Psalm 23 - The Shepherd Leads to Still Waters

Tom Shrader continues his series on Psalm 23, focusing on how God leads His people beside still waters. He emphasizes that like sheep who need a shepherd to find safe water, believers need God's gentle guidance to find spiritual refreshment and satisfaction. Shrader explains that true satisfaction can only be found in an intimate relationship with God, not in temporary worldly pursuits.

“Everything you think you're gonna get in the deal closing, in an Iowa football game, in a relationship with Sandy, in the cheeseburger, in whatever it is, everything you think you're gonna get in there, you're gonna get perfectly in me.”

— Tom Shrader

Series: Psalm 23

Recorded: October 15, 2015

Duration: 39 min

Themes: shepherding, guidance, satisfaction, comfort, trust, provision, peace, relationship, feeling anxious, seeking direction, new believer, struggling with worry, feeling discouraged, searching for meaning, feeling lonely, needing comfort

Scripture: Psalm 23, Psalm 23:2, 1 Peter 5:7, Matthew 5:6, Jeremiah 15:16, Isaiah 55:2, Psalm 46:10, John 10, Revelation 3:14-20, Deuteronomy 4, Psalm 42:1, Psalm 34:8, John 5:39

Theological Themes: divine guidance, pastoral care, spiritual satisfaction, providence, intimacy with god, biblical shepherding, spiritual nourishment, covenant relationship

Full Transcript

Open your Bibles, if you have them, or an app, if you have the app, to Psalm 23. I did something, trying to add a little value to your morning. I gave you a copy of just some research I've been doing. I keep reading, I'm into Psalm 23. And as I was doing some research, I came across this, and in that second paragraph, the long one, about a third of the way down, the reason I gave this to you is so maybe you could put some notes at the front of your Bible, in the blank area, or the beginning of Psalms, just for way of reference.

So if you go about a third of the way down, you'll see the idea the Psalm is providing. The Psalm is providing you comfort for, here you go, if you're fearful, if you're discouraged, if you're feeling lonely, if you're oppressed, if you're worried or anxious, if you're angry, if you're resentful, if you're happy and want to express it. Well that's life, right there. And here's God's answer for that. I've been back into the Psalms a little bit, admitting that I haven't spent a lot of time in there recently, and it's so obvious God created us and gives us His word to provide us that comfort, that encouragement, that expression through life. And so I give you that, so you could make some notes, do your own reference, you can self-correct, you can work your way through that, and that's a great resource.

The Lord Is My Shepherd

We are studying the 23rd Psalm. The imagery here is so powerful: the Lord is my shepherd. That God, the God who created all this, that God is not a shepherd, but He's my shepherd, and it implies this relationship. The rest of this Psalm is really unpacking those truths that we know. Unpacking the reality that the Lord is my shepherd, there's a relationship. I always like it when it goes without saying, and then they say it. Well, it goes without saying, but let me say it: if He's the shepherd, then we're the sheep.

And I keep coming back to this, not in a derogatory way, but to get the full impact of what He's saying. A sheep, and I do my giant disclaimer, I don't know anything about sheep, I read a lot about sheep. I talked yesterday to a guy whose dad raised sheep, and he made a great point, it's a wonderful point, and so powerful that I want to use it next week, because I'm afraid if I use it now, I'll forget to do it Wednesday morning. But he confirmed everything that I've said to you, from literally spending his adolescent years with sheep: they are stupid, and defenseless, and they're stubborn, and they get lost.

There's a guy that was writing, and he was talking about having this flock, and a friend of his came to visit him, and the friend had a chihuahua, and the chihuahua jumped out of the car, and I've never thought I'd ever say these words in the same sentence, and caused a stampede among the sheep. Whatever that means, sheep moving sort of fast, but that's what they are, and this guy confirmed it.

We Are the Sheep

So that's the imagery. Get this now: it's not to make you feel bad, it's to acknowledge what you already know. You're too cool, and too experienced to say it. I talked to one of these guys yesterday, he was talking about planting a church out in Sun City, and near there, and he's a young guy. He's from Oklahoma, straight one, and maybe two and three, when we go there.

