Psalm 23:2 – Green Grass and Quiet Water
He makes me lie down in grassy pasture.
He leads me by quiet water.
It’s interesting as I translate this for myself to realize that not only will everyone else continue to hear and remember it as it is in the King James Version. I’ll do the same thing. I was repeatedly reminded of that simple fact as I thought about this verse today. No matter what I might be thinking regarding the particular words, those are the words I come back to.
There is great value in a well-known, traditional passage. We can easily remember it in difficult times. It can come to us when we are distracted. It’s part of our lives and of our being.
In Deuteronomy 32:2, poetry attributed to Moses, we have a related metaphor:
2 May my teaching drop like the rain,
The Holy Bible: New Revised Standard Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1989), Dt 32:2–3.
my speech condense like the dew;
like gentle rain on grass,
like showers on new growth.
3 For I will proclaim the name of the LORD;
ascribe greatness to our God!
The “gentle rain on grass” echoes the same word as in this Psalm. Now don’t get the idea that I consider this Psalm primary a metaphor for spiritual things. It is, indeed, a metaphor, portraying God’s care for us as the care of a shepherd who finds good pasture for his flock. But it represents something concrete: God’s general care for our needs.
How can these words fall on us like light rain on grass?
Only if we let them, and many others become familiar, just like the words of this Psalm. God’s word, in many forms, requires more than a few moments of our time, yet is also something that can be with us at any time in a gentle, natural way.
If you haven’t memorized any verses of scripture, this Psalm is a good place to start. With the word embedded in your mind, it can fall like that gentle rain. “Green pastures” can mean so many things, starting with a time to just sit down on some actual grass and actually rest.
Where will you find a moment in green pasture, by quiet waters today?
