, but help digest their food. We need
the Holy Spirit’s help and blessing as we read the word of
God, as the means of grace are used, for it is He that comes
and gives us refreshing in our lives through the word and
through the means of grace.
The Lord Jesus spoke of this ministry of the Holy Spirit in
John 7:38-39 “’Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has
said, streams of living water will flow from within Him.’ By
this He meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him
were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been
given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.” Most often
the Holy Spirit is gentle, peaceable and quiet in His working
- the symbol of a dove.
Apparently sheep will not drink from a rushing noisy stream
or river. They need quiet still waters to drink in and from
and yet this water must not be stagnant or stale, but fresh and
refreshing. This is a perfect description of the “ordinary” or
usual working of the Holy Spirit as He ministers in the heart
of a believer - to refresh us, not to sweep us away or to
terrify us, or to keep us from refreshment, but He delights to
refresh us, to comfort us and to help us. In times of trouble,
hurt or fear, He the Holy Spirit will grant us peace, a heart at
rest and a soul refreshed. He most often uses the Scriptures
and what a thrill it is as we read the Bible, or as we hear a
sermon and the situation we are in seems to be addressed
directly! Sometimes in our despair, panic or fear the Holy
Spirit comes and, as it were, whispers peace to our souls and
we find rest, peace and are refreshed even in the midst of
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such a situation. Sometimes we are in despair and the Lord
comes to us through the ministry of the Holy Spirit and we
find a great change in our hearts. What has happened?
Reading Romans 15:13 we find out! “May the God of hope
fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that
you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy
Spirit.”
These things are not for exceptional Christians, but for all
believers, as all are being led by the Lord as their Shepherd.
The still waters are for all the Lord’s flock, at all times and
not just for special occasions, not worked up to be
sensationalised, but for all who belong to the Lord “For the
kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but
of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit”
(Romans 14:17). When God saved us, when He gave us new
life, it was by the work of the Holy Spirit and we went from
being enemies of God to children of God; from being against
God, to being reconciled to God; from being followers of the
devil, to being followers of the Lord Jesus and always led by
Him as our Good Shepherd.
Sadly we can, even as believers, wander away from
following Him, we will do our own thing and insist on our
own will and then we can wonder why our spiritual lives are
dry and barren! The reason should be obvious - we are far
away from the still waters. We need to go back to Him, to
obey Him and following His leading means we will obey
Him. It will mean confessing and forsaking our sin; it will
mean being restored and being led in the paths of
righteousness, for only there will we be where the Lord
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wants us - back beside quiet and still waters and knowing
times of refreshing from the Lord. In Pilgrim’s progress
Christian and Hopeful didn’t like the rough way ahead and
so they took a smooth looking path that seemed to run
parallel with it and they entered into Bypath Meadow, but
that track led them to Doubting Castle and an encounter with
Giant Despair. We can so easily take our eyes off our
Shepherd and wander from the path of His choosing and we
can find our lives dry and barren with no refreshment. It can
begin with little things - most often neglecting our own daily
reading and feeding on God’s word or leaving off our prayer
times.
This wandering away is not inevitable for the Lord leads us
beside quiet, still waters. Thankfully He has made
superabundant provision for us. Shouldn’t we delight in
keeping close to Him, in following Him wherever He may
lead us and not try to wander off as, when and where we get
the notion to do so! We have to recognise our dependence
upon Him for we, like ordinary sheep, have to question
where we would be without our Shepherd - especially with
cunning predators about us. The Lord has made provision
for our feeding and refreshing as we are told in this verse.
Do we delight in His provisions and use them fully? We
need to keep close to and follow constantly the Shepherd
and be refreshed often by the quiet waters of the Holy
Spirit’s person and ministry.
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