With the Lord as my shepherd, and the metaphor of me being the sheep, the picture is that I follow. When I follow I will find that I lack nothing. He provides. He brings me to places where my hunger is taken care of and my thirst is quenched.

He is the One who brings me rest. In this life of striving and hurrying and trying to make ends meet, he causes me to lie down.

Find rest, my soul, in Christ alone…

In Eugene Peterson’s memoir, The Pastor, he talks about his journey to becoming a contemplative pastor. He needed the time to reflect, to study, to prepare in his teaching so that he could adequately pastor his flock. He needed to cut the busyness out of his life and he eventually worked it out with his church’s leadership. He needed to trust his leaders and allow the Lord to give him that rest so he could adequately prepare as a pastor.

The striving is the hard thing. There is the fear of making ends meet, paying the bills, getting things done. And then there is the necessity to come aside. But, who is the Shepherd? HE makes me lie down… HE restores my soul…

When he leads us to those times of quiet we need to faithfully respond. Feed on his word. Drink from his promises. Find rest.