Psalm 23

Knowing The Shepherd

Read Psalm 23:1-3, “

The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.

2  He makes me lie down in green pastures.

He leads me beside still waters.

3  He restores my soul.

He leads me in paths of righteousness

for his name’s sake.

It is all about the who. Through the entire psalm, you see, he, he, he, you, you, you. The psalm is also a prayer of relations that David has with God. The psalm begins with the he, and the you. God, the Lord. He is the shepherd of David.

If we relate to human experience about things, we have a human experience, but everything in this psalm points to the emphasis, in the importance of knowing God. If you don’t know the Lord, you will not be moved, or encouraged by the psalm.

The Lord, and walking in relationship with him brings completeness in life. And the completeness is not necessarily meaning that we have every material thing, or if we do not. Man, without spiritual understanding, cannot conceive of God, and cannot understand. But the spiritual person understands that with God, we are not driven by want.

To not want, isn’t a command. It is a result.

Many are so caught up, in the weakness (of their own strength) that man and women, loose the original purpose of being created. Walking with God, walking in right paths.

God, does these things for his own name sake. Even when we stumble, if we are not hypocrites, he will restore us.

Opposed to The World

Read 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.

You cannot throw pearls to swine Jesus said. Or at least he commanded it. Some things belong only to the covenant child of God. Fellowship with God, and the Spirit. Assurance of spirit. Discipline that keeps salvation enacted, and promises believed. Or at least holds you in his way. The covenant believing individual is comforted by this love from God. If you are loved, you are kept in a holy life. It is never the opposite. The evidence of being kept by God, is not by him letting you live in wicked ways. He keeps you, by keeping you fearing him and honoring his law and commands.

The world opposes this.

Provision To Endure Through An Opposing World

Read Psalm 23:5-6, “

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.

In the middle of a world system that is effected by sin. God provides for those who believe. The fallen angels don’t have a choice or opportunity to repent, because they saw and decided to sin. Humans born into a sinful world, with a sinful nature, are not without a choice from birth. They are born, into results that is not their own original fault and problem. Sin, original, is attributed to every born child, but not in a final way until and unless their decision is complete in disbelief about God’s revelation of a way to escape. So God provides a choice, a time, and a day, when they see and decide. The judgment of God, is based on whether they believe the Son, or not. Those who believe, escape the corruptions of the sinful nature, by the Spirit life on earth and the eradication of the sinful nature, when they have a new body, raised.

For those who love God in this world, he provides for them, while they live, even through opposition to their values, and desires to live in God’s right ways. The blessing of God, is in their lives, and a divine hand leads their steps, that does not lead the steps of of others.

The blessing of God continues through the experience of a sin-marred world, and into a state of complete restoration and being redeemed. But the people who don’t believe loose everything and miss out. A few natural blessings and ability and moments to exude their volition, to live away from God, but the covenant experience, is unknown to them.

God bless