The Hounds of Heaven
Psalm 23:6
Ok. It’s time to break down some fairy tales. Did you know that the Disney version of The Little Mermaid is an adaptation of a Hans Christian Anderson story? Actually, it is a perversion of it.
The Little Mermaid is an example of how Hollywood prefers a happy ending. For example, Hans Christian Andersen’s classic "The Little Mermaid" ends with a tragic, noble sacrifice in which the Mermaid must see her beloved Prince marry another girl—but in the Disney version, the Mermaid does get to marry her Prince and live with him happily ever after. Oh, the travesty of perverting classic literature in the name of Hollywood entertainment!!!!!!
But we like a happy ending. We want our hero and heroine to live happily ever after—because we want to live happily ever after. So I took this investigation a step further. I googled “Happily Ever After” – it said, “look at Happy Ending”.
A happy ending is an ending of the plot of a work of fiction in which almost everything turns out for the best for the hero or heroine, their sidekicks, and almost everyone except the villains.
In storylines where the protagonists are in physical danger, a happy ending would mainly consist in their surviving and successfully concluding their quest or mission; where there is no physical danger.
A happy ending is epitomized in the standard fairy tale ending phrase, "happily ever after" or "and they lived happily ever after." The presence of a happy ending is one of the key points that distinguishes melodrama from tragedy. In certain periods, the endings of traditional tragedies such as Macbeth or Oedipus Rex, in which most of the major characters end up dead, disfigured, or discountenanced, have been actively disliked. A happy ending only requires that the main characters be all right.
And so, as we look at Psalm 23, verse 6 gives us that happy ending! But it is more than just “we get to live happily ever after.” There is so much more.
As we look at this last verse, I want to break it down into individual words. I want to carefully look at what these individual words mean and how they relate to the whole psalm. Don’t just tack on a trite statement like “we want to dwell in the house of the Lord forever”. It MEANS much more than that.
Look at the word “Surely” …it is an exclamation of confidence.
There is one area where the believer can have perfect confidence: that God’s grace will keep holding onto you until you get to heaven. When the events of life seem totally disastrous, “SURELY” is the statement of confident faith in God that He will get us through this dark valley and into the house of the Lord. When life hurts, God’s constant mercy and goodness reminds me that I’m in the care of the shepherd. Surely says that in spite of all the things that make me doubt and wonder, God does not change.
Christ said (in John 6:37) “All that the Father gives to me SHALL COME TO ME…” Surely, my salvation is secure because (as John 10:28 says) “My Father who gave them to me is greater than all and no man is able to snatch them out of my Father’s hand.” So, even if this path really ends in death, vs. 6 reminds us that God’s unfailing grace takes us to heaven. He’s not just walking with us, He’d holding on to us... and taking us to His home in heaven./
This is more than a psalm of comfort—it is a psalm of confidence. It is a psalm of trust and faith.
Like Job said, I know that my redeemer lives
Like Abraham said, I know that God will provide a lamb
Like Shadrach, Meschach and Abed-Nego said, “We know that God can deliver us.
Like Paul said, I know whom I have believed and I am persuaded that He is able to keep what I’ve committed to Him against that day.
Like John said, “I am writing these things so that you can know you have eternal life.”
When you get tired, remember “Surely,” and have confidence that God will keep His promises.
Look at the word “Follow”. Follow is really the word “PURUSE.” It is not just that God’s goodness and mercy follow us around and they are there if we need them. They pursue us—YOU’VE GOT A STALKER!!!!! This Hebrew word is almost always used of an enemy pursuing someone or a hunter or chasing someone.
In contrast with the enemies that were pursuing David, he remembers that God’s mercy pursues him, too.
So what would it mean to have God’s mercy pursuing you? We’ll get to that in a minute.
Look at the words “Goodness and Mercy”
God’s goodness supplies our needs; God’s mercy blots out our sins
Let’s remember this: Our God is a good God. All you have to do is read the Old Testament and understand what those ancient Canaanite gods required of their people…all you have to do is read about some of the Greek and Roman Gods and you understand those people lived under a system where they didn’t know what mood their god would be in, or whether they had angered him or whether they had pleased him. Our God is a God who is characterized by goodness and mercy.
Just the idea of the word mercy or lovingkindness is unique to our God. Linguists have not been able to find another language where the Hebrew word HESED has an equivalent. God’s lovingkindness is unique. And it is limitless; it is huge; it is multi-faceted. This assurance of goodness and mercy is a statement about God’s covenant relationship with us.
Lamentations 3:21-24 “His mercies never fail…His faithfulness is great.”
Goodness and mercy are the explanation of the abundant life of John 10:10.
***Goodness and Mercy are not an abundance of possessions or an abundance of wealth.
***It is not an abundance of health or good times
***It is an understanding that I am a child of Grace…that God’s mercy is falling all around me and that His mercy doesn’t ever stop. Our lives are abundant and full in ways that unsaved people don’t understand—peace, joy, hope. With God as my shepherd, I shall not lack any of those things.
You may have heard of the expression “The Hound of Heaven.” The Hound of Heaven is a religious poem written by English poet Francis Thompson. It talks about how God’s grace pursues us until “ the soul feels its pressure forcing it to turn to Him.”