But he said, "What should I keep in mind?" And I said, "Here's what I know: you need to know who you're ministering to, and the people that I'm with." The old and two groups of people all the time: old people, young people. The old people that I'm with, they're at the end of life, and everything's changing, and it's a funky world. I mean, you never thought you'd have all of it, you have more computing power right here than NASA had when they sent Neil Armstrong to the moon. That's amazing, and you can get anything you want, you can't lie anymore.

I'm with Jamie Rasmussen, about two months ago, and I said something, and when I said it, I thought, I don't know if that's right or not, and I saw Jamie reach for his phone. I thought, oh no, that's not right, and I said, "I'm just seeing if your battery was charged." I don't know what to say, but you're at that point.

The Reality of Our Condition

The older people I'm with are feeling very uncertain. There's a lot of physical pain that kicks in. I was with a guy yesterday, good friend, great friend of mine, great guy, and he's getting ready to go in for a pacemaker, and then I immediately did the old deal. I had open heart surgery; for a pacemaker, that's outpatient. I mean, it cracked me up. I was in intensive care five days, that's a real surgery. And he's going, "Hey, my heart's down to 20 beats per minute at night, and that's not good," and your investments are shaky, and you look at the election. You look at the election, and you go, the problem isn't the candidates, the problem's the American public.

We're so self-absorbed, we're so far away from "ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country." We're so far from that. "I want something," and you live in that world. You're a sheep, man, and you need a shepherd. And if you're looking to fill that want through something you deposit, or drive, or drink, or digest, then you're in trouble.

This is all meant to comfort you. The Lord is my shepherd, and we said you could even write the word "because" at the beginning of that. Because the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. Because the Lord, all the things that were in that psalm...

Last week we began looking at Psalm 23, focusing on "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures." We saw that picture of rest and refreshment and healing. When He makes me lie down in green pastures, it's not the picture of lying around - it's literally to be stretched out.

The big point we made last time was that He's the shepherd, and He's greater than what you don't have. When I say "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want," I tend to think of myself in a wanting position. So He's bigger than that job you don't have, or that car you don't have, or that spouse that you don't have, or that success that you don't have.

But He's also greater - it's the flip side - than what you have. I was talking to a friend yesterday, and one of his closest friends had his stomach hurting. He went into the doctor, and the doctor said, "We've got some spots on your liver, and it's cancer, and that's rarely the primary source - it's pancreatic." He went from "I don't feel good, was it a hamburger that I ate?" to "You better get your stuff together." He's bigger than that.

The Conditions for Rest

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. For that sheep to lie down, he needs to be free from distractions, free from pests, free from friction with other members of the flock, free from hunger.

Jeremiah 15:16 says, "When your words came to me, I ate them." Isaiah 55:2 says, "Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, your soul will delight in the richness of your fare. Give ear and come to me, hear me, that your soul may live." That's what I'm saying about this psalm - that this is that go-to psalm, this is that thing that provides you that comfort.

The Theme of Stillness

Here's probably the theme, and as I think about it, not just to the 23rd Psalm, but of all of life: Psalm 46:10, "Be still and know that I am God." Know that I am your shepherd. Know that these things will take care of me.

This is not to say that life is going to be smooth and easy and no hassle. We're at Kinnick Stadium. First of all, just being in Kinnick Stadium is amazing. What's happened over the years is the hospital has gobbled up all the land around all the old tailgate and parking areas. There are 400 parking places for 70,000 people - it's a little tough.

So we have a system. We get there, we leave Davenport four hours before kickoff. It's a 45-minute drive. We park at the parking garage by the student union. We go into the student union - that's our last clean toilet. From there, we walk. We walk a mile and a half uphill, and you're in Kinnick.

Perspective in the Midst of Life

We're on the press box side, on the 40-yard line. The Hawks come swarming out. I have a man crush on Kirk Ferentz. Kirk comes out, he's just cool as can be, making notes and chewing gum and kind of oblivious to what's going on. I love Kirk.

But you look across the stadium and they've now built Children's Hospital. The top five floors are above the stadium and the workers are up there looking down. There's this surreal environment where you're in the middle of it. They come out and play the fight song and something happens. I don't know what it is - you probably have it when they play "Bear Down" - but right across the way, there's a three-year-old kid with brain cancer.

It's not to say that stuff doesn't happen. This game is - I mean, I'm spending a bunch of money and time to go there, but it needs perspective. All of life needs that perspective. God's promise to you is never that He's going to remove the suffering in your life, but that He's going to join you in the midst of it. James writes, "Come near to God and He'll come near to you."

