Psalm 23 - Part 4 - 2/5/11
Turn with me this morning to Psalm 23. If you open your bible right in the middle, you probably will land somewhere in the Psalms or just a little right of the Psalms. We are going to continue on looking at this Psalm that has been a source of comfort and blessing to many. This is the Shepherd Psalm - The LORD is my shepherd. He knows us individually, loves us perfectly, provides for our every need. We are compared to sheep - very dumb animals that cannot provide for themselves, cannot protect themselves, and cannot save themselves. We saw in verse 1 the shepherd’s PARTNERSHIP - I belong to Him and He provides for me. The focus is not on Him or on me, but on our relationship together. We saw the idea of CONTENTMENT - I shall not be in want - The Lord takes care of all my needs. I don’t get everything I want - but I am not IN want - I have been given everything I need for life and godliness.
In verses 2 & 3 we saw the shepherd’s PRESENCE. We saw a day in the life of the sheep
He makes me lie down in green pastures - REST
He leads me beside quiet waters, - REFRESHMENT
He restores my soul. - RESTORATION - he puts us back up on our feet when we fall flat on our backs
He guides me in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake. - REPLENISHMENT - he takes me to the best areas for feeding and growth. He has my best interests at heart.
In verse 4, we saw the shepherd’s PROTECTION. God is with us in the ordinary days of our lives, but He is also there in the days of trouble, when we go through the valley. We talked last week about how the valleys in life happen to us all - Jesus said, In this world you will have trouble. But the shepherd brings us THROUGH the valley. When we focus on the valley, we are afraid. When we focus on the Shepherd [I’m with Him graphic] - remember last week we saw the picture of the lamb facing the lion and the wolf - when we focus on the shepherd, we have no need to fear. He carries a rod, a weapon to protect and defend us. And he carries a staff, an instrument used to care for us and minister to our needs. And that knowledge brings us comfort.
Today in verse 5 we’ll see the shepherd’s PROVISION and in verse 6 the shepherd’s PROMISE.
READ PSALM - PRAY.
Our shepherd is with us in ordinary days - in days of trouble, when we go through the valley, and he is there to reward us with his love and faithfulness. When we read these last two verses - eating at a table, oil on the head, drinking from a cup, living in a house, we have to ask, What does this have to do with a sheep?
There is a book that sheds a lot of light on the shepherd’s lifestyle. It’s called A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23. I have referred to it several times over the last month. Philip Keller, the author, would point out that often large grassy plateaus are called mesas, a word that means table. He takes the view that the shepherd takes the sheep to high grassy grazing areas. He rubs oil on the sheep to keep flies and ticks away. And the shepherd provides clean water for the sheep. And all that is true. But let me offer a different idea to you today.
What David is doing here in this Psalm is using a metaphor - a figure of speech in which an expression is used to refer to something that it does not literally denote in order to suggest a similarity - I’m not really a sheep, but I’m like a sheep. The problem that comes when we use metaphors is trying to make the metaphor apply to everything.
If you are eating lunch today and your son is chewing with his mouth open, making loud grunting noises, you might say “You’re eating like a pig.” You might even go up and look at his messy room and say, Your room is a pigpen! But if he works hard at cleaning it up, you wouldn’t say You’re working like a pig! Instead, you’d say, You’re working like a horse. If he runs out to play, you’d say look at him run like a deer! We don’t carry a metaphor all the way through.
I believe that’s what we see in Psalm 23. David has been using the sheep / shepherd metaphor, but as he focuses on the shepherd and how our shepherd cares for us, he changes the metaphor from God being a shepherd to God being a gracious HOST.
So, is it consistent to say the sometimes God changes metaphors? Yes. In the book of John, chapter 1, we see Jesus being presented as the lamb of God. But in John 10, he is the shepherd. In the same chapter he also says he is the gate for the sheep. In John, Jesus says he is the light, the bread, the way, the truth, the life, the vine. In fact, if you look at Revelation 7:17, we see the metaphor changing in the same verse: John writes, For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; he will lead them to springs of living water.
So I believe that David is here changing his metaphor. So let’s look at this new metaphor of God as a Host. David writes, You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. In the Jewish culture, a meal was not just a chance to eat, but it was a celebration of relationship. Jews loved to show hospitality. It was part of their custom to invite others to eat at their table. Their culture promoted this idea of hospitality.
Eating at the table was also a sign of celebration. Think about Thanksgiving day, and everything on the table. Growing up as a boy, we would always go to Grandma Sowers house, my mom’s mother, and Grandma Sowers would put on a spread that would impress anyone. She had the little gherkin pickles. She had fancy fruit cup appetizers. She had pickled crabapple plates. You name it, she had it! It wasn’t a dinner, it was a feast, it was a banquet, it was a celebration!
David focuses on God throwing a party for him. Remember the story of the prodigal son - the son comes home and the father kills the fatted calf and throws a party. David says God is throwing a party!
Now you say, where do you get that from? How do you know it’s not just talking about having supper? The answer is that the table is set in the presence of my enemies. In the OT cultures, a victor would bring in the leaders of his conquered foes and show them off in his house. He fed them from his table as a sign of his triumph over them. In 2 Kings 25 we see the king of Babylon takes Jehoiachin, the conquered king of the Jews, and brings him to his table. It says, Jehoiachin put aside his prison clothes and for the rest of his life ate regularly at the king’s table. Day by day the king gave Jehoiachin a regular allowance as long as he lived.
A sign of triumph was bringing the conquered kings on parade to show your great power. Ephesians 4:8 - When he ascended on high, he led captives in his train and gave gifts to men. Our God is so powerful that he celebrates His victory. David says his shepherd prepares a table of celebration for him.
