Psalm 23
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Intro - Familiar songs
I was driving with the kids on the 4th of July and I said, “Let’s listen to some America songs.”
So we pulled up the 4th of July playlist on Spotify.
And as you can imagine, a 4th of July playlist is full of the hits.
Also some random songs but I think they were kind of just backyard barbecue vibes music, but mostly, they were chart topping classics.
And if I played that playlist for all of you, you’d know most all of the songs.
Songs by Bruce Springsteen, John Mellencamp, Tom Petty, Journey, even Miley Cyrus, you know Party in the USA is gonna be on there.
If you were in the car, you could sing them with me. You know the words.
If the band played Don’t Stop Believin’ this morning in some odd attempt to be relevant, you might be like, “Huh, that’s different.” But then you’d sing along.
Why?
It’s an incredibly famous song.
I know the words of Don’t Stop Believin’ but I realize I don’t really have a clue what the song is about.
The piano starts playing,
there’s a singer in a smoky room
It smells bad in there
Something about streetlights and people, and their emotions.
I know the words. It’s an incredible famous song. But that’s as far as it goes. It doesn’t do anything to me beyond giving me a tune that I can sing to.
You see where I’m going here?
Psalm 23.
It has been famous far longer than any Journey song.
The harp starts playing,
We know the words. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.
But do we know the song?
Stop and think about verse 1
I shall not want. I have all that I need.
Can we say that?
Are you content? Am I living in a way that says we have everything we need? There’s nothing more I could possibly want in my life? Then why am I on my phone so much?
Verse 5
Surely Goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life.
All of them?
What about that day last week?
What about the day you got that phone call or text? What about when you lost a child, a sister, a mother?
What about those days?
This morning we are going to play Psalm 23, the most familiar song, and try and truly listen.
It’s worthwhile to stop and consider the lyrics.
David says I have all that I need. Why? God is my shepherd and God is my king.
Pray
Shepherd (1-4)
We are studying these Psalms this summer.
The New Testament quotes the Psalms more than any other Old Testament book.
Jesus quotes the Psalms more than any other Old Testament book.
Augustine called Jesus, The singer of the Psalms.
And last week we studied Psalm 22 which has been called the Psalm of the cross. It’s a Psalm Jesus treasured and called his own as he sang it while being crucified and dying to save you and I from the power of sin and death.
Psalm 22 and 23 are two of the most famous songs in the Psalms.
Psalm 23’s most famous lyric is the beginning. The Lord is my shepherd.
David can say I shall not want because YHWH - the LORD all caps - is my Shepherd.
This Psalm begins and ends with God’s name. YHWH.
I don’t know about you but I think about Psalm 23 being about happy places.
Thomas Kincaid paintings with cuddly sheep and babbling brooks. Meadows and mountains.
Psalm 23 is not about a place, it’s about a person.
YHWH.
The God who is full of compassion, grace, patience, love, and faithfulness.
Every note every word every syllable of this Psalm is about him.
Why is Psalm 23 so famous?
All the Psalms sing songs about trust in God.
God, YHWH, as the king of kings and lord of lords.
The maker and ruler of heaven and earth.
And as Psalm 2 says, Blessed are those who take refuge in him and in his chosen king.
In the same way that Don’t Stop Believin’ captures everything that was great about Journey, great piano and guitar and vocals, Psalm 23 captures what’s great about the Psalms, a song of praise and trust in God.
David begins Psalm 23 by saying the Lord is my shepherd.
A shepherd was a caretaker of sheep. The shepherd cared for the whole flock and knew each sheep by name.
The metaphor of God as shepherd was common in Scripture.
It’s a picture of God caring for all of us and each of us.
God is not just our caretaker, he’s yours. Mine.
1 Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel,
you who lead Joseph like a flock.
You who are enthroned upon the cherubim, shine forth.
7 For he is our God,
and we are the people of his pasture,
and the sheep of his hand.
3 Know that the Lord, he is God!
It is he who made us, and we are his;
we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
Not only was God a shepherd, David was a shepherd.
He began as a shepherd boy, and God raised him up to be a king.
