{"id":328,"date":"2010-08-10T08:57:46","date_gmt":"2010-08-10T08:57:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/thinplaces\/2010\/08\/psalm-23-make-me-lie-down.html"},"modified":"2010-08-10T08:57:46","modified_gmt":"2010-08-10T08:57:46","slug":"psalm-23-make-me-lie-down","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/2010\/08\/psalm-23-make-me-lie-down.html","title":{"rendered":"Psalm 23: Make Me Lie Down"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n\"shepherd.jpg\"<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Many years ago, I spent my summer babysitting a three-year
\nold and a seven-year old. And one day I took them to the pool. I don’t remember
\nwhat happened to make the three-year old, a little girl with long curly blonde
\nhair, erupt in tears. I just know that once she started wailing, I picked her
\nup. But she was so upset, she interpreted my arms as punishing ones. She
\nthought I was trying to constrain her, when I wanted to comfort her. I knew she
\ncouldn’t calm herself down, and yet holding her was only making it worse. As
\nher cries became shrieks, I started to sing. Softly, in her ear. And she
\nstarted to settle down. The arms that had been a prison to her became what they
\nwere meant to be, an embrace. She lay her head on my chest and cried for a bit
\nuntil she finally felt better. And then I let her go.<\/p>\n

As I read over Psalm 23<\/a> today, I remembered that little girl
\ncrying by the side of the pool. And I remembered scooping her up into my arms.
\nHer resistance. My insistence. And eventually, her willingness to receive my
\ncare for her. <\/p>\n

I wonder whether David wasn’t a lot like that little girl. I
\nknow I am. <\/p>\n

It’s a famous Psalm, with soothing words and beautiful
\nimagery. But I’m always struck by the beginning of the second verse: <\/p>\n

He makes me lie down in green pastures.<\/i><\/p>\n

He makes me lie down.<\/p>\n

He makes me.<\/p>\n

The verbs change from there. The action moves from he makes
\nme to he leads me to he restores me to he guides me. But it starts with God
\nforcing the Psalmist to take a rest, and it implies that the Psalmist couldn’t
\n“lie down” without God’s intervention. Only once he has rested can he move
\nforward with the presence of God as a guide, a healer, a protector, a living
\nhope. <\/p>\n

So I have to ask myself, in what ways is God forcing me to
\nlie down, to receive his embrace, that I might rise up and walk forward
\nrefreshed, restored? And so I pray, knowing that it might feel like a
\nstraightjacket at first, Lord, make me
\nlie down<\/i>.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Many years ago, I spent my summer babysitting a three-year old and a seven-year old. And one day I took them to the pool. I don’t remember what happened to make the three-year old, a little girl with long curly blonde hair, erupt in tears. I just know that once she started wailing, I picked…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":88,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-328","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-faith"],"yoast_head":"\nPsalm 23: Make Me Lie Down - Thin Places<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/2010\/08\/psalm-23-make-me-lie-down.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Psalm 23: Make Me Lie Down - Thin Places\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Many years ago, I spent my summer babysitting a three-year old and a seven-year old. 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Two major life experiences have shaped her writing and her faith\u00e2\u20ac\u201dcaring for her mother-in-law as she battled cancer and welcoming her daughter Penny into the world after she was diagnosed at birth with Down syndrome. Both experiences expanded and enriched her understanding of what it means to be human and to receive each and every person as a gift.\u00c2\u00a0 A graduate of Princeton University and Princeton Theological Seminary, she is the author of Penelope Ayers: A Memoir, and the forthcoming A Good and Perfect Gift (Bethany House). Her essays have appeared in First Things, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Christian Century, ChristianityToday.com, and Bloom, among other online venues.","sameAs":["http:\/\/amyjuliabecker.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/author\/amyjuliabecker"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/88"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=328"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=328"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=328"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=328"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}