Psalm 23

Intro

Psalm 23 “A Psalm of David. The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”

Overview:

Through this scripture we see three facets: provision, protection, and assurance.

“I shall not want”

“I will fear no evil”

“I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”

This scripture shows us the goodness of God and how we are able to be reliant upon Him. Through the triumphs and tribulations of life God is there and God is our purpose.

Text

We begin with seeing God’s provision Psalm 23:1 “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.”

This shepard Imagery is constantly used throughout scripture. In a metaphorical sence at this time it was also used to refer to a kings role to rule over and lead there people as a provider and a protect.

We see Jesus exepmplify this in John 10:11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.”

“I shall not want” similar to Psalm 37:4 “Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.” We are told that the Lord will provide and give us what we “want”

In these two verses there is a “catch” We must delight ourselves in the Lord and we must allow Him to be our shepherd.

We must follow Him where he leads us, we must be in community with Him, allowing God to change our hearts as we begin to resembel Him more and more and be more like Jesus. This changes our hearts.

Psalm 23:2–3 “He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.”

“He makes us lie down in green pasutres” He makes us take rest in fields full of nourishment.

Being lead by God we will need to rest and really the only way to rest is to trust. As a shepherd God will lead us through life telling us what we should do in the normal and difficult life sittuations, He will give us what we need in this life to be able to not only survive but to thrive. But in order to get that we must rest in Him and trust in Him to lead us.

“He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul”

Water imagery is used in multiple diffrent ways throughout the scriptures resampling both peace and chaos. We see in Genesis 1:2 “The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep.” and Revelation 22:1 “Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb” But in this context we see the waters bring peace and life.

Following God’s lead and allowing Him to take control of our life will lead to a life of peace rest and joy.

David made it a practice to inquire of the Lord and every time he did so David was succesful but each and every-time we see that someone failed to do so in the scripture they failed 1 Chronicles 10:14 “He did not seek guidance from the Lord. Therefore the Lord put him to death and turned the kingdom over to David the son of Jesse.”

We see God’s protection in Psalm 23:4 “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.”

David is acknowledging that this life will come with adversity. Even though we are guided by God we still live in a fallen world were hardships will happen but we can take comfort that God is with us.

God will lead us into peace therefore he will lead us out of Chaos. Living the Christian life we are not promised a life of ease but what we do find assurance in is the fact that God is always with us and we can find comfort in that. In order to truly find that peace and comfort we must grow in relationship with God through prayer and listening prayer allow ourselves the time to hear from God and not just talk at Him. we must have conversation and a conversation is done by listening and talking.

“Your rod and staff comfort me”

The rod and staff are both symbols of two diffrent things within scripture: protection, and disipline.

Within this scripture we see Gods protection. The rod and staff of a Shepard was a tool used to help count, guide and protect the sheep from predators.

We can find comfort in the Lords guidence and like what was said previously the staff symbolising guidence, we know that God will lead us to peace and comfort so we know that He will lead us out of the danger of the darkness.

Assurance Psalm 23:5 “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.”

David’s first had experience with this verse and quite possibly the reason he wrote it is seen in 2 Sam. 17: 27-29 When David was running from his son Absalom. When Absalom enters into Jerusalem where David and his men were hiding God supplied them with food and shelter all the while David’s enemy's are right outside hunting for him.

We go from being lead through the challenges and darkest parts of life to a victory feast. One where our cup is overflowing.

Signifying that God will not just merely provide but He wants to do so in abundance. Our cup is not just filled but it is overflowing. God will provide and protect us but He will do so in a way of abundance. He does not want us to merely survive but tho thrive.

Psalm 23:6 “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”

To end this scripture we see yet another assurance. Goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life. Even though we did not earn it if we just follow God’s leading at the end of the day we will see God’s goodness and mercy. Shown in abundant ways. Again as we look into Davids life we are not promised a life of ease but we are told that everything will work out for the glory of God and by His nature he wants us to be filled with joy in the process as well.

To cap it off we are assured of our final resting place. Through life and death, God will be with us throughout our entire life and through that we are able to spend eternity with our father in Heaven.

Jumping back to Psalm 23:3 “…He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.”

He does all these things for His name sake, to include us in what He is doing in this world. 1 Corinthians 10:31 “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” All of what we do in this world is centered around glorifying God.

Even though David’s life had its fair share of hardship he was still able to find joy and peace. Most importantly he still was in great relationship with God David was know to be a man after God’s own heart. Often times we forget about God in the good portions of our life and solely relay on Him when we are drowning in sorrow. Blaming Him for the bad and forgetting about Him in the good. In this psalm we see David expressing his gratitude to God in a time of peace which was not too often in his life.

We can praise God throughout every season in our life’s and it is important to do just that. God is with us and for us in the ups and downs of life. Weather you are in the season of the darkest valley or in a season where we are enjoying a feast, we can take assurance that God will lead us through that dark valley and not let us wallow in it or be stuck into where we can simply sit in the blessings that God has given us in this life. Just as we see David here giving praise in the season of victory in his life.