Psalm 23:2

Verse of the Day Devotion:  Psalm 23:2   

“He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters.” – Psalm 23:2

This verse is basically a continuation of the last part of verse one where it says, “I shall not want.” Psalm 23:1b.  The idea is that the shepherd will provide good green grass to eat and good water from quiet calm streams.  He will not provide fields of grass that is brown and wilting, or to land where little grass is found that is edible because of rocky or hardened soil.  He will also lead us to good water that flows quietly instead of swift waters because swift torrents are inconvenient for watering the sheep, and they are also harmful.

In Ezekiel, we see a very interesting set of verses regarding God’s caring for His people.  “For thus says the Lord GOD, “Behold, I Myself will search for My sheep and seek them out. As a shepherd cares for his herd in the day when he is among his scattered sheep, so I will care for My sheep and will deliver them from all the places to which they were scattered on a cloudy and gloomy day. I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries and bring them to their own land; and I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the streams, and in all the inhabited places of the land. I will feed My flock and I will lead them to rest, declares the Lord GOD.” Ezekiel 34:11-15.  This is essentially saying the same thing as our focus verse, but with more information.   God is saying He will seek out His sheep.  He will search for all His people wherever they are found.  For He is a shepherd who cares for His flock who is currently scattered throughout the land.  And He will gather them to Himself and feed them in a good pasture with streams of water. And secondly, He will lead them to rest.  He will bring them to a place of peace and rest, just as our focus verse shows.   

David is speaking of the goodness of God to His sheep, His people.  He will ensure that we are fully taken care of, that we will lay down in perfect peace, are fed and without thirst.  We, as His sheep are satisfied and without any unmet need, being a flock, whose desires are met and are resting in complete abundance.  This is how God takes care of His people.  No matter what we may go through, He is always with us, and we must always focus on all His provisions to us, which is beyond understanding.  This is the way it is today, but more importantly; this will be our future for all eternity.  What a beautiful picture of what lies ahead for us.  We will want for nothing, for everything we need and desire will be available to us as His children.  We will rest in peace with Him always near us, and nothing will ever happen to us that will cause us grief.  “And He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.”  Revelation 21:4.

William Funkhouser MDiv, ThD, Founder and President of True Devotion Ministries. 

Luke 19:40

Verse of the Day – Luke 19:40

“Jesus answered, I tell you that if they keep quiet, the stones themselves will start shouting.” Luke 19:40 

Yesterday, in the devotion of Luke 17:18-19 I shared the ultimate result of Jesus’ coming to earth. Those things were to share the Good News with the poor. To proclaim that Captives will be released, the blind see, the oppressed set free and that the Lord’s favor was here. In this account of what happened according to Luke, the people were crying out, “God bless the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory to God!” the Pharisees get upset at this ruckus and complain to Jesus to get his followers to be quiet. Jesus, replies with the verse.

I don’t personally think the Pharisees were always being antagonistic.
I think sometimes, they legit just didn’t agree with something, or thought something was improper.
In this case, the cries of the people were literally treasonous to the Roman government.
And if Jesus was a normal person (as the Pharisee’s believed) it’s not out of line to want to avoid the attention of the Romans.

I see two ways of interpreting this verse. The first is an extremely positive one that creation testifies to the truth of Jesus. That no matter what God will accomplish his desires and use whatever means to do it – whether it be rocks or like in Number 22:21-39, a donkey.

The second, and potentially more controversial one is an admonition to Christians. Because sometimes non-Christians act more like Christ than we do, and it’s demoralizing – especially when it speaks to something that is at the core of Christianity and the devil uses this type of technique all the time. An innate desire within humans is to be loved, be accepted, and be able to live in the freedom of who we were meant to be – these desires transcend religion, race, culture, and gender. And I can’t tell you how often I’ve seen someone struggling with a sin that isn’t one of the ignored sins like lust, pornography, anger, jealousy, or some sort of over indulgence be rejected and condemned by the church instead of loved and encouraged to find their identity in Christ who alone can help them overcome their sin. Because of this they seek to be accepted and loved by others, who oftentimes encourage the individual to find their identity in their sin. See, in cases like this the stones are crying out, and the devil is using it to his advantage. The individual struggling with the sin doesn’t realize their identity, based in sin, is a shallow husk of their true identity in Christ, and because of how they were treated they aren’t going to be interested in learning more about that.

Another instance where the rocks cry out because the church won’t/isn’t stepping up in situations of charity. Consider a situation where a church may spend a few million dollars on a new building with mahogany wood trim when there’s a homeless/resource crisis going on and that money could have been used to help the poor instead. In cases like this, the church isn’t necessarily in sin, but if the church isn’t going to help the people in the community, God will raise up a secular charity to do so.

We as Christians have to stand up and take our rightful place back from the rocks. We have the resurrected Son of God living within us, able to do more than we could ever imagine and when we decide to join him in his desire to proclaim good news and freedom we get to see and be part of God’s work here on earth in ways we’d never be able to guess.

  • Christiaan