The Lord is My Shepherd (Psalm 23)

Announcements

Don’t forget that this Friday, May 20th at 7pm, we’re showing the movie Sabina in the auditorium. We’d love to have you join us—admittance is free; and we’ll provide snacks and drinks as well. Please feel free to invite friends and family to join us.

On May 27th at 10:30am, we’ll be canvassing the Chester Hill neighborhood. We could use some help as we do this, if you’d like to help, contact Natalie for the details.

On Saturday, June 4th, we’ll have a work-day here at the church building. We need a handful of people to help deep-clean the building both inside and out. There are a few other projects that we need to work on that day as well but I’ll let you know what they are on that day.

Let me remind you to continue worshiping the LORD through your giving. To help you with your giving, we have three ways for you to do so: (1) in-person giving can be done at the offering box at the front of the room—if you give cash and you’d like a receipt for your gift, please place it in an envelope with your name on it; if you give a check, please write it to Grace & Peace. If you’d prefer to give with a debit or credit card or through ACH transfers, you can do that either by (2) texting 84321 with your $[amount] and following the text prompts or (3) by visiting us online at www.gapb.church and selecting giving in the menu bar. Everything that you give goes to the building up of our local church and the spread of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Prayer of Repentance and Adoration

Sermon

If you have your Bible this evening, please turn it to Psalm 23.

This evening’s psalm is probably one of the most well-known psalms amongst believers and unbelievers. I can say that because it’s often utilized in times of great sorrow, particularly during funeral services and memorials. So, even if you aren’t necessarily a believer in God, you’ve probably heard this psalm multiple times. It is simple but it’s in its simplicity that the message of the passage really shines through.

We don’t have much information concerning provenance but we do know, from the superscription that David is the author of this text, which shouldn’t surprise us because David is uniquely qualified to speak about God being a shepherd because he much of his childhood and young adult life as a shepherd caring for his own father’s sheep. David had significant experience being a shepherd caring for sheep, so it makes sense that he can see the parallels between God the Father and God’s people.

Let’s read Psalm 23 before we dig into Scripture.

Psalm 23 ESV

A Psalm of David. 1 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. 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. 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.

As we study this passage together, we’re going to break it into two parts that emphasizes the relationship that God has with his people. (1) The Lord is my Shepherd (vv. 1-4) and (2) The Lord is my Friend (vv. 5-6). Both of these concepts—God being the shepherd and the friend speak of a level of intimacy in the relationship between the psalmist and God. And it speaks of the great amount of confident trust that David has in the Lord. The beauty of this psalm is that what David expresses in it are expressions that we as believers can experience as well. We can rightly say that the Lord is our shepherd and that he is our friend today, which should encourage us to confidently trust the Lord today, as well.

Prayer for Illumination

The Lord as Shepherd (1-4)

Our psalm for this evening starts with a statement familiar to most, “the Lord is my shepherd.”

It’s familiar not just because it’s utilized here in Psalm 23, but because the illustration is utilized in the New Testament, speaking of Jesus, as well.

Jesus says of himself, John 10:11 “11 “I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.”

The author of Hebrews ends his letter with Hebrews 13:20-21 “20 Now may the God of peace, who brought up from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant, that is, Jesus our Lord, 21 equip you in every good thing to do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.”

It is such a familiar concept is Scripture that it’s rarely ever explained in much detail, so, let me give you a little bit of information about what exactly a shepherd did and how they were viewed in the Old and New Testaments:

A shepherd in the Old Testament was often, but not always, a child that was charged with protecting the flock and guiding them to good food and water.

Some of the details of how this worked is actually given in this psalm, so I don’t want to mention them now just for us to work through it again later, but let me simply state that the role of a shepherd was one that was looked down on by society—the majority of people viewed shepherds as the lowest of the low.

That’s part of the reason why when Jesus is born, it’s such a shocking thing for the angels to make the pronouncement to the shepherds because shepherds weren’t viewed kindly of in that culture. It’s also part of the reason why David being picked by God to be king was so shocking.

Shepherds in the Old and New Testaments, despite the truth that they were utterly vital to their society, they were typically poorly treated and looked down on.

Although, I do want to point out that many kings in the Ancient Near East would compare themselves to shepherds in their leadership capacity—that’s why Isaiah in Isaiah 40:11 compares the coming Messiah to a shepherd, “11 Like a shepherd He will tend His flock, In His arm He will gather the lambs And carry them in the fold of His robe; He will gently lead the nursing ewes.”

So, there’s a little bit of tension in how people typically viewed shepherds in that practically they looked down on actual shepherds but the kings typically thought of themselves as shepherds.

David would be familiar with that tension between how people viewed shepherds and how kings would describe themselves

Yet, David has no issue at stating that God is his shepherd. And because God is David’s shepherd, David will not want.

That last phrase of v. 1, that David will not want speaks of provision—provision of food, water, and necessities and David expounds on that provision in v. 2, “He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters.” God is the shepherd who provides for David.

