7 Blessings From The Shepherd Psalm - Pt2
Notes
Transcript
A Psalm of David.
1 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: He leadeth me beside the still waters.
3 He restoreth my soul: He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: Thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: And I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.
In verse 1 - The Shepherd’s Preservation
The Lord has promised to provide every need to those who depend upon Him. The initial four words are the caveat for the assurance of God’s provision.
“The Lord is my Shepherd” - a recognition of our need and of the Lord’s willingness and ability to provide. It’s the daily prayer, “Give us day by day our daily bread” (Lk 11:3).
And so the Lord wil preserve us and guard us and keep us as we continue to trust in Him and acknowledge His care and mastery over us.
In verse 2 - The Shepherd’s Peace
We saw how the Lord not only leads us togreen pastures, but He has prepared those places of rest and peace for us beforehand. He has done all the work necessary so we can have peace, and that work was accomplished by Christ on the cross.
But He also provides refresment in our daily lives. He leads us beside the still waters - the waters of Scripture that are quiet and draw us to them; that are safe because it’s the Lord who leads us beside them; that are refreshing as we drink them in and learn from them and live by them.
By the way, we should note that the Lord leads us BESIDE the still waters, not into them. He makes them available to us, and He’s not going to rush us impatiently past them, but whether we are refreshed by them or not depends on whether we’re willing to go down to them. So often we aren’t refreshed because we don’t go to the still waters of Scripture to be refreshed.
But let’s continue to look at the blessings in this Psalm.
The Shepherd’s Pathway (v3)
The Shepherd’s Pathway (v3)
When we quote Ps 23, we often say it as if these first 4 words close verse 2. But rather they open verse 3.
The peace and refreshing of the pastures and waters in verse 2 speak of our peace with God that we enjoy because we are now part of His flock through salvation, and the peace of God we enjoy in life through what He has revealed to us in His word.
But the restoration of our souls is needed because of situations that aren’t normal, that don’t happen every day. Our soul needs restored when the normal routine of day-to-day living is interrupted and our soul doesn’t cope well with the new circumstances.
The word for restore means to return to a certain previous condition:
Like the Jews being restored to the land of Judah after captivity in Babylon - There were in Judah, taken from Judah, and would return to Judah;
Or God returning to bless Abraham and Sarah with a son - He had been with them to give them the promise, and He would return to them to fulfil His promise.
Why might we need a restoration of our souls?
There are 4 main “soul afflictions” that we find in Scripture.
Stress
Stress
38 Then saith he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me.
Who ever had so much to face as Christ did on His way to Calvary?
He was about to take upon Himself the sin of every human being who has ever and would ever live. He was about to bear the eternal wrath of God for every sinner in His own body during a short moment of time.
As He got closer to that moment, is it any wonder that the stress of it caused Him to “sweat as it were great drops of blood”!
And in those approaching moments He said, “My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death”.
An ordinary human being under the same stress Christ was under would never have made it out of Gethsemene, let alone to Golgotha.
As the perfect Son of God, He couldn’t die, but the stress of what He faced would have killed an ordinary sinner.
People sometimes minimise stress and dismiss it as something we just have to learn to live with or get over.
But stress can have a serious effect on the human body.
It constricts the blood vessels and raises blood pressure. The heart rate tends to be elevated. Adrenaline is released excessively. These actions can produce headaches and shortness of breath. There will also likely be muscle tension, sleeplessness, and there can also be back, neck, and joint pain.
If sustained for long periods of time, the constricted blood vessels are more likely to clot with cholesterol, resulting in heart attacks or strokes.
Stress for any of us is not something we are built to sustain for long periods.
Stress also is not sinful. Stress can be a natural physical response to circumstances. For short periods of time, a certain amount of stress can help us think faster and more clearly, giving us a needed burst of energy just as it’s needed.
Stress can be self-inposed, brought about by the actions or attitudes of others, or be the response to the situations that surround us.
How we respond to situations can have a bearing.
If we allow worry to permeate us, if we fail to CAST our cares UPON the Lord, but take them back and continue to worry about them, that is sin, but it can also inevitably cause chronic stress.
Stress is a prime example of a problem in the soul causing a physiological response.