The Need for Solitude

One author writes: "Simplicity begins with solitude, not mere time alone, but time alone with God." That's what I get from "He leads me beside still waters" in this world. There's this barrage of activity that doesn't stop.

I'm with six young guys yesterday and I told them - and I know I've been telling you the same thing lately - every young guy there is saying, "We're so tired," and I'm thinking, "You're 35, you know. We work so hard." That concept never occurred to me - we don't even know what hard is. But I think part of it is that mentality they're in, constantly connected.

What the guys tell me is it's not "I'm so busy doing this stuff" - it's "I look at all the stuff I'm not doing. I'm not getting to the ballgame. I'm not getting to the gym. I'm not the husband I should be. I'm not the friend I should be." You're in this hectic world, and He says you need solitude, quiet - not just quiet alone time, but alone with God.

Personal Reflection and History

One of the great things I do when I go back every year is I go in a day before the girls, which gives me a day to drive around by myself. I go to all the same spots. I had the girls in the car and I said, "Let's go by the old house," and they said, "Okay." I said, "We used to walk all the way to school here," and they said, "Dad, we know this." I said, "Well, you know it's important to me. Eat some ice cream and be happy because we're going through this trip."

But I go through it the day before alone, and I'm looking at the Mississippi. The first bridge over the Mississippi is in the Quad Cities. There was a big battle between the river people and the railroad people. The attorney that represented the railroad and negotiated it all was some cat named Abraham Lincoln.

was there. There's a Confederate soldier's cemetery there. There's some 15-year-old kid lying in there. I mean, those thoughts are solitude, but it's not that. It's to go, God, look at what You did. Look at how You created this. Look at that eagle. It's solitude, not alone, but with God.

One more by way of summary, 1 Peter 5:7, "casting all your cares on Him." That word that's translated "casting" could also be translated "deposits." So I've added there the picture of direct deposit. I don't even want to own this, my cares. Direct deposit all your cares on Him. Here's the next phrase. See if this isn't comforting. "Because He cares for you." You can cast your cares on Him. Why? He cares. He's not this abstract God like the wizard in the Wizard of Oz who's removed, who's empty of emotion. He's a God who cares for you.

The Shepherd's Gentle Leading

Here you go, verse 2. "He makes me lie down in green pastures." Today's six words, "He lead me beside still waters." It's the picture of refreshment. The word that's translated there, the verb "leads" is not this driving. We were talking about coaching. I watched an interview, Steve Spurrier was on Fanday a couple weeks ago. And Spurrier, this was obviously taped before the beginning of the year, and he was talking about you can't coach kids like you used to. You start yelling at them and screaming at them, they're going to shut down.

It's not that leading, "go harder, go harder, go harder." It literally is a gentle persuasion. I wrote these words: slow, leisurely pace. Just saying them kind of relaxes you. It's peaceful, tranquil, satisfying, restful. I kind of yearn for that. "He makes me, He leadeth me to lie down beside still waters."

The Shepherd Knows Each Sheep Personally

Now, about sheep and their timidity, I'm told, is that a sheep by just a babbling brook will literally die of thirst because he is afraid to go into that brook. Amazing how weak we are in this imagery. The shepherd will come along, and again, this is me, the shepherd comes along, and he knows each sheep and what they need. And I'm told he'll dig a trough, he'll find a way, the shepherd is ingenious to come up to take that still water. Now the sheep participates.

You have a shepherd who knows you personally. Isn't that what Jesus says in John 10? "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them." He knows that need. But I'm watching an interview with John Wooden, and they're asking him if he treated all his players the same, and he said, no, they're all different. I remember them saying when he was coaching Walt Hazard, he'd get on him a little bit, and he'd get his man, "Gosh, darn it, Walter," but if it was Gale Goodridge, he'd just come along and say, "Okay, I know you're not going to play a lot of defense, but could you kind of get over by the guy just a little bit?"

Well, if you've got kids, like I've got Sarah and Haley, I mean, Sarah and Haley, I don't treat them the same. If I treated Sarah the way I treat Haley, she'd run right over me. If I came at Haley like I come at Sarah, she would shut down. She'd be destroyed. The shepherd knows you, knows what you need, knows how to deal with you, knows your need. That needy's all over this.

