Still Waters

Word is my shepherd.

I shall not lie.

He makes me lie down in green pastures.

He leads me beside still waters.

He restores my soul.

He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.

For you are with me.

Your rod and your staff may come for me.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.

You anoint my head with oil.

My cup overflows.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.

And I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Well, it is awesome to be back with my church family.

Man, it is so good to be back today and be with you guys excited about what God has in store.

Can we all just take a real deep breath one time?

Just a lot of tension maybe this week.

We don't, you know, we don't, as a church, we don't endorse candidates.

We don't take positions on politics, but but I know elections can be can be tense.

And so here's the reminder, and we preach through Daniel, uh, at least part of Daniel.

And one of the things that we emphasized is that God is in control of who is in control.

And so let's take a deep breath and let's rest in the Lord.

He is sovereign.

Um, his mercies are new every day.

And so there is no reason for a follower and a believer in Jesus to be tense, to be worried, um, because God has a plan and he will work his plan and we can rest in that.

And so um I'm I'm gonna tell you what hurts worse than that is what happened yesterday afternoon.

Um and I'm just gonna say, you know what, Pat Hardin, um, I I know Pat either listened to he was he was with us for the first service or the last service, maybe both services, because he knows might say this as I did in the first service.

Yesterday was for Pat.

He he needed that, he needed for the serpents to win uh the game.

And um and when I say serpent, that's what I mean.

Uh and so uh so anyway, Pat's he's recovering, uh doing really, really well.

So hopefully um in the next week or two we'll we'll have Pat back with us, and and uh and the lobby will never be the same again.

And so um excited, you know.

Let me say, give a shout out to Ken and Gail Fraker, is a couple with us that attend our social circle campus.

But but Ken uh Ken is a very, very dear uh friend and and and part of the Church at the Grow family.

This building would not exist, this property would not be developed if it wasn't for Ken.

He's a retired engineer, and so he and Jeff Baker uh pretty much made this building happen.

And so Ken had to go to the hospital this past week, but he's at home recovering, so praise the Lord for that.

Um excited about what God is gonna be doing over the next uh month as we celebrate uh Operation Christmas Child and we get our boxes ready to send that will go around the world and we prepare for Shop with a Hero.

We are moving forward.

Uh Walmart, Loganville Police, Walton Sheriff's Department, fire departments, all of our heroes are on board.

And so ask that you would be praying about how you would serve and how you would give to make Shop with a Hero reality.

It's going to be December 5th.

You'll hear more about that over the next uh coming weeks.

And um, and just thankful for a church that is faithful and in always, but faithful in giving.

We had a finance team um yesterday, uh yesterday morning, um, and and and it it was so pleasant and so wonderful.

I mean, I think the meeting lasted maybe 20 minutes uh because you guys have been so faithful.

This will be the first year if things continue as they have.

We are projected to bring in over a million dollars between our two campuses, and that is a first.

And and that is amazing in this year that that and and it's a uh it I want to give God the glory, but I want to thank you, church family, for being faithful in your giving.

And so um we'll we'll present our new budget uh for next year uh on December 5th, uh December 6th, I believe, that Sunday morning.

Um so so moving forward, let's take a deep breath.

God is in control, God is good, and and we're gonna we're gonna jump in uh the Psalm 23, as we we heard last week, and I want to give props to Tyler Cloud.

Would y'all join me in giving Tyler a hand?

Um Tyler uh uh loves sports, so I'm gonna use athletic metaphor.

He came out of the bullpen, and and and and man, he he was incredible last week.

I was able to watch it, and you did a wonderful job, Tyler.

Um, basically sharing that the fact that the Lord is my shepherd.

The Lord is my shepherd.

I shall not want.

And and we when we talk about the 23rd Psalm, it's one of the most familiar passages in all scripture.

It's probably, it's probably one of the passages that is the most memorized.

Um, a lot of children, it's one of the first passages of scripture that they will be taught and and and taught to memorize when they're young, and like it's like the Lord's Prayer.

And so here's the danger of a passage that is so familiar to us is that it almost becomes common, and we lose the sense of the freshness of God's word as we read it.