With suffering, the physical difficulties affect the soul emotionally and mentally.
With stress, the mental and emotional difficulties in the soul affect the body physically.
Setbacks
Setbacks
6 They have prepared a net for my steps; My soul is bowed down: They have digged a pit before me, Into the midst whereof they are fallen themselves. Selah.
Ps 57 was written by David as a result of him having to hide in a cave to escape from Saul.
Remember, David had already been anointed by Samuel to be the next king of Israel before he even went to fight Goliath.
He has since become son-in-law to the king by marrying Michal, he’s been treated as one of the king’s sons, his best friend is Jonathan, the heir apparent.
Then Saul turned on David out of jealousy and David has to run for his life. Talk about a setback!
I trust none of you have to face anything quite as extreme as that, but you may be on your way to a career, or into a particular relationship, or perhaps there’s an area of ministry you’ve felt the Lord has been preparing you for. Maybe it’s a change of job or home. Perhaps a promotion or any number of other goals. Then all of a sudden, there’s a setback.
Like David, these setbacks can be caused by the malicious intentions of other people unfairly treating us, or spreading gossip, or interfering in some other way.
But it doesn’t have to be other people. We may have done something stupid ourselves - a lapse in concentration that led to us saying or doing something normally out of character, perhaps a decision made on the spur of the moment that had unwanted results.
Or maybe a health problem arose, or an accident happened, or circumstances changed that put everything that was planned on hold indefinitely.
Whatever the cause, there’s been a setback, and that can annoy us, and we could say with David, “My soul is bowed down”.
Suffering
Suffering
16 And now my soul is poured out upon me; The days of affliction have taken hold upon me.
Physical suffering affects the soul.
We are body, soul, and spirit - not three separate parts, but a triune being.
Body - physical awareness
Soul - mental and emotional awareness
Spirit - spiritual awareness
Suffering in one can cause suffering in the other two.
Physical suffering, especially if it’s chronic or recurring, can make us feel frustrated, weary, or down. But these are aspects of the soul. The suffering of the body can produce mental tiredness, which is then manifested in the physical action of the brain.
Those who have been suffering for an extended period of time understand the emotional strain that puts on a person, but it’s the soul that this occurs in.
Sorrow
Sorrow
16 For these things I weep; mine eye, mine eye runneth down with water, Because the comforter that should relieve my soul is far from me: My children are desolate, because the enemy prevailed.
In Jeremiah’s case, he was weeping over the state of his country and the judgment coming upon it through conquer and exile.
What made Jeremiah weep all the more waas that this judgment could have been avoided if the people, and especially the king, had turned back to God. But they had refused, and the result was Nebuchadnezzar conquering the land of Judah.
We can have a similar kind of sorrow when someone we love, like a son or daughter, or maybe a parent, turns from God. We can shed tears over them, and many have. It breaks our hearts to see loved ones reject the Lord.
But there can also be sorrow over our own repetitive tendency to sin. It’s not that we want to, nor that we’re turning our backs on God, but that we allow ourselves to get into bad habits of sinning.
Every time we sin, we immediately feel guilty. We know we’ve done wrong, but we get into a cycle we can’t seem to break out of.
And that causes us to sorrow over our sin. We are conscious of a damaged fellowship with God. The Holy Spirit within us has no comfort for us, no peace. Instead, we are unsettled, we lose sleep, we have no contentment until we repent of those sins and start enjoying our salvation again.
81 CAPH. My soul fainteth for thy salvation: But I hope in thy word.
12 Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; And uphold me with thy free spirit.
These are the things that can affect the soul:
SUFFERING, SETBACKS, SORROW, STRESS
These “soul afflictions” can make us feel like our soul is poured out, bowed down, has no comfort, or is in anguish to the point of death.
So what do we need? We need our souls to be restored.
And so David says in verse 3, “He restoreth my soul”.
But how does He restore our souls?
Look at the rest of the verse:
“He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.”
The paths of righteousness - ways that are right.
There’s a right reponse to all the circumstances we’ve talked about, and where do we find these right ways?
In the Scriptures.
