Restoration and Renewal
He lets me rest in green meadows; he leads me beside peaceful streams. He renews my strength. Psalm 23:2-3 (NLT) A sign reads at my local gas station "Turn off engine completely before fueling". The concept is simple, you need to shut down to fill up. It is both dangerous and incredibly inefficient to attempt to fill your gas tank while the engine is on. As we explore the 23rd psalm, this principle of resting and refueling is the basis of renewal. God leads us to places of rest (rest from work, rest from worrying, rest from activity) in order to renew our strength, or as the King James version states, "restoreth my soul". Its fascinating to consider that God desires to renew and restore us on an ongoing basis. This suggests a couple of principles: 1. We wear down and wander away . Like sheep, we too get tired, confused, and misdirected. This does not mean that sheep are evil and deviant, as much as they are simply being sheep. We too...