Come away with Me...

The Lord is my shepherd,
I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside quiet waters.
He restores my soul;
He guides me in the paths of righteousness
For His name’s sake.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I fear no evil, for You are with me;
Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
You have anointed my head with oil;
My cup overflows.
Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life,
And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.~Psalm 23:1-6

This chapter of scripture has been ringing in my spirit since this afternoon. I tend to get antsy in seasons of waiting on God. Life is peaceful & good right now but I'm ready to get some things that are in the process going & it's not God's timing just yet. This causes me to battle allowing my mind to either begin to figure it out or choose to rest in Him. He prefers the latter so the Holy Spirit reminded me today that He MAKES me lie down in green pastures...He LEADS me beside quiet waters. I was instantly caught up in the thought of what this scripture looked like in my life. As I began to ask God the visual came. Will you walk with me as we hear Him whisper to "Come away with Me" The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. When we chose Jesus, God made sure that our every need was supplied & met ahead of time. Our hearts tended to, our tears collected & kept accounted for, our dreams planted in the depths of our being, our desires every so gentle placed upon our hearts. You see the Lord loves His own & He tends to us just like a shepherd leaving us wanting NOthing. Every need met. Will we trust Him for that today? 

He MAKES me lie down in green pastures or causes us to rest, to feel at home with Him, in His presence. Isn't that true definition of His Kingdom come, His will be done on earth as it is in Heaven?(Matthew 6:10) He leads me beside quiet waters, can you imagine that? Quiet waters. Sounds tranquil to me. I imagine a gentle flowing stream where life is poured into it moment by moment but there is still peace present all around this body of life-giving waters. John 7:38 speaks about rivers of living water saying that "He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, "From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water." A body of water may be quiet but still be powerful & produce life. This is what I believe is promised here. It is there in the lush green pastures with quiet waters that peace flows and our souls are restored. And from the abundance of this we are guided on paths of righteousness, for His names sake. Not because of a rule but because its the response that comes from a life lost in peace with Christ. We then carry His peace-filled presence and the lost & hurting see hope in our life causing them to wonder how to possess this peace. We then lead them to the source, Jesus.  I believe He is asking us all to let Him lead us to this place. Less trying more resting in Him. A less active thought life & a more quiet, peaceful one. One that is full of thoughts of hope in Him and less thoughts of our own, self destructing any peace we currently possess. 

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear NO evil for You are with me. He is with us but we must be in a place of rest to hear Him & to be aware. We don't ever have to possess fear for any reason because He is in our corner. He will not ever leave us or forsake us, not ever! His rod & staff comfort me, always. He freely gives us victory because His Son paid the ultimate price for it. So it's more about being aware of what's ours than it is about earning it. It is our inheritance & a promise. Let's not let it slip through our hands. Hold tightly to the hope we have in Him. Surely goodness & His mercy will follow me ALL the days of my life, and I will live in the house of the Lord forever. You see we were meant to live in this house, lay in this pasture of rest. Our peace won't come from "figuring" it all out. It will come from fully surrender our lives including thoughts to the One who already knows. He already paved the way. His faithfulness to David in these scriptures are just proof that our good is always on His agenda even if what leads to good looks more like a battle than a joy ride. He loves when we trust Him. Period. Won't you join me? Won't you stop thinking of how the future will unwrap itself & just trust the maker of our futures? It's worth it. I refuse to settle for anything less...