Only God Satisfies Our Deepest Longings

What you want still waters. "Blessed are those," Matthew 5:6, "who hunger and thirst for righteousness, they will be satisfied." He'll satisfy you. Nothing will. I get all whacked out this time of year with football, and it doesn't matter, baseball. My daughter, Sarah, texted me the other night, and she said, "I don't even care about this, but it's so intense." Playoff baseball, one and out. I mean, how much more intense can you get? But it's that meeting that you have today, that deal that you have, those things will satisfy you, but they're only going to satisfy you for like a moment because you have different cravings.

So I got up this morning, I don't know why, but the last two days, I'd been up really early. So I got up today and I was starving. And I went out and Sandy got, I don't know, like the trail mix I like is essentially a bag of M&M's with a cashew in it. That's the trail mix I like. Well, she got this trail mix that's raisins and cranberries and it's like potpourri. I mean, I want this stuff.

And so I thought, well, I'll try it. And it wasn't bad. So I got a handful of cashews and took some of this and mixed it up and ate it. And my hunger edge was gone. But I don't even need a clock. I can tell you today at 11:15, I'm going to be hungry. And I'm going to eat, I'm going to have a made right, I'm going to have a tenderloin, I'm going to have Harris pizza, I'm going to have whatever it is, filibertos. I'm kind of a health food nut. And then I'm going to be hungry again.

It's like the woman at the well. When Jesus said, "If you drink this water, you'll be thirsty again. But if you drink the water I give you, you'll never thirst again." He satisfies that deep longing that you have to be loved.

Human Love Has Limits, But God's Love Is Complete

I did a wedding a week ago Saturday, right down here at whatever the resort, Monta Lucia or wherever that is. But beautiful, oh my gosh. Beautiful wedding, incredible. And they wrote their own vows. And I'm listening to these vows, and I'm going, "Oh my gosh." The cool thing would be if you could write those after 30. "I'll love you forever. And the sun will never go down on our anger. And you're the most beautiful girl in the world. And you're the greatest guy. And I will always support you and be your cheerleader." Really? Always? Hmm.

That's good. And they were great. It was an incredible wedding. I just, I was mesmerized with this couple. I love, I've never had it happen before. He was so cool. She was so charming. And I know, I know it. I'm watching him. I got a front row view. He's looking at her. We got this little smile. And she's looking at him. I mean, it was cool. I'm tearing up when the guy's playing the music. I mean, I'm going, "Wow."

And that's part of my message. She can't meet your needs completely. But God can. He satisfies. You got that crucial longing to love and be known. I'm so aware of this with Sandy. We've been

married 41 months. And I'm trying to really, really love her. I make that sound like it's hard. It's hard because I'm a sinful, selfish guy. Part of what she needs, I don't want to do. I don't want to go there. There's a lot of work.

The Church of Laodicea: A Mirror for Our Self-Sufficiency

Turn to the book of Revelation. We're not going to the part you want. Chapter 3, verse 14. At that section in chapter 2 and 3, Jesus is speaking to seven actual churches. There's all ways of interpreting this. You can just do it with that church. But the general acceptance is that those seven churches represent seven types of churches. But this drives to it.

He's writing to the church at Laodicea. Verse 14, "The amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God says this. I know your deeds. You're not cold or hot, but I would that you were cold or hot. So because you're lukewarm, neither hot or cold, I'll spit you out of my mouth."

Now, the water there that they would get would come out of a spring and be cold. But by the time it traversed to where they would consume it, it would become lukewarm. I don't like lukewarm. In our house, we have in the refrigerator, right just in the coldest spot of the refrigerator, water lined up. That's Tom's water. We have Sandy's water. That's in the cupboard.

I drink Diet Coke only with Mexican food. Whenever we order, He'll come and go, "What would you like to drink?" Sandy will say, "I'll have a Diet Coke with a little ice." And I'll say, "I'll have all the ice she doesn't take, plus a glass of ice, and put a little Coke in there too." I like it really cold. I don't get room temperature stuff, drinking water.

So here's what He's saying. Because the people would go, "This water is putrid." And so God uses an imagery they get. You're like that water you don't like.

The Misdiagnosis of Self-Sufficiency

Now listen to Him speaking to us. "Because you say I'm rich and have become wealthy and have no need of anything, you do not know that you're really wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked." You've misdiagnosed your condition. You think you're rich. You think you're self-sufficient. You think you don't need anything.

