The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
He makes me lie down in green pastures
Psalm 23:1
Our church K group meets weekly and discovered the perfect study series for our stage in life. We don’t have a set leader but rotate through the houses and view a video series by Ray Vander Laan. He is a renowned Bible teacher and historian and has a wonderful way of taking us on a journey through the Holy Land, illuminating the historical, geographical and cultural context of the sacred Scriptures.
We have been studying Walking with God in the Desert. Living in the desert and visiting Israel many years ago, I was excited to begin the study. Little did I know I would miss over half of it due to my own walk through the shadow of the valley with our parents.
Yet I noticed that he often focused on the “path” that we are to take, a personal quest of mine. Psalm 23 offers encouragement and hope for the walk on the “right path” (verse 3). However, the explanation of “green pastures” revealed a whole different picture than what I always imagined.
Rather than a lush field of green alfalfa, the hills of Israel look barren, covered in rocks and boulders, hot, and dry. Watching a flock of sheep meander across the hill along paths scuffed out over the years, Vander Laan both explained and pointed out the tufts of grass that grow between the rocks — just one mouthful of food. As the flock follows the voice of their shepherd, who is constantly searching for food, they are lead step by step to the next mouthful.
What a wonderful picture for us! Life is not a field of lush grass—full of ease, but rather tufts of grass in the middle of the challenges we face each day. Our needs will be satisfied one step at a time, one mouthful at a time, by our Good Shepherd. Just enough.