"The LORD is my shepherd;
I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside the still waters."
Psalm 23:1-2
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Good day! Let's seek the Lord......
"Father, today I thank You for Your rest. I thank You for conquering death once and for all so that I many not have that fear of the unknown. I praise You for being the Good Shepherd and knowing what Your sheep need.
Forgive me of my sins, Lord. I pray that You will cleanse me with Your blood and with Your word. Sanctify me and keep me in Your fold.
I pray for the ladies joining me here today. I pray that You will give them Your rest. I lift them up to You today Lord and pray for their walk with You. Speak to them through Your word, convict them of sin, and I pray that You will restore them with Your Spirit.
In Jesus' name.......amen."
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Waters of Rest
The translation of Psalm 23:1-2 is:
"The LORD is my shepherd;
I shall not lack.
He makes me lie down in pastures of tender grass;
He leads me beside the waters of rest."
So many times we get bogged down with work around the house, changing diapers, chasing the kids, preparing meals, cleaning the bathroom, folding laundry, helping with homework, etc. etc. that we tend to forget to rest.
When I was in school, my father would scowl whenever I mentioned how hard the school work was and how tired I was when I got home. To him, school was NOT work! He graduated high school and that was enough school for him. My father has worked very hard all his life. He drove a truck 5 days a week from 2 in the morning until about 2 in the afternoon. THEN he went to work as a janitor at night. My mother worked fulltime as well as helped with the janitor business at night in addition to cooking and cleaning the house.
My parents know hard work! But one thing they do not know is that school work can also be hard in a different way than physical labor. Work is hard and it is tiring.
The Jews in the Lord's days on earth were very tired. They knew work, too. Not only were they working hard, but they were also tired from trying to obey all the laws of the Pharisees and Sadducees. These "men of God" were adding to God's laws in order to keep the people oppressed and themselves exalted.
Please read:
Matt 3:7-10
Matt 16:1-4
Matt 19:3-10
Matt 23:1-36
Jesus saw what these scribes, and teachers of the Law were doing to His people.
Matt 11:25-30
His yoke is easy and His burden is light. Praise God. What wonderful words these must have been to His people. They had the bondage of the Romans and the bondage of the Law to live under daily. No wonder many were giving up on both and turning to their own ways.
Gal 5:1
Acts 15:8-10
Praise God for His waters of rest!
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John 4:15
"The woman said to Him, 'Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw.'"
Some commentaries suggest that she is responding sarcastically, but others say she was sincere.
I feel she was sincere because she was tired. Tired of searching for the "right" man who would love her. Tired of having to draw water day in and day out. Tired of having to come to the well in the heat of the day instead of when evening fell in order to avoid the eyes of the other women.
Relief from labor is a good thing. Perhaps she is speaking as a woman who wants relief from the labor of searching for something to quench her thirst.
How many of you have ever watched the small sparrows outside during the summer? These little birds are constantly searching for food and water almost 24 hours a day. Yet the Lord takes care of them.
Matt 10:31
Jesus speaks to the Samaritan woman of relief from Spiritual bondage.
Matt. 11:25-- He speaks to the weary, not the rich and wise of the land.
11:28-- He speaks to those around Him because He sees them and what they are going through.
11:29-- Jesus' words assure us that He is here to give and not take from those around him. What a blessing that is to those who work: ease, light burden.
We are not completely "free" to do as we want. Before we have redemption, we are in debt. We have a debt we cannot possibly pay!
I know what it is like to be in debt. It is a horrible feeling knowing that you cannot possibly pay off the debt. We had to sell our house in order to finally be debt free. It was humiliating to be at the service of the credit card company. We were one payment away from losing everything.
Before we have forgiveness of sins, we are in debt to God. This debt we cannot pay and it keeps us in bondage to Satan, the world, and our flesh.
Rom 6:16
We are slaves to somebody: "either sin leading to death, or obedience leading to righteousness."
Rom 6:18- become a slave of righteousness and live!
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Life Application
"...that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw."
Yes, the Samaritan woman was tired of thirsting and drawing water. Wouldn't you be? We take modern conveniences for granted, don't we? Imagine having to draw water daily for drinking and bathing. We complain when we turn the knob and the water doesn't come out HOT enough for us!
Jesus knows that the yoke of Satan is hard and burdensome. These burdens we have here in the world take away from us.
But the yoke of Jesus is easy and gives us rest. His commandments are not burdensome:
1 John 5:3
The example Jesus gives us in scripture is one we should follow:
Phil 2:5-11
Psalm 37:7-11
Watching the weary and heavy burdened people around Him, we know Jesus had mercy and a sorrow filled heart. He was God in the flesh, afterall. The last time He walked on the earth He was in the Garden of Eden when all was perfection. He had seen Adam and Eve in all their beauy and glory. Their bodies knew no sin! Creation knew no sin.
Now He was walking in the desert lands and seeing what the sins of the people had done to His creation.
In Matthew chapter nine, we see Jesus come face to face with the people affected most by the sins of the world:
Matt 9:1-8 He heals the paralytic
Matt 9: 9-13 He forgives the tax collector and likens Himself to a physician
Matt 9: 18-26 - He heals the bleeding woman and raises a little girl from the dead
Matt 9: 27-31 He gives sight to the blind
Matt 9:32- 34- And rescues a mute from the demons
Matt 9: 35- 37 And many more came to Him......
Imagine Jesus standing there....looking out over the dry desrt lands as the multitudes came to Him: some limping from wounds, others groping the air because they are blind, some bound from head to toe because they were lepers......all coming toward Him. They were being harrassed by people near them. Imagine the sight.
His disciples were with Him. Imagine what they thought! They were humble fishermen who had probably never seen so many people in their lives....and now all these people were coming to Jesus and them for help. I am sure there was a bit of panic on their faces!
Yet, we have the words of Jesus:
"But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved to compassion for them, because they were weary (harrassed) and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd. Then He said to His disciples, 'The harvest is truly plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.'"
He is the Good Shepherd. He cares for His sheep. Having known what sin had done to His creation, Jesus is moved to compassion for them. Moved to the point of willingly laying down His life as the atonement for their sins to set them free.....free from that bondage, free from death.
And now, the Samaritan woman was about to be called as one of the laborers to help Jesus with the harvest.
Ask Jesus today to make you one of those laborers....so you can know His rest.
Jer 6:16
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Until next time........
"Never choose to be a worker; but when once God has put His call on you, woe to you if you turn to the right hand or to the left. We are not here to work for God because we have chosen to do so, but because God has apprehended us. There is never any thought of -'Oh, well, I am not fitted for this.' What you are to preach is determined buy God, not by your own natural inclinations. Keep your soul steadfastly related to God, and remember that you are called not to bear testimony only, but to preach the gospel. Every Christian must tesify, but when it comes to the call to preach, there must be the agonizing grip of God's hand on you, your life is in the grip of God for that one thing. How many of us are held like that?
Never water down the word of God, preach it in its undiluted sternness; there must be unflinching loyalty to the word of God; but when you come to personal dealing with your fellow men, remember who you are- not a special being made up in heaven, but a sinner saved by grace."
-Oswald Chambers
(My Utmost for His Highest, 1935)
Blessings,
Ruth
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