“Psalm 23”
July 26, 2013
Psalm 23
1 The LORD is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
3 he refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths
for his name’s sake.
4 Even though I walk
through the darkest valley,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.
5 You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
6 Surely your goodness and love will follow me
all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the LORD
forever.
A couple of weeks ago, as I lay in that hospital bed, I decided I needed to relearn and memorize the 23rd Psalm in a newer version. I had memorized it as a child in the old King James Version of the Bible - but I didn’t keep at it and I was pretty rusty at remembering it. So I got out a pencil and paper and wrote it out. That is my memorizing technique – I write it out, I read it over and over and I say it out loud. Do that for a few days and it will be embedded in your memory banks – especially if you go back every now and then and review.
So I did that. I read it over and over and I said it over and over. And as I did that – God began to unlock its secrets and its meanings. It became a wonderful blessing to me. I want to try and share with you at least a little of what I learned.
When the doctors came to get me for the angiogram they gave me a little Benadryl in preparation. Later they told Julie that Benadryl really knocks me out. I wasn’t out. In fact, I was wide awake and feeling and hearing everything as they worked on me. But I was calm because I was reciting this Psalm in my mind. I was picturing it. I was experiencing it. And a peace that is beyond understand came over me. The Bible promises,
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:6-7
God keeps His promises. I went over this Psalm and then some other Scriptures of God’s promises and then my encouraging poems. And I experienced peace. All fear was gone. I felt safe, no matter what happened, in the arms of Jesus. When you are in that place – God is free to work and good things happen. And I experienced the best possible scenario, the doctor said.
Let’s take a look at this wonderful Psalm and unlock some wonderful spiritual truths.
It begins, “The Lord is my Shepherd…” We go over that too fast. I always went over it too fast and missed the profound meeting of that simple phrase. All of the promises hinge on that one thing. IS the Lord your Shepherd? All the promises I am going to share with you are for those who follow the Shepherd. Jesus said,
“I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me.”
John 10:14
“My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.”
John 10:27
Do you see that His sheep HEAR His voice. They KNOW Him. That means they have an intimate love relationship with them. And most importantly – they FOLLOW them.
I am sorry to tell you that if you are not following the good Shepherd you have broken that covenant of love or are not in covenant with Him. His promises are not for you. They are not for the rebellious. They are not for the sinner. They are not for the unbelieving. The promises are for the sheep. How can He lead you to green pastures and still waters if you aren’t following Him?
Is the Lord your shepherd? If so – get to know Him intimately. You do that through reading the Word and talking with Him in prayer. You do that by ‘following’ Him. The promises are for the obedient. The first thing we must do is make Jesus our Shepherd.
Secondly, right away after that declaration that the LORD is your shepherd – the Word says, “I have no needs”; “I shall not want”; “I lack nothing”.
I think what David is saying, and the way I would translate that phrase, is “The Lord is my Shepherd – and I don’t need anything else. If you have Jesus – you have everything. If the Lord is your shepherd – HE will give you everything you need. All your needs are met in Jesus. You lack nothing. You lack nothing. He promises to give us the desires of our heart. Jesus takes care of His sheep.
Thirdly, we read,
“He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul.” Psalm 23:2-3a
Don’t you love the picture of this? Imagine it. SEE it. Do you see a lush, green pasture? That was the highest blessing for a shepherd. The sheep eat a lot so the shepherd had to move them often. Many times it was through dry and arid places. As the summer progressed he had to take the sheep higher and higher into the mountains to find pasture. Imagine finding a gentle valley with lush green pastures with a stream running through it.
The shepherd could enjoy the coolness of the meadow. He could lay back and dream and take his ease. If there was calm waters – that was like whipped cream on top. Sheep, with their heavy wool coat, are afraid of fast moving water. If they were to fall - in that coat would quickly soak up water and they would drown. Still water calmed all anxiety. In fact, when a shepherd found green pastures and still waters – he could refresh his soul. He could rest his body, mind and spirit.
When I get anxious about the stress of life; the fears of life; I can go to the Good Shepherd and get my soul restored. I can get my spirit refreshed.
We need to do that often, don’t we? We need to make time to be refreshed. Jesus was always finding a place to pray to refresh his soul. We need to do the same. When I was on that hospital bed, many times I would find a happy, quiet place in my mind. I call it my “Happy Place”. Sometimes I would imagine green pastures with a gentle brook going through it. My son, Ben and I camped one time up in the Sierras at a place called “Green River”. It was up above Bridgeport, California. He and I were pretty much the only ones there. It was a lush green valley, nestled in between some mountains. The beaver had built a dam across the stream and the fishing was so good I had to tell Ben to stop fishing. We couldn’t eat them all. Our frying pan was running over!
Thinking back on that refreshes my soul. Thinking back on that lush mountain side covered with fragrant lupine flowers, so fragrant and beautiful – refreshes my soul. We need to find time to spend with Jesus. He will lead us to that special place where we can be restored. If you don’t follow Him – if you don’t take the time to trust in Him and follow – He can’t relieve your stress and anxiety.
The fourth truth I see in this Psalm is that God wants to guide us. The Word says, “He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake.”
