One of the best known Psalms is possibly Psalm 23. “The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want.” It is a passage that has brought great comfort to many as it describes the “Valley of the shadow of death” and how God would lead us through that journey of loss and grief, adversity and suffering, into better days. On closer examination, I realised that Psalm 23 really is the description of a Spirit-led life. The Apostle Paul said in Romans 8:14, “For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God.” I’ve been mulling over what it truly means to live a life that reflects that we are children of God. It really does require an extraordinary trust in God and willingness to follow where He takes us in this life. Last week, Claire shared on how He takes us through the wilderness, just as he led Jesus. But Psalm 23 is like the travel brochure of Heaven on Earth Tours. While I’m very familiar with the tour of the Valley of the Shadow of Death, and have personally experienced the green pastures and the sumptuous spread He tends to lay out in the midst of battle with my enemies, the verse that described the “still waters” really grabbed my attention this time around. Still waters. Sounds divine really. I can feel the peace and quiet begin to seep into my very soul. But after a few moments of imagining this bliss, it occurs to me that I would be able to appreciate those still waters for about five minutes before jumping to my feet and looking for something to get busy with! A few years ago, Ric and I were invited to speak at a camp at a friend’s church in Darwin. I was excited about the visit as I had never been to that part of Australia before. But, as much as I was looking forward to ticking that off my bucket list and spending some precious time with our dear friends, I was also dreading the heat. I tend to fry my circuits in the heat and tried to convey my strong need for some kind of air conditioning in the accommodation we would be staying in. I was assured that our needs would be attended to, but as we took the long drive from Darwin airport out into the bush, the chances of any creature comforts awaiting us began to rapidly dissipate. We arrived to a pretty rustic campground that looked like it had been built in the 1940’s and nobody had touched it since. To my horror, I discovered that our meetings were essentially open-air, and our room had a concrete floor and a large aeroplane propeller of a fan but NO AIR CONDITIONING. The bathrooms were the local meeting hall for the resident frog population, crocodiles swam in the nearby springs and snake warning signs hung around the grounds. But possibly the worst revelation was that there was NO INTERNET!!! I was just about breathing into a brown paper bag as everyone else relished the stillness of the retreat compared to the city (they live in Darwin for Heaven’s sake!) and I had to wrestle with the storm within as I tried to imagine how I would survive the days ahead. What really confronted me was the stillness. And as I tried to climb off the wall of adrenaline that had filled the days leading to me getting on that plane, I realised how hard it is to be still. When God leads us to still waters, it is a direct challenge to our addiction to being busy and obsessed with activity. And it’s also a challenge to our addiction to drama. Elijah knew about drama. He had been hunted and threatened, had taken on the false prophets and their god, had picked an awesome fight and won, then headed up the clean-up committee as they permanently removed the idol worship from Israel. We find him in 1 Kings 19, in somewhat of a post-adrenaline slump, depressed and lost, running for his life, when God leads him to a cave. And then He does something wonderful. “Then He said, “Go out, and stand on the mountain before the Lord.” And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore into the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice.” (vs 11-12 NKJV) God demonstrates a simple reality to Elijah. He was not found in the wind, nor the earthquake, or the fire. He did not manifest Himself in the drama. Instead, He was revealed in a still small voice. The Spirit is leading us to still waters so that we can hear His voice. He is leading us away from drama and the busyness of this life so that we can truly understand His peace. A spirit-led life means we can know an inner stillness even if the outer world is defined by activity and drama. Be encouraged to let Him lead you to those still waters on a daily basis. You might just find yourself lingering there.
