Pastures of Green

The cliche "The devil is in the details" highlights how a small detail can lead to a big problem.  A simple body posture or eye movement can lead a discerning observer to suspect someone is being dishonest and not telling the whole truth.  Innocuous behaviour or statements which could have been easily overlooked have led to convictions of murder that stuck.  On the flip side, as we travel through life and read the Bible to hear from God it is evident the smallest details point to His wisdom, goodness and grace.  Every word of God is pure, and as we read the Bible a single word has meaning and insight beyond definition alone to teach us of our glorious God and Saviour.

David wrote in Psalm 23:1-2, "The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. ² He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters."  The picture of the LORD being a good shepherd Who protects and leads his sheep provides enduring comfort.  Sheep do not lie down unless they are at rest and feel secure, and blessed is the man who finds the rest only Jesus Christ can provide.  I have driven by many green pastures with sheep grazing and meandering around, and seldom do I see them laying down.  The pasture being described as "green" speak of lush growth and good nutrition.  What I recently considered is how the description using a colour also means the pasture is bathed in light.  This may seem like a very minor detail, but it is an important one.

Whilst sheep depend largely upon their hearing to detect danger, they can see colours.  Their eyes do not see as clearly or far as humans, and we require light to see colour.  When the shepherds kept watch over their sheep by night outside Bethlehem, it could not be said they were in pastures of green because of darkness.  Because Jesus Christ is the Good Shepherd (John 10:11) who is also the light of the world who gives the light of life (John. 8:12), He indeed leads us to pastures of green.  In Him is light and no darkness at all!  What the pastures supply for a healthy sheep Jesus does much more for us body and soul, for in Him physically and spiritually we find rest.

Take heart, Christian, for Jesus makes us to lie down in green pastures and children of the day.  The exhortation of 1 Thessalonians 5:1-10 is most relevant for us:  "But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. ² For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. ³ For when they say, "Peace and safety!" then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape. ⁴ But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. ⁵ You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. ⁶ Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober. ⁷ For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night. ⁸ But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation. ⁹ For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, ¹⁰ who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him."