“He makes me lie down in Green Pastures” Psalm 23
This week’s sermon was on Psalm 23 and we thought about the way in which walking close to God and being responsive to the Holy Spirit’s guidance blesses us beyond measure so that “our cup overflows”.
As I listened to the reading of the psalm and especially to verse 2 “He makes me lie down in green pastures”, in my thoughts I journeyed back to the patients I had seen when I first entered Green Pastures Hospital in Pokhara, Gandaki Province, Nepal. I was working at the time with the BMS and one of their all-Asia regional conferences was being held in Pokhara. We visited Green Pastures Hospital – a missionary hospital run by international Missionary fellowship (INF) with whom many of our BMS missionaries serve.
Green Pastures Hospital.
Green Pastures hospital was established in 1957 by two ladies – Eileen Lodge and Betty Bailey (pictured in the gallery above) who both individually answered God’s call to serve the people of Nepal. Initially it functioned as a leprosarium offering refuge and treatment to some of the poorest and most marginalised people in Nepal. Today, it is the biggest rehabilitation centre in western Nepal, serving around 20,000 patients each year.
I remembered walking into the hospital and seeing the patients, and sitting in MBC this morning I began wondering why it was called Green Pastures. The thought came to me that the founders were Christians who were familiar with Psalm 23 and knew the overflowing grace of God in their own lives. It also occurred to me that their experience moved them to let God’s grace overflow to others.
The result is what we see today – something in their lifetime they perhaps could never have foreseen!
Following the sermon we shared communion together and contemplated afresh what Jesus did: We heard the words read from Matthew chapter 26 v 27- 28 “Then he took the cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, drink from it, all of you … this is my blood of the covenant”. It was here that once again I was reminded that Jesus had mankind in his thoughts when he chose to lay down his life for us.
Psalm 24 v 1 follows on from Psalm 23 and verse 1 tells us “The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it, the world and all who live in it”. He was at that point overflowing with love for His world and all who live in it.
As I pictured this scene the thought came to me… who knows what could happen if, led by His Spirit we follow the example in listening to God and responding to his voice as Krys encouraged us to do, and as Eileen and Betty did all those years ago. What would happen if we who are so very blessed let the grace we have received overflow to others? I sat quietly as communion was shared asking myself if I was letting my cup overflow into other lives?
Let us encourage one another to listen quietly to God and see where the Good Shepherd may be guiding us today… there may be a few surprises ahead.