Key Verses: Psalm 23:5“You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup runs over.”There have been times in my life where I have felt overwhelmed, anxious, and tired. It is in these times I have needed rest. I am not only referring to physical rest, but also to spiritual and mental rest. Rest is required if we wish to recover physically, spiritually, and mentally from the challenges of life. In Psalm 23:5, David helps us discover how we can have real rest. Some people tend to think that David is changing his metaphor from that of shepherding to that of being of host in these final verses. However, that doesn’t seem to be the case. The word table in Hebrew doesn’t always refer to a table in house. Rather a ‘table’ was also a section of nice flat land in the hill country that was ‘spread out’ before them. David now seems to be picturing a shepherd who knowing that the night is nearing finds a nice flat spot in the mountainous wilderness and gives the sheep one last little meal before the night comes. As the darkness would be begin to settle in the shepherd using either rocks, or wood would build a makeshift pen for the sheep to come in and find rest and safety for the night. He would then sit by the entrance to the pen and inspect each sheep as they came into the pen. When he saw a sheep that was scraped from a fall, pierced from journeying through a briar patch, or had any type of ailment he would take some oil and point it over the sheep to help cleanse the wound and ease the pain. When all the sheep were accounted for the shepherd would then lay down and block the entrance to the sheep pen. He essentially became the door. As the sheep rested in the pen, he kept the wolves, thieves and other predators at bay. Friends, just like the sheep would find rest and safety inside the sheep pen, so too do we find rest in Jesus. As mentioned earlier this life is so overwhelming, exhausting, and difficult. We must find a way to rest. Jesus said in Matthew 11:28, “Come to me all you who labor and are heavy laden and I will you rest.” We can’t find rest from the chaos and craziness of the world when we turn to Jesus and trust Him. However, this sometimes requires us to ‘unplug’ from the world. We all need to have times set aside each week when we turn our phones and electronics off and simply ‘rest’ with Jesus. We rest with Him by praying to Him, reading our Bibles along with Him, and simply spending time in solitude reflecting on the goodness of God and what He has done for us. When we do this, when we choose to rest in Jesus, He will give us that rest. He is the good shepherd (John 10). As we rest and recover in Him we can rest knowing that He will protect us from whatever we need rest from. He is the door to the sheep pen (John 10:9). If you are reading this today and feel anxious, sad, and overwhelmed by life take a few minutes and find rest and safety in Jesus.
