The Very Best of ShepherdsSample

The Shepherd Insists I Rest

I mentioned yesterday just how smart sheep are — and they aren’t terribly. But then, neither are we a lot of the time. We’ll work ourselves into exhaustion, eat food that isn’t good for us just because it’s quick, and spend too much time in front of screens so that we start to suffer from depression. I love that God already knows our weaknesses, and in response to them, He tells us to rest.

“He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul” (Psalm 23:2–3niv).

We often think that the busier we are, the more deserving we are. If I’m doing my best and using up all of my energy, then I’m doing well! But God created us with limited energy stores, and we need to refill those. If we don’t, we get drained, depressed, and we lose all perspective.

When Elijah was running from King Ahab, he hit depression. Why was he bothering? He was only one man! And he was so depressed he wished he could just lay down and die. “Then he lay down under the bush and fell asleep. All at once an angel touched him and said, ‘Get up and eat’” (1 Kings 19:5niv).

There was food waiting for Elijah, and another nap, and then another meal. Elijah was exhausted, and he couldn’t think straight or even see what God was doing for him in that condition. But when he’d gotten his strength back, Elijah was ready to go back into the fray.

We’ve all been there. We might not have been running from a murderous queen, but we’ve been so tired that everything looked impossible. But after a good night’s sleep, or maybe just so much as a snack, we start seeing solutions where there weren’t any before.

There is spiritual power in a nap and a snack! That isn’t weakness, it was how God created us, and it’s a spiritual truth.