Kings in the Ancient Near East were often called shepherds. So this metaphor fits perfectly in David’s life and it’s one he knows very very well.
Because God is David’s shepherd
He says - “I shall not want.”
I have what I need.
I lack nothing.
I don’t need a thing.
Or as we might say, “I’m good.”
We might say, “Well, David lived in simpler times. He didn’t know about iPhones and Blackstone grills.”
But as we know from the biblical story, ancient kings were easily taken by more more more.
David’s son Solomon’s heart was turned from God because he did not find contentment in God but looked for it in gold and girls.
David’s contentment in God shows that he had a deep relationship with God and knew him as his shepherd.
How can David say I have all that I need?
God feeds, guides, and protects him
Feeds
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside still waters.
3 He restores my soul.
David says because God is my shepherd, I am well fed.
Sheep in the ancient near east would graze on grass and weeds and stubble left over from the harvest.
Shepherds helped their sheep find safe plentiful places to eat and to drink.
God restores my whole life. Soul is a way of saying my whole person. Inner and outer life.
Every part of my life is content.
Why? Because God feeds me.
David is dependent on God. David was a king, he could have easily felt independent and self-sufficient.
“Look at me, look what I do for myself!”
Sheep and goats are different because goats are fairly independent.
Sheep, on the other hand, are helpless without a shepherd. Without a good shepherd, they die. Wool doesn’t cut it against wolves. They can’t find food.
David sings a song picturing himself as a simple sheep, fed by his shepherd.
Likewise, David says, God guides me.
Guides
He leads me in paths of righteousness
for his name’s sake.
God directs David down the right paths.
If you think you have a bad sense of direction, sheep have worse.
God is David’s guide.
Think of all the decisions a king had to make. How does a king make sure he’s doing the right thing for his people? David says by following God’s lead.
And all, not just so David would be a good king, or the people would be content, but for his glory.
Protects
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.
Like sheep traveling in the wilderness, sometimes the journey of life takes us from quiet places of rest to terrifying darkness.
In the ancient near east there are ravines that have streams in the spring but the rest of the year are dark and dangerous. Sheep traveling through them might be swept up in a flash food, be eaten by predators, or attacked by marauders looking for food.
And yet even there, what is the hope?
You. Are. With. Me.
A worse place. The same God.
I saw something new this week, notice how in verses 1-3 David is talking about God, and in verse 4 he’s talking to God.
Dark places cause us to start talking to God.
Even under threat, God is David’s protector.
David says I have what I need because I know God, the one who feeds, guides, and protects me.
It’s not a song about a happy place. It’s about a person.
I know God. I have what I need.
How much more can we say the same, because we can know Jesus?
11 I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
The LORD, YHWH, showed himself to David and to us even more clearly in Jesus.
What do you need today?
What are you lacking?
What are you searching for?
What’s keeping you from saying, “I have all that I need.”
What if the issue is not that we don’t have something, but that we don’t know Jesus well enough?
Psalm 23 reminds us that life is not about just getting to the happy places of rest and quiet, but about knowing Jesus - the one who is with us whether we’re in places of rest or of terrifying darkness.
That hunger inside each of our souls for more time, more money, more experiences, more weekends in the summer, more stuff…which are all good things, will never be satisfied by those things. We were made for someone eternally better.
All we need is Jesus. The Good Shepherd who is always with us. Do you know him?
TRANSITION - DAVID FAMOUSLY SINGS, GOD IS MY SHEPHERD, I HAVE WHAT I NEED. BUT HE’S NOT ONLY HIS SHEPHERD, HE IS HIS KING.
King (5-6)
5 You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
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.
David is the king of Israel.
And David sings, God you are my king!
Therefore, God is the ultimate, the highest, the truest, king of kings.
Verses 5 and 6 are still about God, but they’re no longer picturing God as a shepherd, but as a king.
We’ve moved from meadows to a meal.
And at this meal are David’s enemies.
It’s as though God is the ultimate king and he’s won the battle and the enemies are brought forward to witness his victory.
They’re captives. Prisoners of war, perhaps.
And David celebrates because he’s on the winning side.
