He leads me beside still waters

He leads me beside still waters

Taken from the book – A  Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23 by Phillip Keller

Today we continue on with our study in looking at the Shepherd/Sheep relationship and how the Shepherd leads the sheep to water.

A sheep’s body is composed of about 70% water on average. It needs this water to maintain normal life functions.  Water determines the vitality and strength of the sheep and is essential to its health and well being.  When the water supply drops off the tissues begin to dry up causing weakness & serious damage to the sheep.

When sheep become thirsty they become restless and set out in search of water to satisfy their thirst. If not lead to a good clear water supply they will end up drinking from polluted dirty pools and can often end up with parasites.

So is the Christian, and we are comparing us to sheep so lets talk about that for awhile.

Read Matthew 5:6  - What does that say about us??

What do we do when we are searching?  Think about the non-Christian, There are many people today that are searching for something. Much like a sheep searching for good water. What kind of things might the non-Christian delve into in their search?  What kind of trouble might they encounter?

Sheep get their water from 3 sources, dew on the grass, deep wells or springs and streams.  Sheep by habit, rise early in the morning when the vegetation is drenched with dew.  They can keep fit on the amount of liquid they receive from eating. Devotion time? Wow!  What does that say about us? Early in the morning?

John 4:14 – Deep well, Samaritan woman, Ps. 42:2 – soul thirsts for God – look up others

We’re going to move on to the next line. He restores my Soul. I found this a fascinating chapter.

One might assume that if we are in the tender care of the Shepherd we would never need “restoring”.  But again, remember who wrote this psalm. David, scripture says, was a “man after God’s own heart”, yet he was downcast and needed restoring several times in his life.  Sometimes we go through things that “cast down our soul”.  In this book, Yancy talks about a “cast” sheep.  It’s an old English term for a sheep that has turned on its back and cannot get up without the help of the shepherd.

He says that if the sheep is not righted it can die within a matter of hours.  That is why it is so essential for the shepherd to count the sheep and keep a close eye on his herd.

Yancy says that “a heavy fat or long fleeced sheep will lie down comfortably in some little hollow or depression in the ground.  It may roll on its side slightly to stretch out or relax.  Suddenly the center of gravity in the body shifts so that it turns on its back far enough that the feet no longer touch the ground. It may feel a sense of panic and start to paw frantically.  Frequently this only makes things worse.  It rolls over even further.” Now it is quite impossible for it to regain its feet.  A sheep can die within a few hours if it is hot weather, If cool, cloudy and rainy it may survive a few days in that position.

Here we saw a sheep getting comfortable in a soft spot.  As Christians we could see a parallel here.  In the Christian life there is danger in looking for the easy place, no hardship, no demand on self-discipline. A place where we feel we “have it made”. Remember the rich young man who came to Jesus?  He had it all and was not willing to give it up

Another aspect of this was that sometimes a sheep would have too much wool.  The fleece would become long and heavily matted with mud, burrs etc. .  It would become cast, literally weighed down with its own wool.  This represents our old self-life. The outward expression of an inner attitude, the assertion of my own desire and hopes and aspirations. Here is where I find the clinging accumulation of things, of possessions, of worldly ideas beginning to weigh me down, hold me down.

The remedy for a sheep was for the shepherd to shear it.  Shearing is tough work that neither the sheep nor the shepherd enjoys but when it’s over, both are relieved.  The sheep is set free from a hot heavy coat.  What relief to be rid of it all.  We also in dealing with our old self-life, our shepherd will take the cutting edge of his Word to our lives.  It may be an unpleasant business for a time.  We will struggle and kick about. We may get a few cuts and wounds but what relief when it is all over. The pleasure of being set free from our selves.

Sometime sheep are “cast” because they are too fat.  When that happens the sheep-man takes long range plans to put them in different pastures, different grains etc.  His aim is to see that the sheep are strong and sturdy and energetic, not fat, flabby and weak.

In the Christian life we are confronted with the same sort of problem.  When we begin to feel that we have “arrived” in our homes, careers, lives. Read Rev. 3:17 -20

That is why the story of the shepherd that leaves the 99 sheep to go look for the lost one is so important. That shepherds first thought was that his sheep was “cast down” and it could die.

So now we see why Jesus as the good shepherd comes looking for us, because we are “cast” and we will die without our shepherd to set us upright again.

Some may feel that when a child of God falls, when he is frustrated and helpless in a spiritual dilemma, God becomes disgusted, fed-up and even furious with him.  That simply isn’t so.  Here we see the shepherds heart coming to “right” us.  God pursues us and sets us on the right path.

Once again, God’s grace extended to us as our Shepherd Restores our Soul.