Read: Luke 15:4–6  Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home.

Early in my Christian life, I encountered a conundrum that I couldn’t solve for some time. As an enthusiastic new believer, I was very keen to make the best use of the opportunities I had to actively serve the Lord. Books and sermons urged me to “Go” and the Lord propelled me forward to participate in church services and youth work, attend Bible conventions and training events, evangelise door-to-door, etc.

I could get into a rhythm of going and being still…

But along the way, I heard something different. While God seemed to be saying “Go”, He also seemed to interrupt my Christian activism from time to time with a puzzling command to “Wait” or “Be still”. Then I would retreat into a contemplative cocoon, seeking to understand what God wanted me to do. I could get into a rhythm of going and being still if the instructions to do so came at regular intervals. But if they alternated in a frequent and disruptive fashion, then it got very tiring. It had some similarities to interval training for rugby players, where the coach asks them to sprint and stop suddenly in frequent bursts over an extended period of time.

I complained to God that this did not make sense to me. It should be either “Go” for a decent length of time or “Be still” in a similar way, but not in the contradictory way His messages seemed to be going. I found God’s answer to be quite puzzling: “My messages are not contradictory. You can go and be still at the same time.”

Some years later, I was reading Luke 15 about the good shepherd who left his 99 sheep to find a single lost sheep. The text describes what happened when the loving shepherd and lost sheep meet. “And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home” (Luke 15:5–6). Suddenly, God’s puzzling comment became clearer.

…being still in God and being active for God at the same time…

It struck me that the sheep the shepherd found was both going home, and lying still. It would not be going if it was not still, and it would not be still if it was not going. I realised that there is a place where one can go and yet be still—the Shepherd’s shoulder. My conundrum was solved—at least in theory.

My next challenge was to experience this paradox of being still and yet going at the same time. What would it mean, in practical terms, to be on the Shepherd’s shoulder? In the book, God, I Don’t Understand, Kenneth Boa discusses how paradox is woven into all the key Christian doctrines. For example, God is three persons and yet one; Jesus is God and man; God is sovereign and yet we are each responsible for our actions; God is everywhere and yet located in particular places; God dwells in eternity, outside time, and yet works within time.

The experience of being still in God and being active for God at the same time can only take place when we live our lives in Christ. This particular paradox is solved only at the Shepherd’s shoulder—a holy, intimate place where we can hear the heartbeat of the One who found us and is carrying us home. To hear His heartbeat is to become spiritually alive. It brings our entire being in step with Him, and it keeps our soul singing in rhythm with his song.

…the sheep the shepherd found was both going home, and lying still.

His gentle breath warms our hearts and protects us from the coldness of unbelief and sin. It revives that which is dying in us and resurrects that which is dead. Together, the Shepherd’s divine heartbeat and life-giving breath remind us that He is present, even though the dark shadows of the night may hide His face from us. We can rest on His shoulder.

Without this trustful surrender and growing intimacy with Jesus, we are lost. Any attempt to “be still” or to “go” without seeking to be carried on the Shepherd’s shoulder will end in self-deception and frustration.

We guard ourselves by learning how to live on the Shepherd’s shoulder, and about what it means to be carried by Him (Exodus 19:4) even as we carry His name (Acts 9:15). There we will learn that we are called not to worship our programmes and our experiences but the living God. Our lives must be “hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:3). Then we can have active hands and feet connected to a restful heart of worship by being still in His presence and going wherever He goes.

Consider this:

List a few paradoxes that you yourself have struggled with, and how you may or may not have found some solutions. Share your reflections.

Excerpted and adapted from Apprenticed to Jesus: Learning from Him, Living Like Him by Robert M. Solomon. ©2014 by Robert M. Solomon. Used by permission of Armour Publishing. All rights reserved.

Related Resources:

The Lord Is My Shepherd: Rest and Renewal from Psalm 23. Finding your way through life can be easier when you have the right One leading the way. Gain insight from the lives of David, Isaiah, and others who found hope, encouragement, and rest under the watchful care of God. Find out more here.

Back to Finding Rest for the Soul