When He makes you lie down

In a time of personal crisis, she’d come. Come with a sweet southern accent, heart wide open and eyes that really saw. She’d come–no, much more, she’d been sent. Sent with a startling message from a creative Father who determines the what and the when and the who, and there’s nothing ever that’s too hard for Him.

She’d slipped me her number that day. “I can’t wait to hear.” And then she was gone, leaving my head whirling, heart o’erwhelmed at the big-ness of a very personal God. Oh, holy ground…

This week one day, I called her again. Needing wisdom, needing direction, I laid it out. What I had going, what was (and wasn’t) happening and just where things were at. Then with a, “Things have just gone silent. I feel like I’m in a holding pattern, a plane flying circles over Atlanta,” I stopped.

She’d listened, intent, hearing me out. And then she spoke. “God’s Word says, ‘He maketh me to lie down in green pastures.’He’s making you lie down.”

Oh. I’d never caught that before. I knew the Psalm; knew it well; knew it by heart. But this–this was a different way to see it, that pastoral scene.

A Shepherd, staff in hand, watching over His sheep. A flock all spread out, some grazing, some drinking. And one (oh, it was me) lying still by the water.

That one, so impatient, so eager to gallop; to run, flying swift over meadow all green…That one made, instead, to lie down.

The next morning, there in my place at a high, round table, sipping from the mug, I read it again. “The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures. He leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul.”

Today, I rejoice in the loving care of a Shepherd who, knowing His sheep, makes me to lie down.  Who is presently about the work of restoring my soul. Who leads me all the time in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.

One day, this sheep shall run. Shall gallop. Shall fly, running swift over meadow and pasture all green. Soul restored, mind renewed, heart strengthened, joy-full.

The Lord is my Shepherd. I shall not want.