So I want you to just begin to really awaken your spiritual senses, maybe even pray right now in your mind and heart, God, would you speak a fresh word to me as we read a familiar passage, the 23rd Psalm last week?

Tyler opened up the series in Nathan and Social Circle, the simple verse, the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.

And here's what you'll notice David writes this psalm, and he he writes it having been a shepherd boy, and he writes it not from the perspective of being a shepherd, he writes it from the perspective of being a sheep that is shepherded by the Heavenly Father.

And here's what he says: he he doesn't say the Lord is a shepherd, he says the Lord is my shepherd.

And so here's the question: can you say with David that the Lord is your shepherd and not just a shepherd?

Because that's a huge question that needs answering.

Is the Lord your shepherd rather than just a shepherd?

He says, the Lord is my shepherd.

And so he writes it not from the perspective that you would think David would write it, because he was a shepherd boy.

That was his role.

As he they had to call him out from the field.

When Samuel came to pick the new king, he said he goes through all of Jesse's sons and he says, Do you have another son?

Oh, yeah, we've got the runt.

We've got the little boy David.

He is out keeping the sheep.

But David says, He is a sheep, and the Lord is his shepherd.

And so we're all sheep.

I feel like we ought to stop and just say, you know, bye.

No, no, but we won't do that.

We're the sheep and we have a good shepherd.

But it is important for us to know maybe some of the characteristics and maybe some of the significance of being a sheep and having a good shepherd because it is mentioned hundreds and hundreds of times in Scripture where we are referred to as sheep.

And there's three things I want you to know about sheep.

And they're not all really good things.

The first thing you need to know about sheep is sheep are stupid.

Yeah, and I know as as we my wife and I parented our kids, you couldn't say that word in our house, but but I'm just gonna be quite honest.

If you want to insert the word dumb, you can.

But sheep, sheep are stupid.

They are, they're just not smart animals.

I uh when our kids were growing up, we went to the circus every year.

We went downtown and went to the Barnum and Bailey Big Circus.

You know, how many of you have been to the circuses?

You've been to a circus, and and at the circus, they have all these incredibly trained animals.

They have horses that are trained to do all types of tricks.

They uh they have they bring out dogs, and dogs are are are taught all these little tricks and can jump through hoops and they can do all kinds of things.

I've been to SeaWorld, and it's amazing how how dolphins can be trained, how seals can be trained, how whales can be trained, but as I have seen all these different animals be trained, I have never been to any place where sheep have been trained to do tricks.

Never.

And you know why?

Because sheep are stupid.

They can't be trained to do anything.

Sheep are they're just stupid.

Sheep are not necessarily presented in a positive light.

And God refers, and I know I don't, this doesn't sit well with me, I know it may not sit well with you, but God refers to us hundreds of times in Scripture as being likened to sheep.

And he is the shepherd.

We cooked Friday, um, Craig uh Calhoun, Jeff Baker, and Chantel and Tyler and a few other people uh cooked out, we cooked, we grilled um the pregame meal for the Walnut Grove high school football team on Friday, and and and so one of the coaches walks in and he had this cool tattoo on the lower part of his leg.

And and I looked at that, I thought, man, if I was gonna have a tattoo, which I'm not the type of person to have a tattoo, I would have thought about it before, but I'd be one of those people that people would look at and they would think, man, he's trying to be cool, but he ain't cool because he's not a tattoo person.

Not to mention that my wife wouldn't let me have a tattoo if I wanted one.

But the whole point is it was a cool tattoo.

You know what the tattoo was?

It was a wolf.

It was this big picture of a wolf.

If you will pay attention, you will never find somebody who has the tattoo of a sheep on their body.

You know why?

Because sheep are stupid.

They're weak.

They do not project any sort of strength whatsoever.

But sheep are also dirty.

They're just filthy animals.

I've been to the Middle East, I've been to Israel, and and I've seen, I've been to Romania where they they still shepherd sheep in the old-fashioned sense, and and sheep and dust of the Middle East and the sand and the dirt.

It doesn't mix well.

And you include insects and parasites and all types of gunk and sheep are just dirty.