We'll use that term, "self-made man." We don't even know what that is. The skill to get up is given to you by God. These were people very much like us, in a culture very much like ours.

Isn't that one of the toughest things you have as you begin to talk about faith with people, especially successful people? Because their flinch is, "I don't need anything. If I need it, I'll build it, buy it, rent it, invent it. Look at what I've done." And He said, "You've misdiagnosed the problem."

I love that. Because here's your real condition: You're miserable, wretched, poor, blind, and naked—if not physically, spiritually.

The True Riches God Offers

"I advise you," and speaking right to them, "I advise you to buy gold refined by fire that you might become rich, and white garments that you might clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness might not be revealed. And eyesalves to anoint your eyes."

He goes right to what? They think they're rich. Why? Well, they've developed this whole banking system. Laodicea was known as kind of Wall Street banking for the whole area. And they made these beautiful garments. And they said, "Doesn't this look good?"

They had—I don't remember what it was—a sea animal of some sort, a fish. They would get one drop of purple dye out of each fish. So think of how many fish it took to make these magnificent garments. "Don't we look good?" And they were known as kind of the male clinic of eye care, eye salve that was used to allow you to see.

And He said, "You think you're really something because now people can see, but they're really blind, and they think they're really clothed, but they're naked, and they think they're really rich, but they're poor because all they're thinking about is the physical. I'm talking about the spiritual."

The Dinner Invitation

"Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline. Be zealous, therefore." Revelation 3:20, here's the payoff pitch. "Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I'll come into him and dine with him."

In that day, they would eat three meals. A breakfast, maybe similar to yours, would be a piece of bread dipped in wine. Lunch would be a snack they'd eat along the way. But the meal was dinner, and it wasn't driven around the food, but driven around the conversation. Jesus is saying, "There you are going through that day. It's that dinner. I'll come in, I'll dine with you." Isn't that what we need?

Learning to Dine Together

Sandy and I have decided—I don't know that we took a vote on it, it just morphed—that we're going to eat dinner together every night. And talk. I really want to. I like Costco chicken. Costco sells 5.4 million chickens a year. I like Costco chicken.

So Sandy will go, "I'm going to buy Costco," and she gets this huge bag of lettuce that lasts her a meal, and a chicken, and I like the dark meat, which I'm sure has got to be the worst meat for you. And so I'm going, "I don't know if you do it, but I'm going, okay, got to talk, got to talk, got to talk."

"Okay, your favorite color is yellow. You're from St. Louis. How was your day?" "Okay." "What's tomorrow look like?" "Pretty busy." "Anything in particular?" "No, a lot of stuff." "Okay, I don't know." I want to know, but I know that there's a—we had a long last night.

Whatever, I ask a question. I do remember what it was, but you don't need to know. I mean, she did—I'm not exaggerating—she did 15 minutes. She took me around the base and through the thing and laid out the premise, gave me her logic, revisited the premise. It's the old Puritan. Puritans used to take this sentence, break it down, down, down, down, down, reassemble it. I mean, she was on a roll.

And I kind of care, I want to help, I want to help, I'd fire a shot in, like I'd give her a suggestion that I knew was really...

important. I know I feel dismissed here, but I'm going to listen to it. When we were done, I said it's time to watch because we're in the last episode of season four of 24. I said we've got to watch Jack Bauer tonight. But there was this sweetness when we were done. I think she felt good. I mean, I think she felt like, wow, he listened to me and he cared. I listened to her and I do care.

Here's my point though: even then, that's really hard. I don't know what to ask. She'll ask me and then I'll go... I mean, I got no problem. How was your Iowa trip? I said unbelievable. I said everybody in the Midwest, all they think about is sports and food. That's all they do is eat and watch another game. She said yeah, I know, that's not good. I said I don't know where to go with that. I mean, I'm in trouble.

The Shepherd Who Never Wearies

But He said, "Come in, I'll dine with you." That's the Shepherd. He doesn't weary of this. He knows you. He knows what you're going to say. And He says, say it anyway.

Deuteronomy 4: if you seek the Lord your God, you'll find Him. If you look for Him with all your heart and mind, you'll find Him. Psalm 42, verse 1, you know it more—it's a song: "As the deer pants for the stream of water, my soul pants for you."

