Green pastures

(J.R. Miller, "Daily Bible Readings in the Life of Christ" 1890)

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"The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.
 He makes me lie down in green pastures;
 He leads me beside quiet waters.
 He restores my soul;
 He guides me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake." Psalm 23:1-3

The shepherd takes care that his sheep are well fed. Christ also feeds His people, and leads them out to find pasture.

The Bible is His pasture-land, and the pasturage there is always good. Every chapter is a field of rich grass. Some of these fields seem at first to be bare and sterile; but even in the barest—there is enough pasture to feed a hungry soul.

Then there are the pasture-fields of prayer. These lie very close to the border of Heaven. They are always up in the quiet valleys among the mountains. The Good Shepherd leads us to them through the gates of prayer. We bow down in lowly humility, and enter with Him into the green pastures, and feed our souls until their hunger is satisfied.

The church is another of our Shepherd's pasture-fields. We enter the gates of the sanctuary, and at once we find spiritual food. We find it in the preaching of the Scriptures, in the ordinances, and in the fellowship of other believers.

In our common life in this world, if we are faithfully following Christ, we are continually in fields of rich pasture. Christ never leads us into any places in which there is nothing to feed us. Even in the hot plains of trial and sorrow, there is food. We sometimes think there is only barrenness in our toilsome life, filled with temptations, cares and sacrifices. But the Good Shepherd is ever with us, and there is always pasture.

Thus the whole world is a rich field, when Jesus leads His flock. If any Christians are not well fed—it is because they will not feed. The trouble must be that they do not hunger for spiritual food.