They're dirty animals and it accumulates over and over.

And they have to have a shepherd that will take care of their wool and clean them up.

And and and they are they are completely helpless in trying to cleanse themselves.

We'll talk about it a little bit later in the series, but but but but sheep and water don't mix well.

Sheep can get into water and get waterlogged in their wool and they will drown.

And so they are dependent upon a shepherd or some type of outside help to even cleanse them and to keep their face uh cleaned and free from infection.

And then third, thirdly, sheep are defenseless.

They are absolutely defenseless.

You know that some animals in the animal kingdom have have some type of defense mechanism.

A skunk can spray a putrid smell, and some of you have smelled that smell, and it will linger, and it is awful, and and and lizards or chameleons can change colors and blend in.

You think of uh of fish in the ocean that can that have poison in them if they're if they're attacked or stepped on.

Uh they have some type of defense mechanism.

Sheep have no defense mechanisms.

They are defenseless, which means they are dependent upon an outside source that will protect them from harm.

They're defenseless.

God refers to us as his sheep hundreds of times.

And when we are left in our humanity to our stupid, dirty, defenseless selves, usually it doesn't end up well, which is why we need a shepherd.

We need a shepherd that will give us wisdom and insight and help us have humility to depend on a good shepherd to walk us through life.

We need a savior that will cleanse us, one that might even give his life to die on a cross that would provide for our redemption and our cleansing and to give us hope.

And we need a good shepherd that will protect us even when we feel like all hell is breaking loose and the world is falling apart and and and things are tense, and it seems that we're anxious.

We can depend on a good shepherd to be our defender when we have no control otherwise.

Sheep tend to wander and push the limits of their own boundaries.

Which brings us to two verses we're gonna look at out of the 23rd Psalm.

And the big idea this morning is this it's real simple.

God makes his sheep rest.

God makes his sheep rest.

Sheep tend to push the boundaries of their limits.

And so I want to read through the whole psalm, and then we're gonna look at these verse two and three specifically.

We're gonna do something a little different.

You're gonna stand with me, and we're gonna read all together out loud the 23rd Psalm.

It's six verses.

Okay, we stand for that long, everybody together.

You're gonna read it out loud with me.

Um you read with the words on the screen, and let's read it together.

Here we go.

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.

He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside still waters, he restores my soul, he leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.

For you are with me, your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.

You anoint my head with oil, my cup overflows.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

You guys can have a seat.

Here's the two verses we're gonna spend the remaining moments on.

And it's verses two and three.

Here's what it says He makes me lie down in green pastures, He leads me beside still waters, He restores my soul, He leads me in paths of righteousness for His name's sake.

God makes His sheep rest.

See, when we let we are left to ourselves, we push limits that we shouldn't push.

When we left to ourselves, we will exhaust ourselves beyond what God intended for us.

When we are left to ourselves, um we don't choose the Sabbath rest that God lays out in Scripture.

We'll try to get as much as we can, move forward as fast as we can.

There's this ambitious side of us, uh, many of us that struggles with wanting more, pushing the limits more.

And listen, even if we can't push the limits ourselves, we like watching other people push the limits.

Think of extreme sports, people on bicycles, people on motorcycles, people on skateboards, people that will do stupid things at the expense of maybe capturing something on video.

There are apps out there.

Uh, you know, you can go to YouTube or you can go to TikTok, and and most of those videos are people pushing the limits.

And we laugh at them.

We laugh at them.

If they crash and they burn or they break something, we think it's funny.

We think it's funny while we're looking at it on a screen.

And so we we kind of enjoy it.

There was a reality show, a reality TV show that featured that the whole focus was preachers that were handling snakes.

And some of y'all would watch it.

Not for any spiritual value, but you just thought, this is crazy that people are handling snakes, number one, and then handling snakes in the name of God.

And you know what happened to the star of that show?

He got bit and he died.

And some of you watched it.

You like watching people push the limits.

God installed limits at creation.

He installed limits at creation.

He says in Genesis 2, 1 through 3, he says, Thus the heavens and the earth were finished.

So God has created everything that is created, and all the host of them.

