Still Waters

"He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters" (Psalm 23:2, ESV).

Our Shepherd Jesus Christ is always leading us to greener pastures; places where we can rest from the fuss and toss of this world. However, often times as fallen humans we fail to recognize the quality around us, and our eyes begin to wander elsewhere thinking that the grass is greener on the other side. How foolish we can be!
Finding rest in the Lord out in nature is not only important but it is also biblical. Jesus would often spend seasons of prayer in communion with His Father, apart from everyone else (Mark 1:35; 6:45, 46; 14:32; Luke 5:16; 6:12; John 6:15). In our day and age, those who live in the big cities may run into a problem here, for "nature" is harder to come by than to those in the countryside. However, the principle remains the same: draw away, seek solitude, or simply find a special place to be in communion with your heavenly Father. Jesus Himself said: "But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you" (Matt. 6:6, ESV). Thus, anywhere where we can connect and spend one-on-one time with our heavenly Father becomes our "green pastures;" a place of quietude and rest.
"He leads me beside still waters." On one occasion Jesus met a Samaritan woman by the well of Jacob, and during that exchange He said to her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water" (John 4:10, ESV). According to Jesus, He is the only provider of "living water;" He is the Rock from where that living spring flows. He also said to the woman, "but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life" (v. 14). How important then, that all of us allow the Shepherd to lead us beside those still waters.
Someone may ask, how do we get to those still waters? And the answer is found in verse one –only the true Shepherd can lead us there. If we wander away from Jesus or if we forsake Him and begin to lead our own lives, we will never reach this prime destination; the waters of this world will only leave us more thirsty (John 4:13). The apostle Paul reiterates this idea, in reference to Israel's experience in the desert, saying, "and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ" (1 Cor. 10:4, ESV). When we allow Jesus full control of our lives and submit to His leading, we too will be quenched by Him.

May we decide today to follow Jesus, accepting Him as our Shepherd, Savior, and Sustainer.

Your friend,
Abner E. Aguilar