The Lord is my Shepherd (Part 3)

Psalm 23 Part 3

— God is our Restorer — “He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul.”

I shall not lack refreshment and spiritual healing. If you live in the world and are witnessing for God and just live among unbelievers you will be battered, afflicted, assaulted, harassed, verbally insulted, cursed and even be beaten or killed. Many of these things can leave scars and cause distress and pain in our lives. To live in the world and not be of the world will leave you broken time and time again. That is why this psalm is so precious. God promises to restore us, to refresh us, to heal us of our wounds: the wounds the world gave us and gives us and what our own sins cause. God, the great Shepherd, leads us beside still or quiet waters. If you have ever been hiking in the mountains on your own or with a few friends you know how tranquil and serene the atmosphere of a stream is that flows through the mountains. It causes you to be refreshed by just listening to a water stream making its way through the mountains. By God’s presence, by God the Holy Spirit, we are healed of our wounds and of the pollution of the sin-infested society we live in. Jesus promised to give us rest when we come to Him. Jesus said: “Come to Me all who are burdened and heavily laden and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28-30). By His wounds, we are healed (Isaiah 53:5). So God is our Restorer, we shall not lack emotional and spiritual healing from the wounds our sins and the world has afflicted upon us. We shall not lack God’s restoration through Jesus Christ. It may not be instant or come soon, but it will eventually flow by the Holy Spirit to restore us and make us whole. “He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul.”

Physically sheep cannot exist without water and human beings cannot exist without physical and spiritual water. Jesus is the Fountain of Living Water. When we come to him he will refresh us and give us life and healing and spiritual nutrition. We cannot exist without physical water and so we cannot exist without God, Christ and the Holy Spirit.