And on the seventh day, God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done.

So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy.

Because on it, God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.

Here's the question, you know, when you read that, this question that comes to my mind is man, God must have been tired.

Do you think God was tired?

No, God is the only being in all of creation.

God is the only person.

He is the only being in all of creation that has no limits.

So God established this Sabbath principle, not so much because he needed it, but so he would establish an example and a priority for us.

And so the Lord gives rest as a gift to all his people, to his creation.

The shepherd gives rest to the sheep.

And so God gave us limits with his law.

We know in Exodus 20, part of the Ten Commandments, verse 8, remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.

Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God.

On it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male servant or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates, for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the Sabbath.

Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

And so a lot of times, and let me say this, and it is true, we are no longer bound and under the law.

When Jesus came and he lived and he died and he rose again, he established a new covenant.

And that covenant is based upon his spilled blood and his broken body that provided for cleansing and redemption and made us right in the Eyes with our Heavenly Father if we put our faith in what He did to provide for us.

And in that sense, we are no longer under the old covenant, we are under the new covenant.

But it doesn't mean that we just throw aside the principles that God established in Scripture.

And one of those principles is the Sabbath principle that we are to rest, we are to spend time, and it is for our benefit, but it is also for the glory of God.

It speaks a word to the rest of the world that we are a people that uphold the name of the Lord our God and that Jesus is our Lord.

And so as a result of that, we're going to take a day and we're going to give it to Him.

And we're not under the law in the sense that God's going to strike you down if you do something that's called work.

And sometimes you might work in a field that causes you to have to work on a Sunday.

And so you may have to adjust your Sabbath principles to another day.

But here's the point.

We're not under the law, but we shouldn't just disregard what God says.

God makes his sheep get rest.

We have limits.

We are not God.

And we've got to work within the limits, and we've got to honor him with our lives.

God knew we would have a tendency to push the limits.

And he is the shepherd.

And he wants us.

Listen, when we don't have limits and we don't and we disregard what God says about Sabbath and rest and laying down.

God knows that our stress levels go up.

He knows that our focus narrows.

He knows that we become self-absorbed, self-focused, self-centered.

It's all about us when we push beyond the boundaries that he says.

So they've got several sheep on their property, and they've got a goat, they've got a donkey named Jack, they've got they've got chickens and dogs, and there's all kinds of stuff they got.

But over the course of the time that they've had their sheep, there have been multiple times that that either wild animals or packs of dogs have come inside the fence and run the sheep.

And so when that happens, they've got to move quickly.

So Butch, he's got he's got uh a son, he's got some daughters who are married to men, and so he he call and he calls friends, he calls people, and and and so number one, they want to get rid of the wild animals, whether it's coyotes or the pack of dogs.

They want to they either want to kill them or get rid of them, get them off the property.

But the second focus is they want to run down the sheep and get them to stop running because sheep will start running and they won't stop.

Even when the danger is gone, it's just part of their instinct, they keep running.

And when sheep run, they will run themselves literally to death.

And to the point, they will run and keep running until their heart bursts.

It's a true fact.

And so when God says He makes me lie down in green pastures, He leads me beside still waters, He is He is looking at us as sheep who sometimes don't know what's best, and we need somebody outside of ourselves that will help us rest and lay down.

Just like a sheep who will run until his heart will work.

That's just how we're wired.

We're sheep.

We're not sometimes we don't have good sense, we're dirty and we're defenseless.

And so why do we have anxiety?

Why do we struggle with insecurity?

Why do we struggle uh with feeling insignificant, feeling like we don't that that we we don't matter in life, and we struggle with trusting and listening to the voice of God.

And so this psalm we heard last week, the Lord is my shepherd.

I shall not want, which really means I lack nothing.

He is my provider, he takes care of me, and and he gives his people rest.

He will make us lie down in green pastures, he will take us by the still waters.

It's why some of us yearn to get away and either get to the beach or get to the mountains or get to a place that that has a feeling of serenity.

Because we know it.

My kids are older now, 22, 19, and 15.

But but I remember when they were toddlers and and nap time was important.

