This week, one of my research assistants sent me this email that reads:
"We convince ourselves that life will be better after we get married, have a baby, then another. Then we are frustrated that the kids aren’t old enough. We believe we’ll be more content when they are older. When the kids become teens, we’re frustrated that we have teenagers to deal with. Or we tell ourselves that our life will be complete when our spouse gets his or her act together, when we get a nicer car, and we are able to go on a nice vacation, or definitely when we retire."
We live in a generation of the half-empty cup, and the content that fills the half cup is fear: Fear that we don’t have enough, fear that we are not valuable, fear that we will be forgotten when we die and fear that we will face God unprepared.
We see a tremendous contrast in what the writer of the 23rd Psalm expressed and what our own hearts contain. How could someone write with such contentment and security before the time of hospitals and penicillin, before welfare programs and 401K? As we take a closer look at Psalm 23, we discover the answer from this psalm writer for contentment and security in the present and for the future.
How much would you pay to have what he had? What would you be willing to do to know his contentment and security? From the two pictures the psalm writer used to describe his relationship with the LORD God, I would suggest that to have contentment and security in the present and for the future, you simply have to trust God as your personal Shepherd and to trust God as your personal Host. In the remainder of the message, I will explain what I just said.
Someone tells about a man who pulled up to a red light and saw a truck towing a trailer with many sheep inside. The man rolled down his window and yelled to the truck driver, "You shepherds don’t move your sheep around like you used to."
To which the truck driver replied, "I’m not a shepherd; I’m a butcher."
King David, before he became King, was a shepherd boy, and he would tell you that a shepherd’s job was to care for the sheep. King David would tells us this morning that his contentment and security in the present came from trusting that the LORD God was his personal Shepherd, "The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.... I will fear no evil."
David noted that God provided pauses in life to restore our soul and our fellowship with Him in life’s darkest hours. We see this in verses 2 to 4. Have you experienced God’s presence in the pauses He puts into your life?
If we haven’t trusted God as our Shepherd, the troubles at work, the interruptions to our plans, the broken dreams and the illnesses will be nothing more than troubles at work, interruptions to our plans, broken dreams and illnesses, the dark times in our life. But if we have trusted God as our Shepherd, the troubles at work, the interruptions to our plans, the broken dreams and the illnesses are all pauses in life that allow us to experience His guiding presence.
Rita often tells the story of God providing the pause in her life in the form of her back injury. During her recuperation, God restored her soul, and she encountered God’s presence in prayer, in Bible study, in fellowship with believers and in corporate worship.
When Sir Harry Lauder received news that his son was killed in World War One, he wrote these words, "In a time like this there are three courses open to man. He may give up in despair, ... he may endeavor to drown his sorrow in drink (or indulgence) ... or he may turn to God." King David would tell us this morning the only choice that brings contentment and security to our present is to turn to God as our personal Shepherd.
Jesus, who was God in the flesh, speaking of Himself, reminded us with these words, "I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep (John 10:11)." God has always been the good Shepherd, but we have to trust His care, even when "we walk through the valley of the shadow of death."
The way you know you trust God’s care is that if you had to choose between Him and something else to fill your emptiness, you choose Him. That’s contentment. Another way you know you trust God’s care is that if you had to choose between obeying Him and obeying your fears, you obey Him. That’s security.
While contentment and security in the present comes from trusting that the LORD God is our personal Shepherd, King David would tell us that contentment and security for our future come from trusting that the LORD God is our personal Host. (See vs. 5 and 6)
When you invite me over for dinner, I hope I can leave my American Express and Visa at home. A good host does not make us earn our meal. King David would have us know that when we make God the Host of our future, even eternity, we don’t enter into God’s house based on what we can bring. We enter simply by accepting His invitation.
In Matthew 22:1-2, Jesus told a parable, saying: "The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come...." We are God’s servants sent to tell others that God wants to be the host of their future, even eternity.
People without God as Host of their future think that they are on their own. Some live by the motto, "If it’s going to be; it’s up to me." So they carry a balance sheet around, making sure that the good they do would outweigh the wrongs they’ve done. If you’re relying on yourself, on others or on human institutions to see you through this life and into eternity, you don’t have the chance of a dying duck in a hailstorm.
Even the most self-sacrificing parent, loving spouse or responsible adult child cannot see us through safely into eternity. Only God can and does. King David understood that unless God is the Host of our future, no relative or retirement plan can give us contentment and security for eternity.
The communion table, or the Lord’s table, we shared this morning is the table God prepared before us in the presence of our enemies. Our enemies are the devil, the evil influences of the world, our sinfulness and even death. These war against God and His plans for us. Before us and in the presence of our enemies, God sacrificed His own Son to pay for the penalty of our rebellion against Him.
The Bible tells us that without the shedding of blood, there can be no forgiveness of sin. When we remember the Lord’s Table, we remember God stops at nothing to ensure that we can stand justified and secured in His presence at the end of our lives.
An advertisement for an expensive car reads, "Pursue happiness in a car that can catch it." They have lied to you. An ad for brandy captioned, "Taste the good life." They don’t tell you about the hangover.
The Western world sells contentment in a car and security in a bottle. Other parts of the world sell contentment in their equality and security in their government. God is not selling anything. The Apostle Paul would remind us at this time, "God who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all--how will He not also, along with Jesus, graciously give us all things?"
We want not and fear not only when God is the Shepherd of our present and the Host of our future. Only then can we say in the same breath, "I walk through the valley of the shadow of death..." and "Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, [and] I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever."