David’s head is anointed with oil
This is something done for an honored guest at a royal banquet. Oil is a symbol of joy and happiness.
God you are the king and you joyfully treat me as the guest of honor.
You may be the king of kings, but you treat me as your friend.
My cup overflows
Not only do I have what I need, I have more than I need. You don’t just give me enough, you give me more than enough!
It’s estimated that Jeff Bezos’ wedding cost $100 million dollars.
David is saying, life with God is like that kind of party, only better because God’s love actually lasts.
Verse 6 says surely, or only
Goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.
Goodness - only the good stuff, the stuff in life that I really want.
Mercy - the word there is the same for steadfast love, hesed as Fletcher preached a while back.
These will follow or pursue me. They’ll never be far away from me every single day of my life.
And I will reside in God’s presence forever. Not just all the days of my life, but for days without end.
How can David say goodness and mercy will follow me every day, when some days in life are full of terrible suffering?
David can say this because he knows God is with him even on the days he suffered. David had days of great sin. David lost a child. David experienced great fear and pain.
He is not some pampered king who only knows life as Thomas Kincaid paintings. He’s gone through darkness. And even there he knows the God of goodness and mercy was with him, pursuing him.
David says I will not want because God is not only my shepherd, he is my king.
How much more can we know Jesus, who is not only our shepherd, but our king?
We know that Jesus our king will return and we will share a meal with him that will make the Bezos wedding look like the dollar menu.
We know that God’s goodness and mercy followed Jesus every day of his life, even the day he died on the cross.
So that means that on days when we suffer, we know that God has not left the building, but he is working in and through our suffering for his glory.
All we need is Jesus. He’s not just our shepherd, he is our king. And he is with us all our life and even more.
Do you know him?
Conclusion
Psalm 23 tops the charts.
And yet it’s so familiar we can forget the meaning of the words.
This is not a song about a place, it’s about a person.
It’s not just about peaceful meadows, it’s about being content even in places of terrifying darkness because we know God.
Psalm 23 reminds us All we need is Jesus.
Whatever you lack this morning, health, joy, time, energy, patience, money…those are good things that point to our real need - knowing Jesus.
He’s the shepherd king.
The one who is always with us.
Do you know him?
In the New Testament, there is another famous song, not a song per se, but famous words we know way too well, and I think it’s singing the same kind of tune here in Psalm 23.
It’s Paul in his letter to the Philippians. Philippians 4.
11 Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. 12 I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. 13 I can do all things through him who strengthens me.
Like Psalm 23, misunderstood.
Paul is not saying Jesus helps me win win win no matter what.
He’s saying because I know Jesus, I have all that I need. In plenty, or in what. In quiet meadows, or in dark valleys. Because I know Jesus, I have all that I need. It’s through him.
Jesus is enough. All I need is to know him.
There is nothing more satisfying than to be a Christian.
Nothing brings contentment like life with God.
No elaborate wedding compares to the abundance that we have.
You can take our houses, you can take our time, you can take our money, you can take our happiness, you can take our families, you can take our lives, but you cannot take Jesus!
We could be given money, we could be given houses, we could be given everything a person could ever want, but because we were made for Jesus, we will never be satisfied with anything less.
In Jesus, we have the what we need, every day, in every moment, because he is always with us. The one who laid down his life for us.
All we need is Jesus.
What would it look like for you to know him more?
To know that he is always with you?
To let him feed you by his word, to guide you by his spirit, to protect you with his power?
Have you turned from looking for contentment in other places and received him?
We’re going to respond by singing a very famous song.
It’s not Don’t stop believin’.
It’s called It is Well
Perhaps you know the story behind the song. The words are written by Horatio Spafford after he went through the valley of the shadow of death.
Quite literally, actually.
Horatio and his wife lost all four of their daughters in a shipwreck while they were going to Europe for vacation. His wife survived and sent him a telegram letting him know the tragic news.
Horatio traveled to meet with his grieving wife, and while on his own ship, the captain let him know they were traveling over the spot where his daughters died.
And there, Horatio wrote this song. A Psalm 23 kind of song.
A song that says even in those places, if I have Jesus, I have all that I need.
