Psalm 23

Psa 23:3 He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness For His name's sake.

We are all very familier with this Psalm. It is an absolutely beautiful piece of song and poetry. It goes further than that, seeing that this is absolutely true. The Lord is our shepherd, and He watches over us. Like a shepherd takes care of his sheep, the Lord takes care of us. Like a shepherd leads the sheep to water, so the Lord leads us to living water. He takes hold of our hand and restores us.

The beautiful thing about this psalm is it is entirely focused on what the Lord does. Never do we read of what we can do, but simply hat He has done and will continue to do until we are with Him. Like sheep, we are not self sufficient. Like sheep, we get lost easily. Like sheep, we need to be led to water. Therefore He restores our soul, and we benefit from the care of the shepherd.

We live in a world which praises the self sufficient. True, you are going to have to take care of yourself to one extent. In the end, the Lord will take care of you. He holds us. He leads us to still water. He restores our soul. If you try to do these things you will only get worn out trying. If you simply lean on the love of the shepherd and in humility accept His providence, burdens and stress will be released from your life.