Lie Down
We are leaving for a trip next week, and for most of us leaving town means working extra hard the week before to make sure everything is done. It means doing loads of laundry so that you can actually pack, paying bills so nothing lapses while you are gone, covering your basis at work, cleaning out the fridge, collecting the food for the car trip (because letting your kids get their snacks at each gas station along the way will financially break you before you even make it to your destination), etc. Yesterday my husband called me to gently remind me that we had filed an extension on our taxes, and that they would be due before we got back. My already 'push it until you make it' week just got fuller. Sometimes as a mom, I feel like it all depends on me. If they are going to have clothes to wear and food to eat (i.e. survive), then I’m going to have to be on my game. If we are going to be where we are supposed to be when we are supposed to be there, then I best be keeping a close eye on our calendar and our clock. If they are going to learn, then I must make time to impart wisdom. If our water and electricity are going to stay on, then I best remember to pay our bills and if I’m going to keep the Feds at bay, then I better file our taxes.
I can often come to God in this same 'workhorse mentality'. Like I’m just one of his crewmembers reporting in to get my marching orders. As though I am just part of a mission, a tool in the belt, a resource to be used up, but I am so much more then that. I’m His daughter. It is His desire to relate with me, not just order me. I’m not just a doer. So when I come to Him overwhelmed, stressed or empty, as a loving Father He makes me lie down. That’s what Psalms 23:2-3a says, “He makes me lie down in green pastures, He leads me beside quite waters, he restores my soul.” He has to “make us” lie down, because we often don’t do what is best for us. When my kids were younger if I pushed them beyond their nap time, then they became cranky, over stimulated, and an exhausted mess. Let’s face it some of us can be the same way, when we’ve pushed beyond our limit. Their need for rest was usually apparent by them throwing themselves on the floor and thrashing (let’s hope none of us are to that point). Just like we as good parents know the remedy to the problem is a good lying down, a removal from all the stimulus, God knows it is what we need too. When we pull away from all the outside stimulus, then He lies us down in green pastures, tender grass, a place of nourishment and satisfaction. He makes sure we are fed. He fattens back up our spread thin places. He also puts us beside quiet waters. He removes us from the troubled waters that worry us and places us in quiet pools where we can be refreshed. He pours back into the poured out soul.
When we surrender our time, our schedule, and our to do list to His parental, “lie down” then the result is a restored soul. The phrase, “He restores my soul” literally means “He causes life to return.” Restore means to replenish, to replenish what’s been given or taken. Our soul means our heart, our mind, our passions, our temperament, & our life. It is the part of us that makes us who we are. After our lying down in green pastures and quiet waters, we feel back to ourselves again. Our joy, our peace, our happiness, even our personalities seem to be back or made new. Psalms 107:9 says, “He satisfies the thirsty (still waters) and fills the hungry with good things (green pastures).” So if you feel like the voice in your head is on repeat saying, “I’m so empty, exhausted, tired, spread too thin” then maybe the answer is to “lie down” and let Him restore and replenish you.
2015/09/25 at 1:44 pm