Victorious Christian
The story of David
The twenty-third psalm is certainly the best loved of all the confidence psalms and probably the best loved of all Scriptures. David wrote it to express his confidence in the Lord’s care for him. As he reflected on that care, he realized that it was very much like the care of a shepherd for his sheep (vv. 1–4) and the care of a host for his guests (vv. 5–6).
The twenty-third psalm is certainly the best loved of all the confidence psalms and probably the best loved of all Scriptures. David wrote it to express his confidence in the Lord’s care for him. As he reflected on that care, he realized that it was very much like the care of a shepherd for his sheep (vv. 1–4) and the care of a host for his guests (vv. 5–6).
What did David go through? “The table with his guests”
David affirms that God’s provisions for his guests are both constant and abundant.
The constancy of God’s provisions means that God’s people have them in every situation and circumstance. We have already noted that the saints of God have enemies in the hour of death. They have them all through life as well. These enemies are the world, the flesh and the devil.
Knowing about these enemies, David here subjects God’s care to what we might call the ultimate test. He asserts that God’s care cannot be negated or destroyed by these fierce enemies. David sees himself sitting at a banquet table while they gather all around. While they threaten and snarl, he feasts. Such is the care of God!
The constancy of God’s provisions means that God’s people have them in every situation and circumstance. We have already noted that the saints of God have enemies in the hour of death. They have them all through life as well. These enemies are the world, the flesh and the devil.
We have already noted that the saints of God have enemies in the hour of death. They have them all through life as well. These enemies are the world, the flesh and the devil.
The facts in Australia
Overcoming
Overcoming
This has to do with finding rest in the Word of God. The ‘green pastures’ represent food to the sheep. The lying down represents leisure or time. By the grace of the Lord, then, his people spend time meditating on the food which he has prepared for them, which is the Word of God.
We can go further and say that the Lord provides a green pasture for his sheep every time the Word of God is truly preached. This challenges all who know the Lord to prize biblical preaching heartily. And it soundly rebukes all those ‘preachers’ who lead their people away from the green grass the Lord has provided in his Word to the brown, withered grass of human wisdom.
All God’s people have been given rest from the guilt of sin and the fear of condemnation through the redeeming work of Christ. They are God’s people by virtue of that. But they still need rest from hunger, from annoying parasites and from conflict. We find these as we look to the green pastures in the Word of God. We are either grazing in those pastures or we are straying from our shepherd.
SHADOW A dark shadow may appear to be quite frightening but it has no real power to harm us. And death, unpleasant and forbidding as it may be, cannot finally do any real harm to the child of God. Henry T. Mahan writes: ‘… Christ has removed the substance of death and only a shadow remains. A shadow is there but cannot hurt or destroy.’4
VALLEY While admitting that the valley is ‘deep indeed, and dark, and dirty’, Matthew Henry calls it a fruitful place and concludes that death offers ‘fruitful comforts to God’s people’.5
David describes his activity in the valley as walking, which is regarded as pleasant and restful.
David affirms that God’s provisions for his guests are both constant and abundant.
The constancy of God’s provisions means that God’s people have them in every situation and circumstance. We have already noted that the saints of God have enemies in the hour of death. They have them all through life as well. These enemies are the world, the flesh and the devil.
Knowing about these enemies, David here subjects God’s care to what we might call the ultimate test. He asserts that God’s care cannot be negated or destroyed by these fierce enemies. David sees himself sitting at a banquet table while they gather all around. While they threaten and snarl, he feasts. Such is the care of God!
It was customary in those days to receive a guest by anointing him with fragrant perfume and with a cup filled with a choice wine. In this way, the host indicated that nothing was to be considered too good for his guest.
David declares that God’s care surpasses even this. His head had been anointed, and his cup was overflowing.
Such care compelled David to say:
Surely goodness and mercy
shall follow me
All the days of my life; …
(v. 6a).
How did he overcome?