28 My soul melteth for heaviness: Strengthen thou me according unto thy word.
God’s right ways lead us out of heaviness of the soul, and they also help us avoid soul heaviness in the first place.
Again we’re coming back to the Word of God. So let’s turn to another Psalm that shows us the right ways to handle these “soul afflictions”.
1 Unto thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul.
2 O my God, I trust in thee: let me not be ashamed, Let not mine enemies triumph over me.
3 Yea, let none that wait on thee be ashamed: Let them be ashamed which transgress without cause.
4 Shew me thy ways, O Lord; teach me thy paths.
5 Lead me in thy truth, and teach me: For thou art the God of my salvation; On thee do I wait all the day.
6 Remember, O Lord, thy tender mercies and thy lovingkindnesses; For they have been ever of old.
7 Remember not the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions: According to thy mercy remember thou me For thy goodness’ sake, O Lord.
Handling Stress
Ps 25:2 “O my God, I trust in Thee”
Handling Setbacks
2 O my God, I trust in thee: let me not be ashamed, Let not mine enemies triumph over me.
3 Yea, let none that wait on thee be ashamed: Let them be ashamed which transgress without cause.
Whether caused by other people or not, let nothing we do cause us to be ashamed when we stand before the Judgment Seat of Christ.
Keep in mind that we have to give account. Remember that we can always trust the Lord. When setbacks come, He has allowed them. We’ve been thinking about God-ordained and God-permitted obstacles recently.
The Lord simply asks us to trust and obey, to be faithful, especially when our plans aren’t turning out the way we’d like.
And so, when setbacks come, we turn to:
4 Shew me thy ways, O Lord; teach me thy paths.
5 Lead me in thy truth, and teach me: For thou art the God of my salvation; On thee do I wait all the day.
Handling Suffering
5 Lead me in thy truth, and teach me: For thou art the God of my salvation; On thee do I wait all the day.
6 Remember, O Lord, thy tender mercies and thy lovingkindnesses; For they have been ever of old.
As the God of our salvation, He is going to save us out of all our tribulation and trouble some day, and then we’re going to enjoy the glory and blessings He has prepared for us.
But as the God of our salvation, He is also there to save us in and through our suffering.
2 O Lord, be gracious unto us; we have waited for thee: Be thou their arm every morning, Our salvation also in the time of trouble.
1 God is our refuge and strength, A very present help in trouble.
3 Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort;
4 Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.
So that we can say with Paul in 2Co 7:4...
“…I am filled with comfort, I am exceeding joyful in all our tribulation.”
Handling Sorrow
6 Remember, O Lord, thy tender mercies and thy lovingkindnesses; For they have been ever of old.
7 Remember not the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions: According to thy mercy remember thou me For thy goodness’ sake, O Lord.
Remember that there are two kinds of sorrow we can experience - sorrow over loss, and sorrow over lapses - and here we see the answer to both.
The greatest blessings we have in times of loss are God’s tender mercies and lovingkindnesses.
His tenderness that soothes us.
His mercies that show He understands us.
His love that comforts and surrounds us.
His kindness that provides for us.
But when we have lapsed into sin, we need those same blessings.
We can look at how He has given us all these good things in the past and be thankful that His goodness can still be shown to us through the blood of His Son.
Because of Calvary, the lapsed believer can be:
- Soothed by our Father’s tenderness to us
- Forgiven and justified according to His mercy (v7) to us
- Comforted and cleansed according to His love for us
- Restored and recommissioned according to His kindness toward us.
I know we’ve only considered one more blessing tonight, but what a blessing!
The Shepherd’s Pathway is the pathway to restoration for the soul.
Surely that something we need today! With the strains and stresses of lockdown, the loneliness of isolation and a lack of face-to-face fellowship, it can put a strain on our souls.
We can become used to not having to interact with other people. We can get comfortable with not having to leave the house to “do church”.
But it’s not how God has designed us, and it will have an effect on our souls, unless we’re walking in the paths of righteousness:
Trusting in the Lord, living so aren’t ashamed, enjoying His salvation in all our troubles, and resting in His tender mercies and loving kindnesses.
I trust that we’ll continue to glorify His name for the paths of righteousness He leads us in.