One of the greatest lessons I have ever learned about the peace of God was taught to me one hot summer day several years ago when my son and I were trout fishing in a river not far from where we live. The weather started out pleasant enough but as the day progressed so did the temperature until we were well into the nineties. We needed relief from the heat. We found a calm pool out of the main current and laid down in it. Just lying down in the river met a need in our lives that day. It was so refreshing, it felt great, we were relieved from the heat that was bearing down on us. The lesson He wanted me to take hold of that day was we were already standing in the source of our relief, all we had to do was lie down in it. (Matthew 11:28-30).
A practical application of this lesson came later when I was blindsided by one of life’s unexpected events. I don’t need to share the details of the event, we’ve all had our share of them. What I do need to share is how my Good Shepherd tended to me and gave me His peace.
I found myself waking in the middle of the night in an inner turmoil over past issues that had been dealt with, sins that had already been confessed, forgiven, and forgotten by my Heavenly Father. Lying there at 2 a.m. I remember calling on the Lord, telling Him “I know this is an attack from Satan and I’m asking You to deliver me from it.” This pattern continued for several nights with me praying the same prayer, until I finally heard the thoughts that came to my mind “if you will get in My Word I will (deliver you).” When I finally got in His Word the 23rd Psalm came to my mind, and as I started reading it the word “shepherd” stood out to me . I looked up the definition of the word and discovered it simply means “one who tends to a flock.” At this point I shut my eyes and prayed, “Lord, I just need for you to tend to me right now.” What happened next did indeed bring the rest I so desperately needed but also taught me a valuable lesson that would be beneficial in dealing with future events as they arose.
In my minds eye I immediately saw a vision of a Shepherd watching over a flock of sheep. Then I saw myself entering the vision and making my way to the Shepherd. When I got to the Shepherd not a word was exchanged but I found myself in perfect peace. Indeed He wants to give us peace in the midst of life’s turmoils, but more importantly He wants us to discover He IS our peace. The truth of Matthew 11: 28-30 became relevant to me in the situation in which I found myself, i.e. “Come to me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Many times when we find ourselves laboring we labor harder to figure out a way to deal with whatever we are laboring about, when He is saying to us all along to simply come to Him and He will give us rest.My wife and I found this truth to be so relevant to us when our children decided they no longer wanted to walk in the ways of the Lord. As they were out doing their thing we found ourselves laboring over not knowing where they were or what they were doing. When we came together and prayed a very simple prayer like, “Father, we don’t know how to deal with this, but we are coming to You, we need You.” Without fail He honored that simple prayer and we laid our heads down on our pillow and slept in His peace.
He also reminded us that we don’t have to know what they are doing but what He is doing in their lives.
We’re all familiar with the friendly invitation at the local swimming hole to “Come on in. The water’s fine.” The 23rd Psalm says “He leads me beside the still waters.” He always respects our right to choose and will never force us to enter into His peace but could it be He is saying to us “come on in, deep inside my heart.” I am your source for any need you have.
When we find ourselves in a dry desert place, in desperate need of water, Jesus our shepherd wants us to remember that not only will He quench that thirst but He has given us the well (John 4:14). He has also promised us rivers in the desert (Isaiah 43:19). The last thing you expect to see in a desert is a river, but with His help we can learn to expect the unexpected.
Later on The Lamb will lead us to living fountains of waters (Revelation 7:17).
Oh, by the way, in case you can’t swim, don’t fear, our Lifeguard walks on water.