Promises of Provision

Psalm 23 CSB

A psalm of David. The Lord is my shepherd; I have what I need. He lets me lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside quiet waters. He renews my life; he leads me along the right paths for his name’s sake. Even when I go through the darkest valley, I fear no danger, 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. Only goodness and faithful love will pursue me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord as long as I live.

Provision through surrender

Psalm 23:1 CSB

The Lord is my shepherd; I have what I need.

There are two things going on here that bear looking at.

The recognition by the psalmist, the acceptance by the psalmist of God being the shepherd.

For David this symbolism held special meaning. Remember David was a shepherd, when he penned these worlds he knew more than anything what it meant to be a Shepherd.

Check out what the Original Hebrew means.

SHEPHERD (רעה, r'h; ποιμήν, poimēn). A common occupation in the ancient Mediterranean. Responsible for leading, feeding, protecting, and procuring rest for their flock.

David sees something fundamental to the Provision he and all of us have been promised… and that is the need to surrender to God and rely on the protection, grace and resources that are always in God’s hands and at God’s disposal.

David first recognizes his shepherd and then admits that what he needs is provided by God.

As we lean into the promise of provision we need to remember that God knows what we need and is more than willing to provide it. Which brings us to what it is we really need.

We can have REST

Psalm 23:2–3 CSB

He lets me lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside quiet waters. He renews my life; he leads me along the right paths for his name’s sake.

Reading this same verse in the King James says “He maketh” as does the NASB and the ESV. the important thing to grab from this set of verses can’t be glossed over though.

God understands that we need rest, we need tranquility, we need to be renewed and restored and we need to be shown the way to go to be led in the right paths…A spiritual GPS that is able and willing to keep us from heading in the wrong direction. And he does it all for His name sake.

When we claim to have a relationship with God…people see us and they watch us they watch what we do just as much as what we say. When we place ourselves into the Shepherds care he leads us for his name sake because people see us and they should see him his character, should shine through us.

We be be PROTECTED

Psalm 23:4–5 CSB

Even when I go through the darkest valley, I fear no danger, 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.

Lets be clear. Being a follower of Christ is not easy. The moment we recognize our need for a relationship with the God of the universe that goes beyond a basic understanding of some twisted idea that there’s some cosmic scale things don’t just fall into place turning to sunshine and rainbows, unicorns and candy. We will go through dark places.

James 1:2–3 CSB

Consider it a great joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you experience various trials, because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance.

It’s all the more important to realize that God does not leave us through these hard times…That the Good Shepherd is willing to lead us through the hard times..correcting us as we go through them and even providing a meal for in the middle of the worst times in our lives. He anoints our head with oil choosing us as more than just an acquaintance. Throughout scripture anointing with oil is used to set apart things and people as Holy, to confer authority from God on them, to make sure people understood that this person or thing is set apart. Anointing oil was not regular oil, it was specially formulated and to use it for a common purpose was an offense against the Law.

God sets us apart the promise of provision means we are more not because of anything that we have done, but because of what he has done.. he has set us apart, he has anointed us calling us Holy in spite of, he has made sure our cup would run over with the fullness of him and all that he has for us.

We can have a FOREVER HOME

Psalm 23:6 CSB

Only goodness and faithful love will pursue me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord as long as I live.

What we all need to understand and realize is that with the good shepherd we have the promise of Adoption

Joy Miller first met Logen when he called WAY Alliance, a non-profit she runs that helps teens transition out of foster care. “At first glance, he was just a 17-year-old kid who’d run away from his foster home that we were trying to keep from being homeless,” she recalls. But the teenager had already lived through a lifetime’s worth of troubles: He’d been adopted once and then relinquished, did a stint (unfairly, Joy says) in the juvenile justice system, and had endured five out-of-home placements. And now, after years of turmoil, the system was going to just spit him out on the streets on his 18th birthday.

She knew she had to help him. At first, she was simply trying to find him a safe place to stay while he figured out his next move. Unfortunately, all the shelters were full, and she couldn’t find anyone who would take him, until her parents volunteered. Joy, her husband, Jeff, and their four children got to know Logen while he stayed there for a few days.

Then something strange and incredible happened. “As we continued to work on getting Logen’s housing figured out, I soon started getting the feeling—a very strong feeling—that Logen wasn’t supposed to go anywhere,” she says. “That he was actually supposed to stay with us. That he was supposed to be part of our family.”

After discussing it with the rest of the family, Joy and Jeff made their adoption offer to Logen, who was 18 and legally an adult by then. At first, he seemed unsure, but then he enthusiastically accepted, and five months after first meeting, they stood in front of a judge and did an adult adoption—an easy process that only cost them $350, she adds.

Eight months after being adopted, Logen felt secure enough to move into his own apartment and is doing great. He’d weaned himself off all of his psychiatric medications, gotten a job, and enrolled in welding school. The thing that made all of that possible? Knowing he will always have a home and family when he needs them.

This Week’s Challenge

We are living in an unprecedented time. There are so many things going on. This week, every time you are tempted to let fear and doubt about life and all that is happening…take time to either read or recite Psalm 23…for an added bonus why not start to memorize Psalm 91