Green Pastures

“He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul...” (Psalm 23:2–3)

When I owned my first car, I put sixty thousand miles on it in a little over a year. Sometimes, I’d just pick a country road and see where it ended. More often, the destination was the Appalachian Mountains and a lengthy trail to a stunning mountain overlook or a series of waterfalls cascading down a mountainside. Countless nights, I would drive out into the country, far from city lights, to lie on my warm hood and gaze up at the Milky Way, waiting patiently for the random nightly falling stars.

But the underlying goal was always the same: to arrive at a peaceful place where I could serenely ponder creation, life, and God. Back then, I felt closer to God in these remote settings—as if He were not already within me, but rather "up there" somewhere in all His majesty.

Eventually, my fascination with outer space led me to the sobering realization that a gaze at the star-filled sky is an overwhelming view of profoundly ancient history. What we see in the night sky, for the most part, is a mural of what was thousands, millions, and billions of years ago—not what is now. It seems the only true "present" moments in our physical reality here on planet Earth are the very moments we take an action or are affected by an action. And that experience immediately becomes the past.

Life is apparently a one-way journey toward an unknown future, with one certainty: we will pass away to return to the dust from which we came. In that moment, our physical life ends, but we believe that our soul will live on and we will see our Lord and Creator in an indescribable place. As Jesus revealed, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word... and we will come to him and make our home with him” (John 14:23). God dwells in us!

We were designed to know and worship our God in spirit and truth (John 4:24). Because of this, we have a certain future beyond this world: “Whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life... and has passed from death to life” (John 5:24).

There is no greener pasture imaginable than the God-designed place within us where we can truly be still and know that He is God. It is there that we were designed to commune with Him and feel the depth of His love. We find true rest in the assurance that our Great Shepherd, Jesus, watches over us and will one day lead us from that internal sanctuary into the very presence of our Heavenly Father.

I still love to explore the beauty of this temporal world, but I am learning that the peace that passes all understanding is not found "out there." It is found within each of us, thanks to our Good Shepherd who makes us lie down in green pastures and restores our souls.

Father, thank You for the reminder that Your peace is not a destination or location, but rather a presence that lives within us. Help us to carry this "green pasture" into the busyness of our daily lives. When the world feels loud or the future feels uncertain, remind us to be still and find rest in the home You have made in our hearts. Guide our steps today so we might live out Your truth in every moment for Your sake, not our own. Amen.

mgb