Still Waters Psalms 23:2

He leads me beside the still waters.


Water is the most basic need that we have. An individual or animal can go days without food but they both have to have water much sooner in order to survive. All life, plant and animal is comprised of water. In fact, water makes up as much as 75% of the body chemistry of most living things. Without an adequate supply of water, life suffers dramatically, fast.

Sheep do not have the innate ability, as do most animals, to find water. They rely totally and completely on the shepherd to lead them to water. I have read that sheep can be with a few yards of water and not know it. This describes human life. We thirst for the fellowship that God so much wants to give to us. Without that fellowship, our lives fail to find fulfillment and purpose. We desperately try to look everywhere for something to satisfy that thirst that is deep within us, but until we come to the Word of God and let Him fill that thirst, we will not be satisfied. Of coarse Jesus is the Living Water.

David makes a special statement that has always puzzled me. Notice David's use of the phrase "still waters". Sheep find water in more ways than one. Of coarse, they can drink from a stream or river. They can drink water drawn from a well or they will do very well taking the water from the dew found on the grass in the early morning and late evening. The last is the purist of all the water. Notice David writes "he makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters."

The green pastures provide the "still waters" on a daily basis! As the sheep graze in the early morning, they feed and drink! Perhaps this is what Jesus was referring to as He said in the Sermon on the Mount when He said "Blessed are they who do hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled." (Matthew 5:6) When the sun comes up and the day begins to heat up, the dew dries and its ability to satisfy dries up with it.

When we as sheep rise early in the morning to spend quality time with God in His Word and in prayer with Him, He is able to fill us and satisfy us. If we rise up and let the day get started without taking in the "still waters of the Gospel", then its ability to fill us and satisfy us wanes as the day wears on. When we do not take the time to start the day off with the Lord, we lose the best opportunity to experience the provisions that He has prepared for us that will get our day headed in the right direction. Take time for God and let the "still waters" sooth your soul!