Nourishment First

The LORD is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake.

Psalm 23:1–3

The Lord knows how weak we are, that we are prone to doubts and stumbling. We need to be strengthened within before we are ready to tread the heights.

This truth is beautifully taught in the Shepherd’s Psalm. We lie down and feed, we are renewed inwardly with the “washing of water by the word” (Ephesians 5:26), we are encouraged during times of refreshment (Acts 3:19) by His Spirit. Only then does He lead us along the paths of service.

It is a fundamental mistake to forget this truth: we are only able to stand for Him rightly when we have first been nourished by Him inwardly. In order to speak the truth in love, as Ephesians 4:15 says we are to do, we need to be filled with His Spirit. Otherwise we may speak the truth, but do it harshly, or we will use kind words but avoid the truth of God that our listener needs to hear.

To see that in Christ we lack nothing, is both a blessing and a challenge. It is a blessing to understand our own spiritual powerlessness and to accept that His supply is available to us. But it also challenges us to open ourselves up to His Spirit, to seek to be dependent on Him, to accept the truth of what He said that without Him we can do nothing (John 15:5). Or, as Peter wrote,

His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.

2 Peter 1:3–4

Do you feel weak today? That is the first thing we must realize, how weak we are! For only when that fact is grasped are we ready to seek His strength. Paul wrote, “For I know that good does not dwell within me, that is in my sinful nature” (Rom. 7:18), before he wrote, “For the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace” (Rom. 8:6).

The Good Shepherd strengthens His sheep for the journey ahead, and just like a sheep we need His nourishment daily, and even many times throughout the day.

Prayer:

Lord, we are weak but You are strong. Strengthen us with your power. Refresh us inwardly with Your word and Your Spirit. Give us good Christian friends along the way. And lead us to do Your will. Amen.