Psalm 23:2 “He makes me lie down…”
According to a shepherd and author, Phillip Keller, sheep will not lie down unless they are:
- Free from fear.
- Free from friction.
- Free from flees or parasites.
- Free from the need to find food.
FREE FROM FEAR
We know that our heavenly Father loves us so much (John 3:16) and Jesus, our shepherd loves us (John 15:9). And the bible clearly says that “perfect love casts out fear” (1 John 4:18). When we know, experientially that God loves us so much, that should drive away any sense of fear that we may have. The Holy Spirit also provides an inner assurance that we are God’s son or daughter and that we can call Him “Abba”, Papa or Daddy (Romans 8:16). This should also cause us to not to fear.
Neuroscience can also prove how this works and how our bodies have been so cleverly and wonderfully knitted together and we are fearfully and wonderfully made. (Psalm 139:13-14).
Our brains cannot distinguish between fact or reality. When fear rises up within us, it could be from a thought or an actual physical threat in front of us. Our Amygdala, a small almond shape part of our inner brain responsible for “flight, fight, freeze or fawn”, will be triggered and a surge in cortisol will result. We need a certain level of cortisol to say, get us up in the morning and to get going and get things done. However, too much cortisol will lead to stress and other health related issues like high blood pressure and heart problems.
To counter a negative feeling of fear we can choose to meditate on how much God loves us, by say, meditating on this passage where Paul writes that:
“And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” (Ephesians 3:17-19)
Or:
“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written:
“For your sake we face death all day long;
we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:35-39)
When we mediate on the love of God, our brains will start to release oxytocin, the “love hormone”. This will counteract the cortisol and our way of thinking will be changed as our brain moves away from the Amygdala and to the frontal cortex where we can think more clearly and the oxytocin will make us feel better. It will literally drive out fear.
Isn’t that wonderful. It seems that discoveries in neuroscience are finally caching up and confirming what the bible told us all along that “perfect love casts out fear”.
One of my all time favourite Psalms (other than Psalm 23 of course!) is Psalm 46. It often comes to mind when fear threatens, like it did when I first heard the news of what was going on in the Middle East and Iran – on my birthday as well, 28th February 2026.
“God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the sea, though it’s waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.” (Psalm 46:1-2.)
Another super verse to consider if facing an issue of feeling fear is 2 Timothy 1:7 (ESV):
“for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.”
FEAR FROM FRICTION
If like me you have ever kept chickens, you will relate to how problematic it can be to introduce a new one to the flock. The newbie will inevitably be met with a little bit of hostility and wee skirmishes may take place. This is because in the chicken world, there is a ‘pecking order’. Apparently, it’s the same kind of thing with cattle, they have a ‘horning order’. And, it’s the same with sheep who have a ‘butting order’. Phillip Keller says, “Generally an arrogant, cunning & domineering old ewe will be boss of any bunch of sheep.” So, a diligent shepherd will be on the lookout for tension, rivalry and cruel competition within the flock itself.
God says a very interesting thing in Ezekiel 34:15-16, 20-22:
“I myself will tend my sheep and have them lie down, declares the Sovereign Lord. I will search for the lost and bring back the strays. I will bind up the injured and strengthen the weak, but the sleek and the strong I will destroy. I will shepherd the flock with justice….Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says to them: See, I myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep. Because you shove with flank and shoulder, butting all the weak sheep with your horns until you have driven them away, I will save my flock, and they will no longer be plundered. I will judge between one sheep and another.”
The Lord definitely doesn’t like or tolerate people who threaten, bully or cause friction and discord amongst his flock.
In Titus 3:10 it states that, “If people are causing divisions among you give a first and second warning. After that, have nothing to do with them.” (Titus 3:10 NLT).
James also warns us: “What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight….” (James 4:1-2).
“If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.” (Romans 12:18)
FREE FROM FLIES OR PARASITES
As we will see from another thing I will write about in a further blog, a certain fly can have a very severe and devasting affect on a sheep.
A good shepherd will look for pastures with some form of natural shelters, like bushes where a sheep can get some relief from flies. As we will see later, the shepherd will also anoint his sheep with oil to prevent parasites.
In the spiritual sense we have a natural shelter and it’s found in Psalm 91, which I often find myself mediating on and claiming its promises as my daughter comes home, sick with yet another illness from school. It’s well worth taking a moment to read the whole of this beautiful Psalm:
Psalm 91
1 Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High
will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
2 I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress,
my God, in whom I trust.”
3 Surely he will save you
from the fowler’s snare
and from the deadly pestilence.
4 He will cover you with his feathers,
and under his wings you will find refuge;
his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.
5 You will not fear the terror of night,
nor the arrow that flies by day,
6 nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness,
nor the plague that destroys at midday.
7 A thousand may fall at your side,
ten thousand at your right hand,
but it will not come near you.
8 You will only observe with your eyes
and see the punishment of the wicked.
9 If you say, “The Lord is my refuge,”
and you make the Most High your dwelling,
10 no harm will overtake you,
no disaster will come near your tent.
11 For he will command his angels concerning you
to guard you in all your ways;
12 they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.
13 You will tread on the lion and the cobra;
you will trample the great lion and the serpent.
14 “Because me,” says the Lord, “I will rescue him;
I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.
15 He will call on me, and I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble,
I will deliver him and honor him.
16 With long life I will satisfy him
and show him my salvation.”
I guess too, flies, being very annoying, are like fiery darts that the enemy can fire at us. However, we can repel these by the shield of faith (Ephesians 6:16) and by applying the blood of Jesus (Revelation 12:11)
FREE FROM THE FEAR OF FINDING FOOD
Obviously, a sheep is not going to be content and want to lie down if it is anxious and worried about where it’s going to get its next meal from.
There are many promises in the bible that pertain to us not worrying about food, either physical or spiritual. Here are just a few that we could chew over:
Give us today our daily bread.
Matthew 6:25, 33
“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?…. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”
“I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”
“And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.”
“Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labour on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and you will delight in the richest of fare.”
“ The lions may grow weak and hungry, but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing.”
“The LORD does not let the righteous go hungry, but he thwarts the craving of the wicked.”
“I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread.”
I don’t know about you, but when I consider all of the above I can join together with the psalmist who said:
“In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, LORD, make me dwell in safety.” (Psalm 4:8 NIV)
Next time we will look together at the next part of Psalm 23 which states, “he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul”.