We looked at John 16:33 last week - In this world you will have trouble. But the verse goes on - But take heart! I have overcome the world! When we face trouble, our first response is to focus on the trouble. Instead, when we focus on our God, we can celebrate the victory that is ours in Christ Jesus.
Romans 8 reminds us, Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or are hungry or cold or in danger or threatened with death? . . . No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us. And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from his love. Death can’t, and life can’t. The angels can’t, and the demons can’t. Our fears for today, our worries about tomorrow, and even the powers of hell can’t keep God’s love away. Whether we are high above the sky or in the deepest ocean, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.
1 Corinthians 15:58 reminds us - But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.
As Christians, we will celebrate the victory God gives, by sitting down to a table in the presence of our enemies. And David goes further with this picture of God as the perfect host. He says, You anoint my head with oil. That’s something we don’t do in our culture. The first thing we think about with anointing is either becoming a king, or a priest, or some ceremonial anointing. But there was another use of anointing in the bible. It was a way a host refreshed those who came to dine with him. It was a way to show his welcoming love.
In our culture, if someone stopped by to eat with us after work, we might say, would you like to go clean up first? and then we’d show them the lavatory, put out a clean towel and some good-smelling soap. The problem is, most of us don’t get dirty anymore!
But we have a picture of this anointing in Luke 7. Jesus goes to eat at the home of Simon the Pharisee. While he is there, a sinful woman comes in and anoints his feet with the alabaster box of ointment. Jesus says to Simon, his host:
Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven--for she loved much.
So a way a loving host could shower honor onto a guest was to anoint his head with oil. David feels that sign of gracious love. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
If you have something that is precious and valuable, you want to treasure every drop. In Russia, they are offering bottles of champagne made in 1907 that has been rescued from a shipwreck off the coast of Finland. These bottles have been sitting at the bottom of the ocean since 1916. They cost $275,000 a bottle. Now THAT is something where you treasure every drop! You wouldn’t want to waste any!
But an overflowing cup means the host has plenty. Drink all you want! There’s more where that came from! A good host keeps the cup full, because there is plenty! It is a sign of abundance. Don’t worry about spilling it, because the host is well supplied.
What does Jesus say in John 10:10 - The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. The KJV says, I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. And then verse 11 goes on - I am the good shepherd.
Here again, this idea of abundance is tied to the idea of God being our shepherd.
When you go to a fancy banquet, the coffee cups are placed upside down on the saucer. And if you desire coffee, you just turn your cup right-side up. And a good waitress/waiter takes that signal as your desire for coffee. If you want the coffee, just turn your cup right-side up! The problem that many of us face is that we are trying to live the abundant life with upside-down cups! We live for ourselves, we focus on pleasure and money and entertainment, and almost have an attitude that says, OK God, try to reach my heart! And then we wonder why we aren’t enjoying the abundant life that God promised!
David sees the abundance and anointing and celebration all flowing out of his relationship with his shepherd. And so it is. It is all about relationship! And our blessings in life all flow out of that relationship. When we abide in that relationship, we in turn will have the overflow of life to be a blessing to others.
So David, in changing the metaphor from the sheep, sees his shepherd as a welcoming host, but he also sees this in an ongoing relationship. He says in verse 6 - Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever. He says, I will be pursued by good - over 40 times in the scripture we find the phrasing, Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures for ever. God delights in bringing good into our lives. When we follow the Lord, He brings goodness, or good - and love. The word is the word HESED - love, mercy, tender mercies, lovingkindness. It is far more than the idea of love though; rather it is the idea of covenant loyalty.
Remember the story of Ruth. Here is this pretty young widow, and she chooses to return to a foreign country with her mother-in-law. She doesn’t run after young, good-looking men, but chooses to turn to her relative Boaz, who is the one who rightly should fulfill the covenant obligations to her. In Ruth 3, Boaz praises her for her “kindness” in not turning to the young men but in choosing him.
One of the best illustrations of this is the story of Dave Roever. Maybe you have seen his video. Dave was injured in Vietnam when as a Navy Black Beret he had a white phosphorus hand grenade explode in his hand as he was trying to throw it away to save his company. As a result, he lost much of his face and hand, and faced gruesome disfigurement. When he was shipped back to the states lying in the burn unit of the hospital, his wife Brenda walked in, checked the chart on his bed and dogtags to make sure they had the right man in the bed, and then she kissed his disfigured face and said, I want you to know that I love you. Welcome home, Davey.
THAT is covenant love; that is HESED. It is a love that is not based on appearances; it is not based on circumstances; it is not happiness, it is not based on happenings. It is based on commitment.
David says, Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever. The house of YHWH - at this time the temple was not built. He was not talking about being at the temple or tabernacle forever. Was he talking about heaven? Maybe. But more than anything, I think he was talking about being with YHWH forever. Wherever God is, is heaven. Wherever God is not, is hell.
David sees that his God provides a celebration of relationship, and he will enjoy that relationship forever. What carries us through life? The relationship we have with our God! In Lamentations 3:21+ we find these words: Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, “The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.” The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him.
Today, when we remember our relationship with our shepherd, we have HOPE to face any trial. We know our shepherd partners with us, he provides for us, he protects us, and he is the host who will celebrate with us for eternity. 1 Corinthians 2:9 - No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him.
In closing, let me offer you two final thoughts.
First, make sure he is YOUR shepherd. If you have never made the commitment to become a Christian, that is the first step in receiving all the blessings we have been talking about. And second,
celebrate your relationship with the shepherd. Let your mind every day consider the blessing God brings into your life. Ephesians 3:20 - Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
Let’s pray.