The day that I was flying back to the Quad Cities, somebody told me the day before, they said tomorrow the world's supposed to end. I said wow, that's cool. I've survived 10 of these world endings right now. I'm on somewhere, we've taken off from Denver, we're out over Nebraska, Council Bluffs, wherever we are. I'm thinking, you know, if the world ended, I got a 30,000 foot head start on this deal to begin with. This would be a pretty good deal.

My hands hurt, you know, the litany, all my problems. I thought, that's so pathetic. I want to go to heaven, not to be with Jesus, but to not be with you, basically. I want to go to heaven to be out of here.

Everything You Want Is Found in Him

He's saying, "Listen, Tom, everything you want, everything you think you're going to get in the deal closing, in an Iowa football game, in a relationship with Sandy, in the cheeseburger, in whatever it is—everything you think you're going to get in there, you're going to get perfectly in me. And I'm here. You don't have to strain to start a conversation. I'll start. I started here." All I'm going to do is begin to read that and meditate on that, think about that.

"Taste and see the Lord is good," Psalm 34, verse 8. It's waiting on Him, but it's not passive waiting, it's active waiting. Saint Augustine wrote this: "O God, thou has made me for thyself and our souls are restless searching till we find our rest in you." That's the missing thing.

He's there and all He does is say, "Seek me." I wrote this sentence—it's choppy, but it's good: The story of mankind is one of our never-ending inclinations and yearnings, which causes us to pursue false gods and their inadequate and temporary happiness compared to those of God's complete and eternal provision. I'm looking for that false god for that next thing. Even when it comes to God, I'm looking for the next deal, the next gimmick, the next tape.

Scripture Points to the Person

He says to the Pharisees, who have a bum rap in our eyes—they were the experts of the day—John 5:39: "You diligently study the scripture because you think that by them, you possess eternal life. These scriptures testify about me."

That's the problem with a good church. Some of you are in good churches, I'm sure. Here can be the problem—I don't want to take SPC because that's not me, but Redemption. Here's the problem at a Redemption church, the really good Bible teacher. The problem with a really good Bible teacher is you think that the end is to know the Bible. No, the end is to know the God that wrote the Bible. The Bible study is a means to get there.

Growing in Relationship Through Time

I can't know Sandy. I mean, my relationship with Sandy started like, I assume, most male-female relationships. I saw her and said wow. She saw me and said, oh, wow. I said wow, and I got to know her.

The first time we met, I was doing a little in-town getaway at the Valley Ho and Sandy was working at ASU and we met there. It sounds suspicious when you say that, but we met there for a coffee, I guess—that's what we had, she had tea. We talked five hours and I'm asking her all these questions and I didn't know anything about her. All of a sudden I said, "Are you hungry?" And she said yeah. So we went over and we had a salad and some food and she left and I thought, wow, that was incredible. I'm not sure I know what just happened there.

Then my phone dinged. I was like, I was 14. My phone dinged and she said, "Thanks for a great night." I thought, oh, wow, the bobber's under. We're done. Reel her in, mount her on the wall, this is a done deal. And it just started that.

Now, we're talking about something last night. I can't remember what she said. But we're watching something and I thought this and she said it and I love her more now than 41 months ago. Here's why: because I know her better than I did 41 months ago. The way I know her is I've spent time with her and I've talked with her and I make an effort. I hope this doesn't sound like drudgery. It's something I want to do.

The Same Principle Applies to God

Well, that same principle goes to God. If you're going, "You know what? My life with God is kind of dull"—and I don't mean this to be harsh—that's your fault, that's not His fault. He's saying, "I want you to know me. All you've got to do is talk to me. All you've got to do is spend time with me. All you've got to do is think about me." And like I said, He started. He's got plenty to say. It's all right here.

So the Lord—this God is your Shepherd and He knows that you are thirsty and He gives you refreshment in a hectic world by allowing you to have this intimate relationship with Him.

Let's pray. Father, thank you for this amazing truth. We know it. God, let us experience the richness of it. To those of us that may be dry and thirsty—

Right now, direct our attention away from a pursuit of those things that might give us a momentary satisfaction into a deep personal relationship with You that gives us real meaning, direction, satisfaction. We'll never find it in a person, place or thing other than Jesus. God, take that from our head to our heart. We pray that to You in Christ's name, amen.