If all the R.V.s in Canada were placed end to end it would probably be July long weekend. There are a lot of people traveling this weekend.

I like this joke: “We had been on the road for 15 hours en route from New York to California and were looking for a place to spend the night.  At four different motels, however, we were told, "Sorry, no vacancies."  Heading back to the car, my seven-year-old son asked solemnly,  "Mom, are we vacancies?"

We have all heard this said and most of us have probably said it ourselves: “I just got back from vacation and, boy, do I need a vacation!”

I think all of us know that taking our allotted holidays that we have earned and getting away somewhere for a period of time does not necessarily mean we will come back rested, refreshed and renewed.

We will have to be intentional about how we prioritize and spend our time.

Today I hope you can gain some new insight into how to have a truly restful summer vacation. A summer that is good for your soul. 

It is my goal this summer to reprioritize my life. I want to have rest that has me falling in love with Jesus all over again.

One of the reasons our love for Jesus grows cold is that we get caught up in the overload and anxiety of our over-consuming culture and end up confused about what it takes to live a worthwhile life.

Psalm 23:1-3 highlights a process of finding rest that I know works. I have experienced it many times and I experienced it again this week. 

Aside from John 3:16, Psalm 23 has got to be the most popular and well-known passage of scripture in the Bible.

Read: Psalm 23

I do not understand it but even in reading it we find rest for our souls.

Rest is, more than anything else, a process of letting go and the first step in the process of letting go or rest is:

1. SURRENDER TO OUR SHEPHERD

This is a very personal psalm. The terms “us”, “we”, “they” are not used rather “me”, “mine” and “my” are the pronouns used.

Verse one says that “The Lord is MY shepherd”

This is personal and specific to you. 
	
Isn’t this amazing? The Lord, the most holy, awe-inspiring, powerful Being in the universe Who spoke the universe into existence, who reigns sovereign over all that exists is my Shepherd is your Shepherd.  

What does this mean? It means more than this but most definitely includes these facts: 
1] He knows what each one of us needs and He makes it His business to care for our needs.
2] He knows our needs emotionally, physically, mentally, spiritually and relationally and cares for us in all these ways with infinite wisdom and understanding. 
3] He will never leave us or forsake us.
4] He will lead us through life if we will follow.

God, our Shepherd knows what it best for us. He says, “come to me all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest.” “…and you will find rest for your souls.”

We need to surrender to our Shepherd. We need to let go and trust God. 

“The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not be in want.”

This does not mean that we will have no more desires. The direct Hebrew translation would be: ”I have no more lack.”

In other words we will lack nothing that our Shepherd feels is good for us.
 
Jesus said in Matthew, “Seek first His Kingdom, and His righteousness and all these things will be given to us as well.” 

Let me give you two other places in scripture we find this truth:
 Philippians 4:19 “And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.”
Psalm 34:9-10 “Fear the LORD, you his saints, for those who fear him lack nothing. The lions may grow weak and hungry, but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing.”
And so we need to let go and trust God and when our first priority is Jesus Christ and intimacy with him we take ourselves out of the game of running in order to keep up with others but never advancing.

The first step towards rest is to surrender ourselves to our Shepherd.

The Lord as our Shepherd will lead us to the second step which is to

2. Simplify our Lives.

V.2 “He makes us lie down in green pastures.”

The green pasture symbolizes rich and abundant food. So rich and abundant that the sheep lie down in it.

The only thing that can provide so richly for our souls is God’s Word. The green pasture is God’s word.

Now, talking about priorities on our vacations, to lie down in green pastures is to allow ourselves the time to be fully stimulated by the richness of God’s Word.

To savor the truth, linger on each verse, relax and meditate on the great promises of God found there.

Listen to what Chuck Swindoll shares in his book, “Intimacy with the Almighty”

He and his wife, Cynthia, and were searching to know more of the God’s will for their future and he shares how he became nervous and in that unsettled state of mind, he entertained fearful, anxious thoughts. His imagination ran wild, causing a rush of panic to occupy his mind. It wasn’t long before he felt exhausted and confused, virtually immobilized.