They needed a nap.

And we needed for them to have a nap.

And so but they they would run themselves to exhaustion and still would not want to go down for a nap.

And so you put your I remember putting my kids in the in their crib and and gently just placing the the bottom of my hand firmly on their little bag.

So they and and just and just know what was I needed somebody to make it naked.

God made his sheep rest.

He gives his people rest.

We have a good shepherd.

Jesus who leads the way.

He is our good shepherd.

Later in the series, we're gonna we're gonna talk about how Jesus and a good shepherd leads the way in scoping out fields and pasture land.

And the sheep have to learn the voice of the shepherd, and then the sheep have to follow the shepherd.

Now we know that there are sheep who are prone to wonder.

We think of what Jesus says in Luke chapter 15, where he talks about the lost coin and the lost son, the prodigal son, and he talks about the lost sheep and where the good shepherd will leave the 99 to go make sure that the one is safe and brought back to the fold with the rest of the sheep.

Luke 15 · chapter mention

Well, Jesus does that with us.

He does sometimes whatever it takes.

And the key for us is to learn the voice and to learn the song of the shepherd.

John 10 says this, starting in verse 7.

It says, So Jesus again said to them, Truly, truly I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.

I am the door of the sheep.

All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them.

I am the door.

If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and go in and out and find pasture.

The thief only comes to steal, kill, and destroy.

I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.

He says, I am the good shepherd.

The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

He who is a hired hand, and he's referring to workers that might be hired to help.

But their head's not in the game.

He said, uh, he who is the hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and he leaves the sheep and flees.

And the wolf snatches them and scatters them.

He flees because he's the hired hand.

He cares nothing for the sheep.

I am the good shepherd.

I know my own, and my own know me.

Just as the Father knows me and I know the Father, I lay down my life for the sheep.

And I have other sheep that are not of this fold.

I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice.

So there will be one flock, one shepherd.

For this reason, the Father loves me because I lay down my life that I may take it up again.

No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord.

I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again.

This charge I have received from my father.

Let me just share something from a pastor's heart.

Those of you that have children that are old enough to drive and to leave the house and to be on your own, be on their own to a certain degree, you understand what I'm talking about.

As a parent who hands the keys to a car for the first time or the second time, and your child leaves the house, and you can't rest and relax until you hear that motor and that car pull up in your driveway.

Knowing that your child is safe at home.

And it doesn't matter what age they are, it's still the case.

They can be off at college or they can be an adult with a job, and and but if you know they're coming home, there's that sense I can't rest or relax until I hear that car pull in the driveway.

That's how many pastors have felt since March of 2020.

There's this sense, man, I don't I don't see all of our family.

And I hope they're okay.

And I know many of them are at home because they don't feel comfortable coming back.

Some of you are at home and you're waiting for the point.

And I, man, I understand that.

I'm so thankful for online ministry.

But I will tell you, as a pastor and a parent, if on occasion, if you hadn't been around and I haven't seen you a text or an email, and we we as a church staff have a number of times have just gone through and either made phone calls or or or when we see people, we're checking off names that are part of our church to know that people are okay and check on them.

Because we feel responsible for the sheep, the people in our family.

And a good shepherd, that's that's that's what a good shepherd does.

He counts the sheep, he knows where they are, he knows they're okay, he's taking care of them.

And the greater sense, we're all called to be in tune with the voice of the good shepherd Jesus.

When I went to Romania, we went numerous times back when Pat and Joy were there and we were involved in planting the church in Romania, and we would go out to villages out.

We were based in Aradia there where Pat and Joy lived.

And we would go spend time out in the villages just sharing the gospel, doing VBS type, you know, backyard Bible club type stuff.

And it was kind of interesting because it was like a step back in time because you would have you had families that own cows.

They might just have one cow or a few cows, and they they own sheep, multiple sheep.

And so you would have multiple families that would take their sheep and their cows out to the fields to pasture during the day, and then in the evening, they would bring the cows and the sheep home.

You've ever heard the statement uh when the cows come home, well, that's where it comes from.

The cows do come home, and so they would put all of the sheep from different owners all into the same pen.

