My Soul Finds Rest In God Alone

Last Sunday at church , before the guest speaker even began to speak I was in tears over the greatness of the love of God and how He knows exactly what I need when I need it . I am always amazed by how He ministers to me by his Spirit so personally and perfectly. I saw in the bulletin that the speaker would be speaking on the 23rd Psalm and I began to cry. That Psalm is so near and dear to me and not for the usual reasons one might think of. It didn't become one of my favorites when a loved one passed away. It became one that I memorized and every word became a lifeline when in the midst of what was to me a huge crisis of faith, I received a hate filled phone call late at night that was diabolically executed by satan himself trying to destroy my family . When I hung up the phone that night, I immediately asked the Lord for His view of the situation.  And his Holy Spirit whispered to me two things. One was , "love hopes all things, love believes all things, love never ends." And immediately following that He gave me these words from Psalm 23 ..." The Lord is my shepherd I shall not want." I went and looked up Psalm 23 and read the whole thing that night (over and over) .  Are Satan's viscous attacks NOT designed to rock our world and cause us to lose our peace and destroy the blessed rest we have in the Savior? A calm came over me as I read both 1 Corinthians 13 , the chapter on love, and Psalm 23 that night. And the Lord was faithful as David said in Psalm 23 to prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.  So last Sunday morning when before church I was reading two different things about rest and the importance of it in our relationship with God, I didn't really realize that He was trying to get my attention and tell me that I hadn't been resting enough, UNTIL I saw that the guest speaker would be speaking on Psalm 23.  I didn't realize HOW MUCH I needed to rest in the Fathers love and presence. So He's got my attention again and I am determining to make it my FIRST priority every day to take a good chunk of time to not only read the word, but to rest in the presence of the great shepherd who restores my soul.
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.  Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.