Psalm 23:6 - “Shall follow me”
Happy New month to all of you.
The Lord is good and his love never ends. While I was praying for this new month’s service, these words were brought to my mind by the Holy Spirit from Psalm 23:6, ‘Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.’
The confession of David could be our desire. We would like to have these two divine blessings in our life. But we struggle to have them.
This morning let me also remind you of the promises of God which say that blessings shall overtake you but be careful otherwise curses, and dangers will overtake you if you sin against the Lord. The sin will find you out and punish you. I would like to explain three things:
Blessings shall follow me
Sin will follow me
Goodness and mercy shall follow me.
1. Blessings shall follow me
Material or Temporal Blessings:
Deuteronomy 28:2 says, all these blessings will come upon you and accompany you. All blessings are blessed in City blessed in the country. Fruit of your womb will be blessed, crops of your land will be blessed, livestock will be blessed, your basket will be blessed, your travel will be blessed, enemies will be defeated. The Lord will send blessings on your barns and on everything you put your hand to (Deuteronomy 28:2-8).
The blessings are on your residence, your family life, your job, your food, and your travels. The five-fold blessings are awaiting the one who waits for the LORD every morning.
For the temporal blessings of God, location doesn’t matter, age doesn't matter, time doesn’t matter. Moses uses the word the blessings will overtake you. That word, overtake, means “to take hold of.” These blessings will come upon us and take hold of us. Accepting Christ means accepting the blessings, accepting the fullness of grace and truth (John 1:14-17).
Jesus taught us in the gospel of Matthew ‘Seek the Kingdom of God and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need’ (Matthew 6:33).
Paul wrote to the Corinthians ‘And God can make all grace abound to you so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work’ (2 Corinthians 9:8).
And he further says in the epistle to the Philippians ‘And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus’ (Philippians 4:19).
Moses ends the session of blessings with these words ‘And the Lord will make you the head and not the tail, and you shall only go up and not down if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you today, being careful to do them’ (Deuteronomy 28:13).
Spiritual Blessings: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him (Ephesians 1:3-4).
‘Whoever gives thought to the word will discover good, and blessed is he who trusts in the Lord’ (Proverbs 16:20).
His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his glory and excellence (2 Peter 1:3).
He has redeemed us from the guilty, sin, and its consequences. He has granted us salvation, transformed us into the likeness of his son, called us, justified us, and glorified us (Romans 8:31-33).
2. Sin and Curse shall Follow you:
Bible teaches us that failure, defeats, curses are associated with Sin. Almost these are the results of the sin against God and one another. The chaotic situation had come into existence because of the Sin. The natural imbalances and the defects in the creation are man-made disasters. These are the result of the sin of humanity and the individual. Miracles of God are not against the natural courses but rectification of the natural course. Healing is bringing back the system into regular function and removing the dysfunction in the parts of the body. God does this through his hands, words, sending his power, and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Sin is nothing but missing the mark, misusing the FREEWILL given to humanity which is an incomparable gift. No other creature was crowned with free will except the human being. In 1 Timothy 5:23-25, Paul wrote to timothy about the consequences of good and bad, consequences of sin and right acts.
Sin Shall follow you
In Numbers 32:23 Jehovah warned the Israelites through Moses if they don’t defeat their enemies, they would follow them and destroy them. If you fail to defeat the enemies of your flesh you will be sinning against the Lord, and your sin will find you out. But if you fail to follow through, your sin against the Eternal will follow you. Wherever you go, it will go badly for you (VOICE). Your sin will catch up with you (CSB). Your sin shall overtake you (DRA). And you may be sure that your sin will be discovered. It will be brought out into the open (NIRV).
Curses shall follow you
In Deuteronomy 28:45-48 cautions the readers are that Curse shall follow you if you don’t honor God, not obey the Law of the Lord, not observe them on daily basis, not serving him joyfully and gladly during the time of prosperity. You and your descendants will taste the poverty, hunger, thirst. Many disasters and dangers shall follow them and come upon them (Deuteronomy 31:17). Lot told the angels that the dangers shall follow him if he runs to the mountains. But the choice of Lot to settle down in a small village known as Zoar has brought him more dangers than the choice of God. He lost his whole family; he became a curse (Genesis 19:19,30).
3. Mercy and Goodness shall follow me (Psalm 23:6)
When I compared this statement with multiple translations, they use these words ‘indeed, only, surely, certainly, doubtlessly’ to express the solid and unshakable confession of David on God’s power and his Word. These shall follow me, stay closer with me daily till death thereafter, I will be with the Lord, in the house of the Lord. All we need is his uninterrupted presence and continual touch.
The VOICE Bible says, ‘Certainly, your faithful protection and loving provision will pursue me where I go, always, everywhere. This I liked very much because it comes very nearer to our promise of this year “Do well in everything and every place” (1 Kings 2:3). The words goodness and mercy are translated as goodness and loving-kindness, goodness and mercy, unfailing love, faithful love, faithful protection, and loving provision, your beauty, and love. The words shall follow me also refers to will pursue me all the days of my life (KJ21), every day of my life (CJB), will always be with me each day of my life (CEV), will be with me all my life (ERV), chase after me every day of my life (MSG).
Priestly Blessings:
I would like to end this sermon with the priestly blessings of Aaron. The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift his countenance upon you and give you peace (Numbers 6:24-26).
