Psalms 23:2 – “He leads me beside the still waters.”
The Shepherd leads his flock to quiet still waters. The Contemporary English Version of the Bible reads, “He leads me to calm water.” When sheep wade into running waters, their coats can become wet causing them to lose their balance. They are in danger of falling into the water and drowning.
Phillip Keller writes in his book, A Shepherd Looks at Psalms 23: “When sheep are thirsty, they become restless and set out in search of water. If not led to the good water supplies of clean, pure water, they will often end up drinking from the polluted potholes where they pick up such internal parasites and other dangerous germs.” [1]
Keller continues, “And in precisely the same manner, Christ, our Good Shepherd, made it clear that thirsty souls of men and women can only be fully satisfied when their capacity and thirst for spiritual life is fully quenched by drawing on Himself.”[2] In Matthew 5:6 Jesus said, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.”
In John 4:7-14 Jesus has a conversation with a Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well. We pick up the conversation in verse 10, “Jesus answered and said to her, ‘If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, Give Me a drink, you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.’” In verse 13 He says, ‘If you drink the water from the well you will thirst again.” In verse 14 He says, “but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.”
Jesus, our Great Shepherd has life giving water to give us. He leads us to quiet waters. He alone knows where the most satisfying water is located. He brings refreshing when we are weary. He gives peace when we experience the storms of life.
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