The Lord is My Shepherd.

Posted by Alysun

Read Psalm 23




It was one of those days that seemed to attract calamity. By 10am I had one child sitting on her bed, one on the couch, and one confined to his crib. And me? I was pouring over Psalms 23-26, my daily reading, trying to find some calm amid the storm.



You don't want to hear my long list of "what went wrong," but let me just say that it started with the baby getting smacked in the face with a fly swatter and ended with my wonderful partner in this family getting home well after everyone was in bed. In between all that my list also included 2 different chilled diet sodas spilled before I took a sip. Calamity, I tell you.


At one point I hypothetically asked, "Are you guys just naughtier today or am I more impatient?"


My 5 year old daughter replied, "You are more impatient.... and grumpy." Leave it to a first born female to point out what is wrong in a situation.




It was time for another mommy time out. In my Bible reading I read through the "Lord is my Shepherd" passage of Psalm 23.


The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,


he restores my soul.
He guides me in paths of righteousness
for his name's sake.


......


Surely goodness and love will follow me
all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the LORD
forever.

That bit of Scripture couldn't help but encourage me... "He restores my soul." How I longed for that tranquility! The entire description speaks of an extravagance far from reality. It reminded me of my 5 diamond resort experience when my husband and I attended a destination wedding last year. I came up with my own paraphrase regarding the all-inclusive resort:


The LORD is my very own concierge, I shall not be in want for anything from Diet Coke to a pillow menu.
He turns down my feather bed and turns on the AC.
He brings me food service beside the endless pool in my private cabana.


He restores my soul.

(My very own paraphrase).


The problem arose when I tried to bring that extravagance home. Real life doesn't feel like a resort. Not even a little. Real life is toddler-fly-swatting-the-baby-bossy-big-sister-teething-baby-no-one-napping-toilet-plugged-where’s-dinner?-I’m-hungry-she-hit-me- craziness.


It was as I read on through the familiar passage to the next chapters that I began to make a correlation between the peaceful bliss of “still waters” and the barely controlled chaos that I was dealing with at that moment. Psalm 24 speaks of God's almighty power. Psalm 25 is asking for God's guidance... "Show me your ways, O LORD." And then there was chapter 26 verse 2-3: "Test me, O LORD, and try me, examine my heart and my mind; for your love is ever before me, and I walk continually in your truth."



Yesterday as I read from the Word, I could feel the Almighty looking down on all the enforced time-outs in my home and I felt near to Him. Not "cabana at a resort" near to Him, but "water stop along a marathon route" near to Him. Encouraged and refreshed I kept going.


I realized there will be moments of bliss (this wasn't one of them) when I lie beside still waters. And there will also be testing. The testing is a good thing, according to these verses. "Test me and try me, examine my heart and my mind." God provides the strength and will restore my soul as needed.