The promise of Psalm 23 is that, if you follow your divine shepherd, he will lead you to the best pastures; to an oasis (vs.2) where you will find, as Jesus said, “rest for your souls” (Matthew 11:29). On the way you will go past lesser pastures and you may turn aside, thinking that these are what you want. But your shepherd will pull you away, and you may kick and scream and say: “No, I want these pastures!” We often stubbornly remain in places that we were meant to pass through. We do this because we think, “This is as good as it gets”. But no, God is leading you to greener pastures; so, don’t stop in the place you were meant to pass through. Perhaps God has forcefully moved you on in some way, and you feel something good has been taken away from you. Perhaps you are journeying away from good pastures into a desert place and you are wondering why you had to leave that behind. But God is leading you to greener pastures up ahead. And by ‘greener’ I don’t mean pastures that will give you more than just a shallow level of gratification and pleasure. God is leading you to pastures that will restore your soul (vs.3). Wherever God leads you, that will be the best for the restoration of your soul. His aim is not pleasure or shallow lifestyle gratification but full restoration. Wherever you go, even if not always pleasant, will be exactly right for this. And so, David declares: “He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.”
Ask God to restore your soul.
Read Psalm 23
