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He leadeth me...


Psalm 23:2b

"...he leadeth me beside the still waters."

At first glance, this sounds very similar to the previous posting, "He maketh me to lie down in green pastures."  They both sound very restful, very comforting.  But let's look at it a little different way today. 


We hear throughout Scripture the realization that "His way is perfect" (Ps. 18:30); "My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord" (Is. 55:8).  His ways are far beyond our ways, but that's not to stop us from obeying Him.  He says in James 1:22, we're to be "doers of the word, and not hearers only."  I could go on, but you get the point.  Put simply, as the Good Shepherd, He leads us; and as His sheep, we are to follow.


The second point I want to make (and I've spoken on this subject many times), but it's the fact that we--even as Christians--tend to just want to go our own way.  We as sheep are stubborn and willful, and just desirous of going our own way.  Be careful, Christian!  That can get you into a whole lot of trouble!  Just ask the Israelites who had to wander in the wilderness for 40 years!  We're just as rebellious.


Let me remind you of something:  God's ways are always good and they always have a purpose.  Romans 8:28 says this: "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose."  First of all, it says all things...it doesn't say some things, or part of life; no, it says all things.  Now, that doesn't mean that everything in life will be good.  We're going to have bad things happen; we're going to have trials in this life.  That's part of living.  But God does go on to say that all things will work together for good.  All things are working together--much like a recipe, ladies.  If you were to take a recipe, some of the ingredients may not taste good by themselves, but to mix them all together with the remaining ingredients, well, then you have a hit!  You have something that tastes good...but it's not without mixing with those other ingredients, and it's not without going through some difficult procedures that often include heat.  All those procedures cause the product to form something good.  Let's not stop there though.  God goes on to say that it's all according to His purpose.  You see, God is a God of order and reason and purpose.  He never does anything without a purpose.  And what does this passage say is the purpose?  ...verse 29 b says that we might "be conformed to the image of His Son."  That is God's purpose in the mixings of our life, that we might be conformed to His image.  Question is, how much are we conforming to Christ's image?


Let me close with this additional thought:  Our verse says, "he leadeth me beside the still waters."  Water is oftentimes referring to the Holy Spirit.  God desires that we follow Him, follow the Holy Spirit.  He is guiding us; all He wants is for us to follow, one step at a time.  And dear one, those are still waters.  His way is restful, peaceful, tranquil, comforting!  Aren't those precious words?  God is all that, and more!  He is a loving, compassionate Savior...just desiring for us to follow. 


                      May we follow the Savior today!

                                  Merle
                            

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