^ What if one who calls himself my friend should ask me to his house, and welcome me with many words, and entertain me with sumptuous show of hospitality, and give me a thousand tokens of his regard. He bids me make myself at home, and hopes I shall bo comfortable ; but as I am going to rest, he takes me aside. " This is a pleasant house, isn't it ? " " Very, indeed," say I ; " most pleasant. The design and arrangements are perfect, the views are charming, the gardens delightful ; everything is complete." " I am glad you like it ; I hope you will rest well " ; and then his voice sinks to a whisper — " but there is just one thing I ought to mention, we are not quite sure about the foundations." " Then, sir," I say indignantly, " you may depend upon it I am not going to stay here." Sleep ! I couldn't. Why, the man's welcome to the place is cruel ; the entertainment is a hideous mockery ; the decorations and furniture are a madman's folly. No; give me some poor cottage with many discomforts, but where I do know that the foundations are right, and I should be much better off.^
(2) The next thing is satisfaction. — God becomes the answer to all our longings, the fulfilment of all our hopes. He fathoms and fills the uttermost deeps of our being. Our souls lie back on Him and are satisfied — abundantly satisfied, finding in Him their being's end and aim. God made the soul for Himself ; He has begotten within it a thirst that all the waters of time can never quench. This thirst, rightly interpreted, is the grand distinctive mark of our high origin — the prophecy of our return to God.
The Psalm at this point reflects the comfort and peace of those happy souls who, in early life, have tasted and seen that God is good. Satisfied in the morning with His mercy, they rejoice and are glad all their days. To make an ideal beginning of our life we must go with the Good Shepherd early and spend the dewy
^ M. G. Pearse, in The Sunday Magazine, 1884, p. 606.
4IO REST, REFRESHMENT, RESTORATION
morn with Him upon the meadows of His grace. For then the spiritual appetite is keen and the Iieart feeds hungrily on the fat pastures of God's love until it is nourished into a deep content. There are no lives that dwell in such a profundity of peace or hold within them such reserve and resource of spiritual power as those who can say, " Thou hast been my God from my youth."
^ In the dark hours of our life all other sounds die away, and leave silence in our souls — silence that we may hear His voice. And it is a great step forwards in the Christian life, if one learns to say, " The Lord is my portion." Nothing teaches this as sorrow teaches. From it we learn the transitoriness of earthly things, the permanence of the eternal, the loving call of God; but also we learn the very liard lesson that God is really the only satis- faction for the soul.^
II.
Refreshment.
" He leadeth me beside the still waters."
1. G. A. Smitli renders it thus : " By waters of rest He re- fresheth me." This last verb, he says, is dilficult to render in English; the original meaning was evidently to guide the flock to drink, from which it came to have the more general force of sustaining or nourishing.
It is the noontide hour. " Sunbeams like swords " are smiting the sheep. They pant with heat and burn with thirst. It is time for the shepherd to lead them to the drinking-place and cool them at the waters. He knows the way. All over these Judsean hills, at frequent intervals, there are deep, walled wells, whose waters never fail. A good shepherd carries in his mind a chart of every well in all his grazing area. These wells are his chief dependence. Were it not for them the country would be impossible for grazing purposes. For though there are many streams the sheep cannot safely drink from them.
At the well -mouth, with bared arms, the shepherd stands and plunges the bucket far down into the darkness, sinking it beneath * Jlrs. George J. Romanes, The Ilallou-incj vf Surrow,
PSALM XXIII. 2, 3 411
the waters and shattering the stillness which till now has brooded there. He plunges and draws. Swiftly the rope coils at his feet as the laden bucket rises responsive to the rhythmic movements of his sinewy arms. Into the trough he pours the sparkling contents. Again the bucket shoots into the darkness of the well ; again, and yet again, and when the trough is filled he calls the thirsty sheep to come in groups and drink. The lambs first, afterwards the older members of the flock, till all are served and satisfied.
2. God leads the sheep by the still waters, where it may drink the cool, clear draught in safety, and not be scared or confused by the roar of the cataract ; the devil would lead the sheep beside the turbulent rapids, where it can scarcely drink without danger of being carried down to the cataract which bewilders with its noise and foam. Think of all the pleasure of simple, innocent recreation ; think of the joy which comes to us from the wonder and beauty of Nature ; remember the pleasures of music, of poetry, of art ; think of the calm joys of true friendship, and the delights which cluster around the pure affections of the home. All these are the refreshment and exhilaration of the cool, still waters. But think of the exciting pleasures of the gambler ; think of the muddled brain of the drunkard singing his foolish song ; think of the riotous, lascivious mirth of the casino; reflect on the half- insane glee of the rake who boasts of his debauchery : here you have the intoxication of the rapids and the cataract. And let us never forget that the rapids and the cataract are sometimes only farther doivn in the very same stream beside the still waters of which the Lord is leading His people.