Like a Child at Home (Mar. 19, 2023) Psalm 23

It has been said that attorneys who represent themselves have fools for clients. The same can be said about preachers who preach on beloved, traditional texts and find new meanings. Let’s see what happens today.

The Psalms are known as the songbook of the Bible and in the Reformed tradition they have served that role for a very long time. In Geneva the Psalter was the hymnal of the time as well as in the churches of colonial New England. In fact, if you look at our hymnal today you will find that there are many hymns that are based on the psalms.

Our scripture today is perhaps the best known and most beloved of the Psalms: Psalm 23. When I was growing up, there were really only two things from the Old Testament that one had to have memorized and be able to recite: the 10 Commandments and Psalm 23. And like many of you, the Authorized (King James) Version was THEway that I learned this psalm. It became a sacred text and any other version was considered a heretical text because, well, it just did not sound right. When I was looking at the sermon for this week, I was pulled to this psalm. In a time of uncertainty and turmoil, this text can give us some certainty and comfort that we cannot find on our own.

As I read this psalm in a couple different versions and studied it more in depth, I began to understand that sometimes God wants us to see a well-known, beloved text in a different light and show us that there is a message there that had never been considered before. See, I had always associated Psalm 23with death. It is the Psalm that has been used in many funerals that I have attended. And growing up when anyone spoke on it in church, the point of the sermon was that we would live forever with God after we had died. But as I studied the text, I gained new understanding. I discovered that this psalm is both individual and corporate. It also became apparent right away that this is a psalm of life.

It begins by stating that the LORD, or YHWH, which is God’s personal name given to Moses (I will be using the term LORD as the Hebrews did), is my shepherd. In the ancient near east, a king was seen as a shepherd of the people over whom he ruled. David, long considered the author, had been a shepherd and was king. He knew a thing or two about leading a flock. But here he is saying the LORD is his shepherd. This is a bold declaration because he is stating that there is someone above him and who is to be the shepherd over him and, by virtue of proxy, over the people of Israel. One thing about sheep that I have learned in my study of this psalm is that they are not as stupid as I have always been taught. However, they are herd animals and when one goes off in a new direction, the whole herd is likely to follow. Think about that for just a second and you will realize why they, and we, need a shepherd.

For most of us, we know the end of the first line is “I shall not want.” The Hebrew states that “I do not lack” as the version I read does. In other words, the shepherd provides our needs in food, shelter, etc. When Israel was in the wilderness for 40 years, they did not lack for food. Every morning the LORD provided bread for them to eat. It reminds me of the Lord’s Prayer when Jesus teaches us to pray “Give us this day our daily bread” or instructs us in the Sermon on the Mount to take no thought for our provision for God will provide us with what we need. It may not be all that we want, but it will always be enough for what we need and we will not be lacking for any part of it. It is interesting that this word want occurs here. In a society where want is everywhere, what we need is what is provided. Too often we fall into the trap of being told that what we want is what we need. The LORD knows what we need (food, shelter, water) and will provide those things.

The green pastures and still waters are a part of this provision. A shepherd had to make sure there was enough grass for the entire flock, a big concern. If there is not enough to eat, then the flock will not thrive and the people who depend upon the flock, and therefore the shepherd, will suffer as well. Still waters are waters that are not turbulent or swift. Rivers with rapids are not good from which to drink as they can carry off the sheep in the strong current. The water had to be flowing so as not to stagnant, but gentle enough to not cause danger. Think of a babbling brook with pools of still water when this image comes to mind. The shepherd providing both grass and water that is easy to drink are important. When this is done for us, our lives and not just our souls are restored to their former vigor.

But it is also important that the shepherd leads the sheep in the right paths. These are paths that can be traveled with relative ease and pose no danger to the sheep. And for the name sake of the shepherd, for the shepherd’s reputation, these need to be correct paths, or when leaving the metaphor and speaking of humans, the paths of righteousness.

But even when the sheep are led on the right paths, there come dark places that they have to travel through. I believe that it is here in verse 4 that we find the hinge of the psalm. In the verses before, we have a creedal statement of who David, and we, believes who God is and what God will do. In the beginning of verse 4 though, the psalmist is alone, staring into or just beginning to travel through the valley of “death-like” or deepest shadow. This valley could be death, it could be some crisis the nation was facing, it could be a financial difficulty, it could be a serious illness. It could be any dark part of life that would cause anxiety and fear. But there is no fear of the valley. Why? Because “you are with me.”