And the next morning, the question you would have is how does the shepherd know which sheep are his to take his sheep back out to the pasture?

Well, each shepherd either had a song or an instrument or some type of vocal saying that they would use to call their sheep.

And so one shepherd might start singing his song, another shepherd would start playing his song on a flute or a little recorder.

And man, the sheep would just start following their shepherd.

They knew the song and the voice of their shepherd.

And as soon as the shepherd walks out, while he's singing, while he's talking, his sheep would simply follow him as he headed out the pasture.

And so a good shepherd understands how to teach his sheep the voice of the good shepherd.

And so, how do you do that?

First of all, you first have to respond to the shepherd, understanding that we're all we're all held captive by our sin.

Stupid is what we've talked about in the message, but it's really our flesh and our sin.

And we've got to humbly be willing to admit that we fall short of the standard that God has set in Scripture.

None of us can keep the Sabbath perfectly, none of us can keep the law perfectly.

And as a matter of fact, Paul said the law is a tutor and a teacher to help us become aware of our need for a savior.

And so we admit that we need a savior, and then we believe.

We believe in what Jesus did in his life and his death and his resurrection to provide for our salvation, to provide for the cleansing and the redeeming work to bring us into the family of God.

We are orphans no more.

We are now adopted into the family.

And we confess Jesus as our Lord and Savior.

And then we spend time in Scripture, we spend time in prayer, we spend time with the family of God so we can be in tune with the voice of the good shepherd.

And when God speaks to us, we're able to follow his lead and follow his guide.

And here's what I here's what I wrote in my notes here, that this verse that kind of sums this up.

Matthew 11, 28, it says, Come to me all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.

When we are walking with the Good Shepherd Jesus, there is a trust.

There is a freedom.

There is freedom from anxiety, freedom from worry.

It doesn't matter what's happening in our world.

When we are in the presence of God, we know that He's in control.

And here's what we need to know: that we represent Jesus better and well when our souls are well and we are refreshed.

We represent Jesus better when we're nourished.

We represent Jesus better when we're dependent upon him.

And sometimes that means walking away from a news cycle, walking away from the television, putting the phone down, not being being stirred up by the world, throwing their arms up.

What are we gonna do now?

No, it's saying, you know what?

Hey, things may not have turned out like I want, but I'm putting my trust in God.

And he's the one who holds the future.

We know how the story ends.

We have victory.

And sometimes we just need to stop and rest and pray and depend on God.

So we sing this morning, oh, come to the altar.

I want to invite you, those of you that might feel comfortable.

We don't do this a lot, but I would love for some of you.

We need prayer.

We need prayer for people in our community.

We need prayer for people in our church.

We do need prayer for for our state and our country.

We need sometimes, sometimes there's something about physically just saying, you know what, I'm gonna kneel before my creator and say, you know what, God, I'm gonna depend on you.

So would you pray with me?

Father, would you work this morning?

I pray for maybe those that are here, that are that are like our friend Taylor that was baptized in social circle last week, that simply needed to put his faith in Jesus.

And so if you've never put your faith in Jesus, I want to encourage you this morning to put your faith in Jesus, maybe for the first time.

Admit that you need him and just humble yourself.

Say, I need a Savior, I need cleansing, I need redemption, and I believe in what Christ did for me on that Roman cross, his, his, his, his righteous living and his death on the cross and his resurrection from that tomb.

It is sufficient and it provides for my relationship to be made right with my heavenly Father.

And I trust in him and I confess him as my Lord.

And I'm gonna come to the altar and I'm gonna put my faith in him.

And for us believers and for us followers of Jesus, Lord, whatever your circumstances are, maybe there's something anxious in your life, it might be related to your marriage or your family or a child or something going on, or you just it may be the events that are taking place in our nation, it might be this pandemic, whatever it is, you say, Lord, I need you to give me rest.

And I'm coming to you to depend on you.

So, Father, would you work?

Would you speak to us?

Would you change us?

We love you.

We thank you for being our good shepherd.

May we be so in tune with his voice, his song, that we can follow and we can move and we can be used for his glory.

It's in Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.