Do you understand that God wants to guide you daily? It blesses Him and glorifies Him when you walk the walk. Jesus is glorified when we bear fruit. A person who is demonstrating the fruit of the Spirit glorifies God. Jesus said,
“This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.” John 15:8
God WANTS to help you. He DESIRES – even LONGS for you to take the right paths and make the right choices and decisions. It glorifies Him when you do right. Nothing dishonors God more than a cranky, carnal, Christian who is making bad choices. I can remember, as a new Christian, thinking “if that is the way Christians are – I don’t want to be one.” What a problem is the Christian who doesn’t walk the walk; who does not follow the Guide; who is on the wrong path.
The Bible says that sin is a reproach to any nation. Sin also dishonors God, the Church and Christianity as a whole. Many times wrong choices and wrong paths are not willful rebellion – but results from a lack of wisdom and immaturity. Some Christians offend people even though their heart is pure and intentions are honorable. They come across as harsh and judgmental and mean.
God wants to guide us to the right path – but we need to make Him our Shepherd and we need to follow Him as He directs us down the right paths.
Look at this fifth truth. It is so awesome. What a comfort it is.
“Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil,
for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.”
Psalm 23:4
So many people have found comfort from this verse through times of sickness, danger – and even death. It is only the one who has made Jesus his Good Shepherd and is following Him that can say this with confidence. “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death – I will fear not!”
How can we be unafraid when we face death? KNOWING that Jesus is with us – that’s how. That’s faith. That kind of faith only comes from living a life following the Shepherd and experiencing Him coming to our rescue again and again. Don’t think you will have that kind of confidence if you never found time to draw close to the Lord; never really followed Him. That person will find death to be a very frightening experience.
Death need not have any fear for you. It is simply a door into the spiritual realm – and Jesus promises to be with us. “Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me..”
Isn’t that awesome. Jesus promises to be with us to the very end (Matt 28:20). But I want you to notice what comforts David. His rod and staff. The rod is a weapon. It’s a club. David used one to kill a lion and a bear. In the hands of a trained warrior a rod (or billy club) is a lethal weapon. I used to use one as a young Military Policeman and I was pretty good at it. I could use it to make uncooperative people come along; I could use it to give a subtle attitude adjustment; and I could use it for defense or offense.
David is comforted by the rod in the hands of the Good Shepherd. It was a weapon to defend. The staff is one of those shepherd’s curved sticks. It is curved so the Shepherd can rescue the sheep. He hooks the crook around the neck of the sheep and pulls them from the stream or the mud or the gully.
We do not need to fear the Valley of the Shadow of death. Why? Jesus is with us. He has a weapon to defend us and the tools to rescue us from any danger. I don’t need to fear any evil getting at me as I pass to the next realm. I am safe. He is with me. His rod and staff comfort me.
Look at verse 5 with me. It says,
“You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.” Psalm 23:5
Have you ever been in a situation where you had enemies that worked for your downfall and to harm you? Most of us has at one time or another. If Jesus is our Shepherd, He will prepare a table of honor for us – and our enemies will see it. The Bible says that one day EVERY knee will bow and EVERY tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord. Can you imagine how humiliated those atheist and agnostics and unbelievers will feel. One day God will lift you up and every good thing you have ever done will be shouted from the rooftops.
Folks, your enemies may seem to be winning right now; you may feel small and humiliated and no match for them. You may feel defeated sometimes. But one day – in their presence – God will prepare a table for you. It’s the head table. It’s the table that only the honored sit at. And Jesus is preparing such a place for you.
Not only that – the Lord is going to anoint us with oil. In David’s day and age, when you really wanted to honor someone, you gave a ceremony and as a part of the ritual you would pour expensive, perfumed oil over their head. The smell would last and last and every time anyone smelled it - they remember the honor bestowed on you. It would be fresh all over again.
God is so good to us. Those that follow Him; those who make Him their Shepherd will be blessed abundantly. God doesn’t just meet our needs – He blesses ABUNDANTLY. He doesn’t just fill our cups – they OVERFLOW!
Makes you want to make the Lord your Shepherd, doesn’t it? But WAIT! There’s more. Listen to this.
“Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.” Psalm 23:6
Look at those two promises. Look at those two blessings. When the Lord is our Shepherd His goodness and love and mercy will be with us all the days of our life. WOW! Life is so good when we make Him our Shepherd. Not only that – but we will be with Him; dwell with Him; LIVE with Him – FOREVER. Jesus said,
“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were or so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you.”
John 14:1-2
If it were not so – Jesus would have told us. But the fact of the matter is that He IS preparing a place for us – and what a place it is! A place of abundance and love and goodness and safety and mercy. A place where the cup overflows and the meadows are green and lush and the waters are still and calm.
Wouldn’t you like to make Jesus YOUR Good Shepherd? If you do – you need to believe in Him; you need to trust Him; you need to follow Him. The Bible says if we will believe in our heart in Jesus and confess with our mouths that He is our Lord – we will be saved. (Romans 10:9-10)
If you would like to pray a prayer of commitment to Him; if you would like to ask Jesus to be your Shepherd and Guide – you simply pray a prayer of faith something like this,
Dear Jesus,
Thank you for being so good and loving and merciful. I need your mercy and forgiveness. I have sinned and gone astray. Please forgive me and bring me back to your fold. Jesus, I make you right now, my Shepherd. I put my trust in you. Teach me your ways and will. Help me to follow you all the days of my life – and when it is over – enable me to live with you forever.