The transition here is significant. In the first section of the psalm, we talk about God. Now we have a prayer toGod. Before, the LORD was spoken of in the third person and could be seen as a remote figure who pointed a way to go and one went that way. Now God is spoken of in the second person in a relational tone. The LORD is with the psalmist, is with Israel, and is with us when we journey into that valley. Therefore, while there may be some feeling of fear, there is no fear of harm. We can go on because we have someone beside us. The shepherd has a rod and a staff, or crook, which are tools of protection. If you were following along with the reading of the text you will have noticed I did not read that the rod and staff “comforted.” For myself, the image of being comforted is that of a grandmother putting her arms around me, giving me a cookie, and letting me know that all will be ok. What is really being said here is that the tools of the shepherd will give us the reassurance to move ahead through the valley of death-like shadow. A rod was really a club that the shepherd would use to defend the sheep from predators. It was not a range weapon that one could use from a safe distance as one could with say, a sling. With the rod, one had to get right up close, wade in, and strike the danger to the sheep. The shepherd had to be at the sheep’s side. A crook was, and is, used to prod the sheep along as well as to pull them out places they had gotten themselves into that might be out of reach of the shepherd’s arms (Think about how we get ourselves into messes that God will need to pull us out). What is being said here is that comfort does not always come in the way that we want. The psalmist is saying that there will indeed come dark and scary times in our lives, but we can go through it because we have someone with us who is telling us, “I have your back. We will get through this together.”

From here that psalm moves from the shepherd to a new metaphor of God: that of a gracious and welcoming host. David sees a table prepared by God right in front of his enemies. God is a host who has made David his guest and the enemies must realize that there is nothing that they can do to stop this. Anointing one with oil was a sign of honor. (I often wonder if David was remembering his being anointed as the one to be king at a dinner in front of his brothers, who may not have taken a liking to this event.) Oil was used to rid someone of grime from travel. The host is taking all things into consideration. The guest is being treated like royalty by being anointed. Into the cup that is given the host poured, of course, wine. The amount poured into the cup signifies the honor given to the guest. If the cup is not filled much, say a quarter of the cup, well, the guest is not honored. However, if the cup is being filled to the brim or even to overflowing, the honor to be given great. The host wants David to drink up and to be filled.

Goodness and love, or kindness, mercy, or faithfulness, hesed. It is most often said that these will follow. But follow is far too passive for the verb used. In Hebrew, the word is translated as pursue. Goodness and love will not follow like a good little dog. No, they will pursue David like his enemies have done in the past. Only this time, it will be the grace of God pursuing him and not giving up until they have fulfilled the purpose of God.

When I was younger going to the House of the LORD and dwelling there “forever” meant I had to die. For me this meant that this psalm was about life after death and had nothing to do with my life here and now. Therefore, I wanted nothing to do with it. I was not thinking about dying. But that is not at all what it means. The NRSV translates the phrase as “my whole life long” as do several other versions. Some still say “forever” (tradition dies hard). The Hebrew says “for length of days” meaning that these words and promises are for the lifetime of the writer and the reader. Remember, God is eternal and therefore out of our concept of time. God will be with us no matter where we are and this includes the here and now, this life, as well as after. In whatever part of our lives we find ourselves, there we will find that we will dwell in the house of the LORD and have fellowship with God.

We live today in a world far removed from that of Psalm 23. Not many of us have ever seen a shepherd or been around sheep except at petting zoos. Yet the shepherd metaphor speaks to us and still has power today. We know that we need someone who can lead us to places where we can rest and our lives be revived. We need someone to walk through the valley of shadow with us who will be our protection and keep us from harm. We need a savior. The shepherd of this psalm is still here today. Jesus called himself the good shepherd and promised that he would always be with us even until the end. Do we need any other?

Being like a child at home is what Psalm 23is all about. God, or the LORD, is at the very beginning. The LORD is at the very end. And the LORD is in the middle as well. Do you see the pattern? God is with us at our beginning and end, but is also here with us in the middle, in the muck and mire of everyday life. Being like a child at home is based on trust. In Psalm 23 we see that trust in God is in thislife. Dr. James L. Mays said that, “Trust is not a rosy, romantic, optimistic view of things.”[1] I like that. Trust is sometimes dirty and hard. It is based on prayer and thanksgiving and the story of salvation. In other words, it is based on faith. When we have faith that the LORD is our shepherd, then we can face the dark valleys, live life abundantly with the shepherd and abide with God for “length of days.” We can sing the words Isaac Watts wrote when he paraphrased this Psalm: “The sure provisions of my God attend me all my days; O may Your House be my abode and all my work be praise. There would I find a settled rest, while others go and come; no more a stranger or a guest, but like a child at home.”[2]Thanks be to God.

[1]Mays, James Luther. Psalms. Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching. Louisville, John Knox Press, 1994. Pg.118. [2]Isaac Watts, 1719, altered 1972, in Glory to God The Presbyterian Hymnal(Louisville, Westminster John Knox Press, 2013) no. 803.