2018 Weekly Devotional - Week 48

Week 48

  Psalm 23:2b

 “He leads me beside still waters.”

      I grew up in New Braunfels which has both the Guadalupe and the Comal river running through it. “I am haunted by waters.”, that great line near the end of Norman Maclean’s story, A River Runs Through It sums up my childhood. So, as Darla and I were traveling to Inverness, Scotland we were following the River Ness as it flows north out of the famous Loch Ness. The river is only about 6 miles long but it drops a little over 52 feet as it empties into Moray Firth. The Highlands had received a lot of rain the fall that we visited Inverness so the river was running very strong. As we walked along the river taking in the scenery we noticed that the river was quite turbulent where the river was shallow and narrow. As we approached the bay that the river empties into we also noticed that the river grew wider and deeper based on the size of the ships that now dotted the river’s edge. It occurred to Darla that the same can be true of our spiritual life as well. Where our spiritual life is narrow and shallow it has a tendency to be turbulent, unsettled. Where our spiritual life is broad and deep through maturity, study, and focus there is often calm.  

     The Psalmist states that the Lord, as his shepherd, leads the psalmist beside still waters. The Lord leads us to waters where we can rest. Where we can drink. Where we can swim. The Lord leads us to a spiritual maturity where our theology of Him, redemption, the church, and the eschaton are deep and wide. These are calm waters. Do you find that your spiritual life is turbulent, unsettled? Perhaps there needs to be a deepening and a widening of your spiritual maturity. May the Lord lead you to still waters.  

In Christ,  

  John