He makes me lie down in fresh'

" He makes me lie down in fresh, tender, green pastures .

He leads me beside the still and restful waters. He refreshes and restores my soul" Psalm 23:2-3

A pastor who had ministered hard and long, and had rarely been absent from his church, was broken down with a severe sickness, and for months could not come to his accustomed place. During his long absence he wrote to the church words like these: "I understand that when I am physically unable to do the work I would be doing gladly if I could — it is not my work at all. It would have been mine if I were well — but now my only duty is to be quiet and still .

Christian duty is not all activity; sometimes it is to sweetly wait on the Lord' timing. My ministry is not broken or even interrupted by this experience. My work for my Master has not been stopped — its form only has been changed."

No doubt this pastor was doing as much for his people those quiet days away from them, as he had ever done in his active days in their midst.

We dare not take comfort from this teaching, if we are not called from our duty in some providential way. Some of us are too easily taken from our work. Small excuses are allowed to draw us away. Obstacles are not always meant to interrupt our efforts — ofttimes they are meant to be overcome , making us more earnest and persistent. There is altogether too much lazy resignation in some Christians.

Their resignation may be indolence . We must be sure the Good Shepherd calls us to "lie down in green pastures" before we stop in our service. But if lying down is our duty, then we must do it as joyfully as ever we listened to a call to move strenuously forward.

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