Today I want to talk about the hound of heaven—but not the way that Francis Thompson meant it. It is God’s Grace, but not in pursuing a sinner to bring him to salvation, rather in pursuing believers who may be wandering from the Shepherd.
Goodness and mercy are the shepherd dogs. It is the duty of the shepherd dog to keep the sheep following the shepherd. If a sheep begins to wander, they nip at the sheep or bark at them (sometimes just to get the shepherd’s attention). God’s dogs pursue us (—they “dog” us!!!!) When we wander into doubt and discouragement, God’s dogs remind us that the best place to be is in God’s flock. When we look at the greener pastures of another flock, God’s dogs remind us how our shepherd restored our soul; how our shepherd leads us beside still waters. “Hey,” the dog barks, “stop wandering away to find green pastures somewhere else. Where else can you find goodness like our shepherd?” “Bark”, says the dog, “Where else can you find a God who forgives your sin and understands your hurt and cares about your fears?” In a very real sense, goodness and mercy are the “hounds of heaven.”
This is an important concept for the whole understanding of Psalm 23.
If you don’t believe vs. 6a, you will not believe vs. 4 & 5.
You have to believe vs. 6a in order to believe that where He is leading you is good.
You have to believe vs. 6a or you will never rest.
Romans 5:1 Peace comes when I understand that I have received God’s mercy and
forgiveness.
Unless you believe vs. 6a, you will think that what He is doing with you is punishment, not trying
to get you to grow good wool and be healthy. You’ll think that bad things happen to
you because God is unhappy with you. You’ll think that God is trying to squash your fun
and that He is a God who throws lightning bolts at people who sin—especially Christians
who wander away.
Unless you have the confidence of vs. 6a, you will only see this Psalm as a Psalm of comfort. It is so much more than that. Vs. 6 is a Pledge of Allegiance. Vs. 6 is a Declaration of Dependence.
Look at the end of the Psalm: “I shall dwell in the house of the Lord, forever!”
The word “DWELL” is a Hebrew word that means “Dwell permanently.”
Literally, the house of the Lord probably is a reference to the temple in Jerusalem. David has been run out of town and he longs to be able to get back to Jerusalem and go to the house of the Lord to celebrate worship again. He has confidence in God—and confidence that God has called him to be king – and that eventually, God will restore him to the throne in Jerusalem. In Psalm 27:4 David says, “One things I have asked from the Lord, that I shall seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord al the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord and to meditate in His temple.” Literally, this verse probably refers to Jerusalem.
BUT WE HAVE MADE THIS VERSE APPLY TO ETERNITY IN HEAVEN…because of the word FOREVER. In the mind of a Jew, the House of the Lord was not just a temple building, it was a destination. They all longed for the opportunity to go up to the temple to worship. They all knew the contrast between their everyday struggle for life – against the magnificence and glory of the temple. That is why there are Psalms of ascent—psalms were specifically about the parade as they marched up to the temple.
Psalm 84:1-4 says “How lovely are your dwelling places, O Lord of Hosts; My soul longs for the courts of the Lord…How blessed are those who dwell in your house!” To GO to the house of the Lord was special—but to DWELL there PERMANENTLY was the ultimate pleasure. It was the culmination of a pilgrimage. It was the end of a journey. In much the same way, we view heaven as the culmination of a long journey. Heaven is what our tired souls long for.
I want you to see one important point here—a servant does not dwell in the house forever, but a son does. Vs. 6 is conditional—you have to be a child of God.
LOOK AT Hebrews 12:22-24 Heaven will include angels, God, Jesus, It also includes Old Testament saints (“the spirits of the righteous made perfect”) and the church of the firstborn – that’s believers. (Romans 8:17 calls us fellow heirs with Christ who is the first-born of many brethren”)). I’m going there. NOTICE: “ENROLLED IN HEAVEN.” My name is written in the Lamb’s book of Life (Revelation 21:27) and I’m going to dwell in heaven forever. Luke 10:20 says, “Don’t rejoice that God can do great works through you, but rejoice that your name is recorded in heaven. IS YOUR NAME WRITTEN IN HEAVEN?
Here’s a random thought that I wasn’t able to find in any of the commentaries on this psalm—but I think there is a parallel to the story the prophet Nathan told when he was pointing out David’s sin with Bathsheba. II Samuel 12:3 talks about how the poor man loved his little lamb. He bought it and nourished it. It grew up in the house with him and his children. It ate his bread and drank from his cup and snuggled with him—and was like a daughter to him. That is what it is like to dwell in the house of the Lord forever. I think that the shepherd loved us so much he wanted us to come and live in his house with him!
Without stretching the points of the story too much, the point is that vs. 6 is conditional—you have to be owned by the shepherd or you have to be a son of God. Is your name written in heaven?
When Revelation 21:27 says that heaven is reserved for those whose names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life, it also says that the unclean will be kept out of heaven. Very simply, to get your name written in the book, you have to be cleaned up and forgiven by Jesus Christ. The verse says that nothing unclean will ever come into the eternal city. I John 1:9.
