Green Meadows

Posted on by korgrocker

“The Lord is my shepherd; I have all that I need. He lets me rest in green meadows; he leads me beside peaceful streams. He renews my strength. He guides me along right paths, bringing honour to his name. Even when I walk through the darkest valley, I will not be afraid, for you are close beside me. Your rod and your staff protect and comfort me.”
Psalm 23:1-4 NLT

What comes to mind when we consider “green meadows”? Here in Scotland there is no shortage of such parts of our landscape, with tourists often suggesting that the abundance of greenery is due to the quantity of rain we receive. But to an extent that is true because it is rare to find a Scottish field blighted by drought, grass yellow and burnt. “Green meadows” are where herbivores such as cattle and sheep find their staple source of nourishment, their digestive systems wonderfully constructed to extract the maximum amounts of nutrition from otherwise tasteless vegetation. 

David wrote that the Lord, his Shepherd, “lets [him] rest in green meadows”, building a picture of those lazy summer days, when he could lay in a place of rest, enjoying the cool of the grass beneath him, the sheep around him doing the same. A place of rest for his body but also for his soul. I can remember as a small boy lying on a patch of grass looking up, warmed by the sun, at a mostly blue sky, fascinated by the shapes of a few puffy clouds of white contorted into various shapes that stimulated my imagination, a day when the cares of the world seemed far away. So David would have found his “green meadows” but with one big difference – it was here that he developed his relationship with God. We remember the invitation Jesus offered to His disciples everywhere, “ … Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light” (Matthew 11:28-30). Here in his “green meadows” David found such a place where the burdens of life reduced in significance before the presence of his Lord. 

We remember the first day of rest that occurred in the Bible. “On the seventh day God had finished his work of creation, so he rested from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy, because it was the day when he rested from all his work of creation” (Genesis 2:2-3). David found the rest his body required after a day’s work, a day spent in leading the sheep from one pasture to another. From his supplies of food he would have had a simple meal, a drink from the “peaceful streams” and then rested his aching bones in the soft lushness of a “green meadow”. If God rested after His work, then there was every reason for David to do the same. David knew intuitively that resting was an essential part of his life.

In those Genesis days, God introduced the concept of a Sabbath rest, a day set aside when human beings will enjoy a special day in God’s presence and away from their labours. The writer to the Hebrews wrote, “So there is a special rest still waiting for the people of God. For all who have entered into God’s rest have rested from their labours, just as God did after creating the world. So let us do our best to enter that rest. But if we disobey God, as the people of Israel did, we will fall” (Hebrews 4:9-11). Sadly, unbelieving people have failed to understand the concept of the Sabbath rest, that precious time in God’s presence, and they instead spend their time on a golf course, or going to sports events, or doing overtime so that they can purchase more “stuff”. If only they stopped to think that one day all that they have will be left behind, freeing their souls to continue in an afterlife of their choosing.

We pilgrims set aside time to rest in God’s presence. We pray and we read His Word, providing “green meadows” for our souls and in these spiritual “meadows” of our lives we find peace and divine blessings. We find that sweet spot of communion with our wonderful Creator, who created the “meadows” in the first place. Sometimes it is hard to put aside the cares of life, the tyranny of the urgent demands, the strident phone calls, texts, and emails, but put them aside we must. And God will help us balance our lives to conform the way He designed us in the first place.

Dear Father God. we pray that You will revive Your people, and help them find a Sabbath rest in Your presence, this day and every day. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Creation is Waiting

Posted on by korgrocker

“For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who his children really are.”
Romans 8:19 NLT

Paul makes another bold statement in his letter to the Roman church, a statement that would have seemed new and controversial to his readers. He follows his warning about suffering with a reference to “all creation”. Now that isn’t just the human content of God’s masterwork for Planet Earth. It includes the word “all”. So we look around at the created plants and animals that populate our world. And Paul gives them a personality by saying that they are waiting to see who God’s children “really are”. 

How can that be? Is that daffodil over there thinking to itself that it wishes God will bring a revelation to the world about His children? Once again, we look at the natural world around us through our limited physical vision, and with the scientific knowledge that assumes vegetation and non-human animals have no soul and no awareness, of what things should really be like. Of course, no matter how hard they try, our scientists can find no evidence of a spirit or soul within a person or any other created plant or animal. They may find evidence of spiritual activity through someone’s behaviour, but a spirit or soul cannot be dissected on a laboratory bench somewhere.

We pilgrims have to take Paul’s statement at face value. When we ponder over his words, there is no reason why we should dispute them, just because we have no evidence to the contrary. In God’s Heavenly Kingdom things will be very different to our experiences today. In Isaiah 55:12, the prophet wrote,  “You will live in joy and peace. The mountains and hills will burst into song, and the trees of the field will clap their hands”. In his prophetic vision, he saw even inanimate objects singing, and trees with hands. In Psalm 148:7, the Psalmist commanded the sea animals to praise God. We read, “Praise the Lord from the earth, you creatures of the ocean depths”. He goes on to refer to, “mountains and all hills, fruit trees and all cedars, wild animals and all livestock, small scurrying animals and birds” (Psalm 148:9-10). We can’t reduce God’s creation to the level of our limited understanding. 

Perhaps these scriptures will give us a different insight into God’s creation. After all, perhaps we should treat that weed that has popped up in our flower bed with a bit more respect.

Dear God. Your creation is wonderful. please open our eyes to see what You have made through Your eyes and not our own. Amen.

Life the Jesus Way

Posted on by korgrocker

“Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise Him, my Saviour and my God. My soul is downcast within me; therefore I will remember you..” Psalms‬ ‭42:5-6‬a ‭NIVUK‬‬

Have you ever been “downcast”? In a place where your view of life is monochrome in a technicolour world? Where the negative and difficult issues of life are weighing heavily in your thoughts? Where even depression is affecting your mental health? The Psalmist who wrote these verses was himself not in a good place, with a downcast and disturbed soul. But he knew from his own experience of God that he needed to grab hold of three words – “remember”, “hope” and “praise”. The Psalmist had a personal relationship with God and through the experience of years of walking closely with Him he knew that by the application of these three words he would regain his mental stability and restore colour to his black and white world. Notice it is ok to be “downcast”. Life is like that. We can find ourselves in such a place frequently in life. I know a dear lady who even when recently given bad medical news, was able to remember, hope in and praise her wonderful Friend, altering her perspective for the future. She had found the key to living a life where circumstances were not going to affect her soul, no matter how bad the issues were.

There will be those who will say that I don’t know how bad their situation is. They will blame their upbringing, their mental health, their families and so on. They will say that not even God can lift them out of their circumstances. But there are Christians in North Korea, imprisoned, beaten, and tortured, but who can remain active in their faith, remembering, hoping in and praising their Saviour and their God. There is a lovely Christian man, Nick Vujicic, whose strap line has been, “I’ve no arms and legs – what’s your problem?” We all live in our own life bubbles, experiencing our own issues, facing into our own worlds, dealing with our own downcast souls. And God has provided all the resources we need through Jesus, who said, “I have come that [you] may have life, and have it to the full.” ‭‭John‬ ‭10:10‬b ‭NIVUK‬‬. I saw a bumper sticker today, “One Life, Live It”. Let’s live the life God has given us the Jesus way, full of God-memories, full of God-hope, and full of God-praise.