He shared how he and his wife were committed to travel abroad and to be involved in a week of meetings. He was tempted to cancel, due to the harassed condition of his soul. 

He goes on to write this “Thankfully, I didn’t …for it was during a meal before one of those meetings that someone unexpectedly handed me a profound paragraph that brought quietness to my heart and settled my spirit. I knew nothing about the original source of the author, except that his words resonated with my spirit deeply and directly.”

The paragraph given to Chuck Swindoll was written by a man named Hans Ur von Balthasar. Here is what he wrote:
“….we seek for God because there are a thousand things we want to ask him, and imagine that we cannot go on living unless they are answered. We inundate him with problems, with demand for information, for clues, for an easier path, forgetting that in his Word he has given us the solution to every problem and all the details we are capable of grasping in this life.….we think that God’s Word has been heard on earth for so long that by now it is almost used up, that it is about time for some new word, as if we had the right to demand one. We fail to see that it is we ourselves who are used up and alienated, whereas the Word resounds with the same vitality and freshness as ever; it is just as near to us as it always was.”

God will always guide us to His Word and listen, I have experienced this many times in my life, as we spend time in God’s Word He will lead us beside quiet waters. He will quiet our souls and we will begin to enjoy the third Step in the process of rest:

3.  Extended times of Solitude and Silence.

It is in these extended times of silence and solitude that we once again become sensitive to God’s touch.

Again listen to what Chuck Swindoll writes in his book “Intimacy with the Almighty” talking about silence “It sharpens the keen edge of our souls, sensitizing us to those ever-so-slight nudgings from our heavenly Father. Noise and words and frenzied, hectic schedules dull our senses, closing our ears to His still, small voice and making us numb to His touch.”

In all the ways that we were tired, in the ways that we are confused and hurting God will touch us through His Word. He will console us; He will remind us of His promises; He will counsel us, guide us, minister to us through His Spirit. These are the streams, the quiet waters.

“He makes me lie down in green pastures, He leads me beside quiet waters, 

Here are two rewards we reap from this rest. We find this in verse three.

1. He restores my soul.”

You see often we come into our vacations with souls that are deflated like the beach ball that Breanna and I used to play with together. 

We have no motivation, no inner energy and our Shepherd knows what we need in these moments of deflation, depression and anxiety.

“He restores my soul.” The Hebrew word translated restore means “to turn.”

God turns our souls. He turns our souls toward His promises. 

As John Piper writes, “Nothing can break the suffocating bands of anxiety and stress from around the soul like meditating on the promises of God.”

Psalms 19:7 “The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul.”

I know it sounds simplistic and I do not claim to understand it but I know that this is true: through His Word God restores our souls once again.

The second reward we reap from this rest:

2. “He guides us in paths of righteousness.” 

God will teach us how to live wisely and to make the most of our short lives. He will teach us how to number our days. He will guide us to live within the physical, emotional, mental, spiritual, and relational limits He has set for us “for His names sake. “

And this is true rest: living not for ourselves but rather to bring glory to God. He will guide us and show us how to live for He is zealous for His own glory.

Conclusion:

One man challenged another to an all-day wood chopping contest. The challenger worked very hard, stopping only for a brief lunch break. The other man had a leisurely lunch and took several breaks during the day. At the end of the day, the challenger was surprised and annoyed to find that the other fellow had chopped substantially more wood than he had. 
"I don't get it," he said. "Every time I checked, you were taking a rest, yet you chopped more wood than I did." 
"But you didn't notice," said the winning woodsman, "that I was sharpening my ax when I sat down to rest." 

This summer when we take our times of rest, relaxation, holidays let us make the most of them and sharpen and restore our souls.

Let’s surrender ourselves to our Shepherd, simplifying our lives to lie down in the green pastures of His Word that God can lead us beside quiet waters touching our needs and guiding us in extended times of silence and solitude, that our souls can be restored and we can know again how to live.

This will more than anything else prepare us to get back into the game.