Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep. If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take.
That is a very simple prayer that my mom and dad taught me to say when I was little. The “experts” in today’s circles tell you that those words could ruin a child’s psyche, or some other such nonsense. If you haven’t made your children acquainted with the possibility of death, are they ever going to be able to really rest in the knowledge of God and Heaven? I mean complete rest – knowing that whatever happens the outcome is always good.
I remember when I was very young, possibly somewhere between four and six years old, I was in a cycle of nightmares. Every night for a while I would dream of snakes crawling over me. I was in a pit of snakes and could not get out. Now, I do not know whether I sneaked a peak at a movie that was older than I should have been watching, or what the initial cause of those dreams was, but I was waking up at night in a sweat and crying because of that dream. I remember my parents sitting with me and asking if I had prayed to God to help me get rid of that cursed dream. Of course, being that young, I wasn’t that aware of how God could help in any situation where you were stressed out beyond your comprehension. That night, I asked God to please take that dream away from me. I never had that dream again.
That’s my God. He can take the sting out of life’s stressful situations. Now, just what do you do when you do not have mom and dad there anymore to sit with you, calm you down, and give you this wonderful advice? Never fear, God was prepared for this situation! All you have to do is go to your instruction manual and open it – pretty much in the middle, and go to the book of Psalm. King David wrote a lot of these Psalms, and boy, was he ever in stressful situations! When he needed help in these situations, the Spirit of God helped him to write down these things that would not only help David, but help you in the sometimes freaky modern world we live in.
I might do a short series on this, because in today’s world we need release from stress, so I will start with probably the most familiar, the twenty-third Psalm:
“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.”
If the Lord is your shepherd, you will need no other help.
“He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.”
He sometimes has to slow us down and just make us stop and think calmly and rationally.
“He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.”
Then with that rest he has given me I am ready to go again, in His name, to do the things he would have me to do.
“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.”
Even though I get in tough situations, even in the possibility of deadly satanic forces around me, I do not have to be afraid. He is with me always. He never leaves me or forsakes me. I have the weapon of His Words with me to give me comfort over those evil forces.
“Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of my enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.”
God has prepared a spiritual meal to keep me strong even in the presence of Satan and all his minions. God gives me his warm embrace and fills my spirit so much that it overflows and Satan cannot get in.
“Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.”
For this last verse, I am going to borrow from a dear pastor friend of mine. Christ is our great shepherd. Like all shepherds, Christ has some sheepdogs to help him guide the flock. Goodness is one, and mercy is the other. His goodness and his mercy are always following after us, keeping us from any great harm. Always. Until we get from the pasture up to the house.
AE
Voice of the Introverts 