"He makes me to lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside still waters."
I can't imagine how many times I have read, or listened as someone else read, this verse from Psalm 23. But this morning a reading from Studdert Kennedy gave me a new insight to very familiar words.
We read of the green pastures and the still waters, and our first thoughts may be of a beautiful and peaceful place. The image which develops in our mind is of a place of luxury, a place where the sun and the rain have combined to create a visually stunning scene.
But this is not the shepherd's motivation for leading his sheep to such a place. This place is ideal because the green pastures means there is plenty to eat. The still waters means there is something to drink, without the dangers of a rushing violent river. This place is not a luxury, it is a necessity.
God does "add on" to our lives many wonderful things. God blesses us with beautiful sights and unspeakable joy. But our turn to God is not to make life better; it is to find life itself.
"God makes the rain to fall on the just and the unjust." Whether we turn to God or not, God comes to us and provides for us. However, in turning, in acknowledging the one who creates the green pastures and the still waters, we become aware of the One who gives us these gifts. The add-on which is beyond comparison is the ability to eat our fill and knowing who to thank. It is realizing that our drink from the still waters is not taking something which belongs to someone else, it is receiving that which was created for this very purpose.
Pastor Chris
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