Psalm 23: “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want; he makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters; he restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil; for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil, my cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”
I’ve been wrestling with when to write this blog about this verse since God revealed it to me and placed it on my heart to start Restore23. The Holy Spirit has been nudging me since Good Shepherd Sunday that the time is now, so here it goes….
As you can probably figure out, the 23 in Restore23 as well as the word Restore itself comes from this verse. Funny thing is…as popular as this verse is, it has not been one of my favorite Scripture verses. And yet, here I am writing about it. (Who doesn’t say God has a sense of humor?!)
As I was contemplating how/if/when I would start my own health coaching business last year (2023), this verse kept popping up. I won’t get into all the specifics, but let’s just say it took multiple meditations, times of reflection and hours in adoration before I heard God say “YES! The time is now for you to start Restore23. Psalm 23 in 2023!” Whoa! Wait! What?! It was as if He was knocking me upside the head. Not only do I VERY rarely hear God speak so clearly to me, but this was an idea that totally escaped my thoughts up to this point. (Although, as I revealed this idea to some of my closest friends, they said “Well, yeah, I thought you knew that?!” LOL!) I took that as another confirmation of His message to me.
During this time, I also asked, “Why THIS verse God?.” As I stated earlier, although I like this verse, it has never made it to the top of my list of “go-to’s.” Although I could draw some connection between these lines and our need to rest and nourish ourselves in Him, I am also compelled to think that He is waiting to reveal to me, and to those I encounter through Restore23, the full meaning behind the choice of this verse. We are called to be patient……trust…….and to not always know the reason why!
One little glimpse into His unfolding of this meaning came with Good Shepherd Sunday or the 3rd Sunday of Easter. We always envision Jesus the Good Shepherd as that soft, warm, comforting place to go to rest. He is the one who knows us by name. He is the one who keeps all of us mindless sheep from wandering off and when we do, He is the one who leaves the ninety-nine to go in search of the one. Although all that is true, for the first time, I started to look at this from the other side of the fence. I focused on the wolves out there ready to devour us and how God stands ready to protect us from the enemies who want to kill us. The warm, cozy scene just turned into a bloody fight.
But isn’t that what really happened? The crucifixion was a bloody battle against the enemy to protect us, the mindless wandering sheep! God still does it even today, every day, all day, for each one of us. He is always standing watch protecting us from the enemy. He fights battles for us we may never even see, and He is there ready for us to call upon Him to help us those battles that we do see. Let us not be fooled, the enemy is constantly attacking not only our peace, but our decisions of how we care for ourselves. When we stay close to Jesus the Good Shepherd, we know His voice but also, we know how to recognize the wolves on the other side of the fence and most importantly, know we don’t have to face those fights alone. He is always standing guard with His rod and staff to help us. We just need to talk to Him.
Lifting You in Prayer & Trusting in His Care,
Christine