THROUGH How thankful we should be for this word! The valley of death is not the stopping place for the children of God. It is a travelling place. Matthew Henry notes that the saints of God will not get lost in it but will come out safely.6
The Lord himself was the basis of David’s peace about death. As David contemplates his death, he sees himself entering a dark valley. Suddenly he is aware that someone else is there in the shadows. It is the Lord himself. As he gazes upon his Lord, David sees that he is carrying a rod and staff.
The rod was a heavy club the shepherd used to kill predators, and the staff, a long pole with a crook in one end, used to round up the sheep and to guide them along.
Jesus wins
The rod was a heavy club the shepherd used to kill predators, and the staff, a long pole with a crook in one end, used to round up the sheep and to guide them along.
It was customary in those days to receive a guest by anointing him with fragrant perfume and with a cup filled with a choice wine. In this way, the host indicated that nothing was to be considered too good for his guest.
David declares that God’s care surpasses even this. His head had been anointed, and his cup was overflowing.
Such care compelled David to say:
Surely goodness and mercy
shall follow me
All the days of my life; …
(v. 6a).
This has to do with finding rest in the Word of God. The ‘green pastures’ represent food to the sheep. The lying down represents leisure or time. By the grace of the Lord, then, his people spend time meditating on the food which he has prepared for them, which is the Word of God.
We can go further and say that the Lord provides a green pasture for his sheep every time the Word of God is truly preached. This challenges all who know the Lord to prize biblical preaching heartily. And it soundly rebukes all those ‘preachers’ who lead their people away from the green grass the Lord has provided in his Word to the brown, withered grass of human wisdom.
All God’s people have been given rest from the guilt of sin and the fear of condemnation through the redeeming work of Christ. They are God’s people by virtue of that. But they still need rest from hunger, from annoying parasites and from conflict. We find these as we look to the green pastures in the Word of God. We are either grazing in those pastures or we are straying from our shepherd.
REFRESHMENT They do not lack refreshment because they are led beside still waters.
God’s people often find themselves in need of spiritual refreshment. This is so because they walk in a wearying and exhausting world. Even their ‘fellow-sheep’ can be trying at times!
Where is the needed refreshment to be found? Are we not refreshed when we contemplate the greatness of our God? Do we not find it when we ponder his glorious plan of salvation in which he placed his love on us before time, appointed his Son to be our Redeemer, sent him in the fullness of time and accepted on our behalf his sinless life and atoning death? Are we not refreshed by pondering Christ’s ongoing intercession for us? Are we not rejuvenated by calling to mind his promise to come again and receive us unto himself into eternal glory?
All of these refreshing things—and many, many more—are found in the Word of God. So we are back to the Bible again! It is green pasture in which we may feed and refreshing water from which we may drink.
SHADOW A dark shadow may appear to be quite frightening but it has no real power to harm us. And death, unpleasant and forbidding as it may be, cannot finally do any real harm to the child of God. Henry T. Mahan writes: ‘… Christ has removed the substance of death and only a shadow remains. A shadow is there but cannot hurt or destroy.’4
VALLEY While admitting that the valley is ‘deep indeed, and dark, and dirty’, Matthew Henry calls it a fruitful place and concludes that death offers ‘fruitful comforts to God’s people’.5
God as host in the life to come (v. 6b)
The provisions of God in this life are a small foretaste of what awaits believers. The table of which David has spoken is set in the midst of enemies in the wilderness. A glorious day is coming when all God’s people will be gathered around God’s table in his everlasting house, and there no enemy will be present to offer a single snarl.
So the greatest expression of the goodness and mercy of God awaits us in heaven. The people of God will then be with the Lord who cared for them every step of the way. And they will never be separated from him.
6120 Five Words Defined
Surrender isn’t giving up
something you don’t want …
It’s giving up what you do want.
Victory isn’t walking
across the goal line …
It’s struggling through opposition to goal.
Trust isn’t going
just where the lights are …
It’s following through the dark valleys.
Love isn’t giving
when others are giving …
It’s giving when others are not giving.
Faith isn’t overflowing
to others …
It’s emptying itself to others.