Faithbase

Well, good morning everybody. Psalms 23. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. He leads me to lie down in green pastures. We've talked about sheep before. And again, it's not that sheep were dumb. It's that they were hard-headed. They would kind of get a mindset of what they needed to do. I've got my own game plan. I've figured this all out. I don't really need my shepherd. I know where I'm going. Does that sound familiar? Does that sound like any of us? Well, David says in the very beginning of verse 2 that he maketh me, makes me to lie down in green pastures. See, a lot of times what a good shepherd would do when he would get the sheep to a pasture where they were safe, where they could eat, where they could sleep and rest, he would often have to physically stop them and push them to the ground, sometimes even hold their head to the grass for them to get their eyes off of their own game plan and look down and see the blessing that lies right underneath their feet. We have a great shepherd that sometimes, because he loves us so much, he's going to make us lay down. I had a guy that I love following who was planting. He was a pastor. He was planting a church. He was doing all these ministries, doing all these things. He was going so much that his adrenal gland burst. I didn't even know that could happen, but his adrenal gland, the thing that was giving him all his energy, everything he needed to go for the day because he had his plan, he knew what he needed to do, his adrenal gland burst for a month he laid in a hospital bed. But he said it was one of the best months for his relationship with God that he ever had because all he could do was pray, read his Bible and be with his family. Listen, sometimes God makes us lay down so that we can see the blessing underneath our feet. He makes us lay down so we can discover that we're safe. We can discover the blessing that he's put all around us. So my encouragement to you today is don't make God do that. Take time to lay down yourself. Take time to slow down. Sometimes people call it taking a Sabbath. Whatever you want to call it, slow down, recognize your blessings, spend some time with the Lord so that he doesn't have to make you slow down, so that he doesn't have to make you lie down in green pastures. So slow down today. Acknowledge all that God's done for you. See how you can serve somebody else. And if I can pray for you or serve you in any way, shoot me a message, let me know. God bless. Have a great day.