The Key To a Life Of Satisfaction 1
Friends, we have come again to search the scriptures. Today I want to bring to you what I call, The Key To a Life of Satisfaction. Or, you can say, the All-Sufficient Shepherd and the Satisfied Sheep. And of course you would guess now where I’m coming from. It’s from Psalm 23, the Psalm of David in which most of us know by memory.
Psalm 23
The Lord is my shepherd;
I shall not want.
2 He makes me to lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside the still waters.
3 He restores my soul;
He leads me in the paths of righteousness
For His name’s sake.
4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil;
For You are with me;
Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
You anoint my head with oil;
My cup runs over.
6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
All the days of my life;
And I will dwell in the house of the Lord
Forever.
PRAYER:
Father, we’ve come again to search the scriptures. Today, Lord, we want to reason with You in this Psalm of David – this beautiful Psalm. And we are trusting that You would speak to the hearts of all who are reading, that You would give us the key to living a life of satisfaction, in Jesus Name we pray. Amen!
The text we just read is one of the psalms of David, a good illustration of what I call Applied or Transfer of Knowledge: Transfer from one sphere of life to another. And in this case it is the transfer of knowledge from the physical to the spiritual.
David, an experienced shepherd, here applies the knowledge of the relationship between a shepherded and his sheep to the relationship between the Lord and he himself – David. David is the sheep, a creature that is known for its weakness, having tendency to often stray. On the other hand, Jehovah the Good Shepherd is the personal Protector, personal Provide, a personal Pilot or Director. I want you to note that in scripture sheep is a metaphor. For those whose nature has been changed by God, those who are regenerated or born again: born from above, and they are thus different in attitude, different in inclination, different in desires and different in ambition. These are described as sheep. Those whose nature has not been changed are referred to (in the scripture) as wolves or goats – John 10.
This psalm refers to a life of satisfaction. It gives us a picture of a caring shepherded and his satisfied sheep. Let us start first with the care of the shepherd.
God is actively involved in the life of His sheep, in the life of His persons or person. Anyone who belongs to God through faith in Jesus Christ, I want to assure you that God is actively involved in your life, in your affairs – whether you realize it or not. But that is the truth. Notice the verbs in the psalm to show the activity of God. You know, a verb is a doing word, a word of action. He makes, He leads, He restores, He comforts. These are words of action. The psalmist says, He makes me to lie down in green pasture – or pastures of tender grass, in the original. He does not make me lie down in artificial grass. Artificial grass is what the devil makes you believe is the greener grass on the other side. And when you get there you discover that there is no greener grass. It is artificial grass. Those of us in this part of the world may not appreciate what I’m saying, but in oversees you find artificial grass that can be used from time to time. The green pasture is not vegetable salad.
That reminds me of a story of two business men who went overseas. And they went to eat in a restaurant. And they gave them salad. And one of them took a bite of it, and he said to his friend: ‘friend, is yours done? Mine is not done.’
He actually spoke in Igbo Language (one of the major languages in Nigeria): Nke gi o here ehe? Nke m eheghi ehe.
And that tells me they are Igbos, and probably from Anambra State. Anyway, that is the story.
The pasture, the green pastures, are His life-giving word: God’s life-giving word. Jesus said to the devil when he tempted Him, Matthew 4:4 and Luke 4:4: Man shall not live by bread alone –but by every Word of God. That is the green pasture. Unfortunately the Lord has a hard time making some of us lie down to enjoy this green pasture. It does not only make me lie down in green pastures, the Lord does not only make His sheep lie down in green pastures – He leads me besides the still waters. And again in the original it means waters of rest. The Christian life is a life of rest.
Matthew 11:28
28Come unto me all ye who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
I will cause you to be refreshed. Some people receive too much noise and restlessness on the inside of their lives. It is not just the young who are often described as the ‘young and the restless’ but also the old are restless. Restlessness is marked by dissatisfaction. And the struggle to fill the emptiness with something: just something. Some try to fill it with illicit sex, some with drugs, some with alcohol, some with entertainment…and the list goes on. This futile effort leads to increased restlessness. Why? Because nothing body maker can fill or satisfy a person made in the image of God and for God. God made us in His image. He made us for Himself and nothing can satisfy, can fulfill such a life – except the Maker. No wonder St Augustine, speaking of the Origin of Human Nature said, ‘You have made us for Yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they find rest in You’’.
Another servant of God of yesteryears, Blaise Pascal, echoes what Augustine observed. And he said, ‘there is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of every man which cannot be filled by any created thing – but only by God the creator, made known through Jesus.
Friend, only God can give you satisfaction. The psalmist goes on to say, not only that the Shepherd makes him lie down in green pastures, not only that the Shepherd leads him besides the still water, the waters of rest – but He restores his soul. He restores my soul. He restores my soul by sustaining me when I am sorrowful. He restores my soul by sanctifying me when I am sinful. He restores my soul by strengthening me when I am stumbling.
Friend, can you be identified with any of those experience: Sorrow, sin, stumbling? It is the Lord, the Good Shepherd who restores. That is not all He does. He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake. His love leads. It doesn’t drive. It leads me to do what is pleasing to Him for His name’s sake. Living a life that pleases God is motivated by His love. 2 Corinthians 5:14 The Apostle Paul says, the love of God constrains us. Living a life that pleases God is not only motivated by His love. It is also enabled by His grace for His name’s sake.
We will finish this psalm when we return next time. But friend, I want to challenge you now by asking you whether you are the sheep of the Shepherd yet or a goat or even worse a wolf? You become the sheep of the Shepherd by surrendering your life to Jesus Christ. Why don’t you tell Him, come into my heart, Lord Jesus Christ, and make me the sheep of the great Shepherd?
PRAYER:
Father, into Your hands I commit as many as are making this decision now. I pray, dear Lord, that You the Good shepherd will make them lie down in green pastures, that You will lead them besides the still waters – waters of rest, that You will restore their souls, in Jesus Name, Amen!