A good shepherd who is intent on taking care of his sheep will know where to lead the sheep of proper sustenance. It might sound obvious but green pastures happen to be where the best food for livestock is.

Pastures that aren’t green are typically either dead or they’re filled with rocks, thorns, and thistles that aren’t just inedible, they’re actually dangerous for the sheep.

Not to mention if a shepherd regularly lead his sheep to pastures that aren’t green, then eventually the sheep will become malnourished and die.

A good shepherd will intentionally lead his sheep where they can find proper sustenance.

The second sentence, “He leads me beside still waters” speaks of another great need for sheep. Sheep need water but sheep are actually pretty timid.

All this means is that when sheep come up to water, they’re very scared of rushing water or water that they would consider unsafe, which makes sense, because if you’ve ever seen a sheep, it’s clear that they completely lack the ability to swim.

Because of their timidness and their inability to swim, they typically won’t even bother going near any sort of water with a current, which means a good shepherd would have to be able to find water that’s near the green pasture with water that doesn’t flow too fast and they would need to be patient and willing enough to lead the sheep to that area.

Now, I do want to point out before we continue in the text that often when we read a text like this, we think purely in terms of physical nourishment—that the shepherd provides physical sustenance, which is absolutely true.

There’s a reason as to why Jesus tells his disciples to not be anxious about their lives, concerning food, clothing, and housing. Matthew 6:31-33 “31 Do not worry then, saying, ‘What are we to eat?’ or ‘What are we to drink?’ or ‘What are we to wear for clothing?’ 32 For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be provided to you.”

But I’d like to suggest that this isn’t just speaking of physical sustenance, though it is speaking of physical sustenance.

I’d suggest that it’s also speaking of spiritual sustenance and the reason for that is two-fold: (1) the text is clearly a metaphor. God isn’t literally a shepherd but he acts like a shepherd in the way that he deals with his people. (2) The remaining parts of the text focus more on spiritual issues than physical issues, so vv. 1-2 could very easily be about spiritual sustenance.

David will not want spiritually because God leads him to good spiritually food and a water.

Regardless, the point is still the same. God is the shepherd who provides.

V. 3 then focuses on the leadership of God. God is the shepherd who leads, “He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.”

Now the first sentence is subject to some interpretation. There are two senses of this sentence that are typically proposed:

Some believe that it’s speaking of a straying sheep that’s brought back into the fold. In that light, it would be like Isaiah 49:5, in which Isaiah speaks of Jacob needing to be pulled back into the fold or probably more familiar to you, like the shepherd who leaves the ninety and nine to collect the one lost sheep.

Some believe that this is speaking primarily of salvation, that God restores the soul of the one who first believes.

I’m of the opinion that while it could be both of those ideas, that it’s really more of spiritual renewal than it is of God finding the prodigal sheep or God saving and my reasoning is two-fold: (1) David is already a believer at this point and the concept of “restoration” here is a continuous restoration, which means that it can’t be talking about initial salvation and (2) the imagery makes sense if you’re thinking of spiritual renewal.

God, as the shepherd, leads his people to where they can find good water and food. God as the shepherd provides a place where they can lie down and rest.

Through the Lord’s leading, there is rest, cleansing, restoration, and refreshment.

“Here the spiritual lesson is clear: the Lord provides forgiveness and peace for those who follow him.” (Allen P. Ross, “Psalms.” The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, edited by J.F. Walvoord and R.B. Zuck. Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1985, 811)

The last sentence of v. 3 then starts speaking of God’s leadership after God brings restoration, “He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.”

Now, this is where the figurative nature of illustrations come in. Clearly, sheep don’t walk in paths of righteousness in the same sense that mankind can. For a sheep, a path of righteousness is no more than just a good path for them to walk, but for God’s human flock, for his people, the paths of righteousness have a much more moral sense.

God as the shepherd knows the right paths on which to bring the sheep home safely. God guides his flock in the right way because he is the good shepherd.

It is interesting to note, that according to v. 3, God restores souls and leads his people to paths of righteousness not because of who the people are. Not because of the sheep themselves, but as the last phrase says, “for his name’s sake.

While God does lead his people out of love, that’s not what David focuses on in v. 3. What David focuses on in v. 3 is that God leads his people and he restores their souls and he takes them in righteous paths because of his own reputation.

Or in other words, the focus in v. 3 is on who God is and what will be said of God for God restoring and leading his people. God leads his people properly, yes, because he loves them, but not just because he loves them, but because of his own reputation, his own character, his own being.

He does this because it’s who he is—it is innate to him to care for his people and to love his people. It is part of him to want to lead his people home.

God is the shepherd who leads his people.

V. 4 takes a step passed God leading and focuses on God’s protection. God is the shepherd who protects, “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.”

Now, we don’t really have a context for “the valley of the shadow of death” because we happen to live in a relatively safe place of the world.

When we go out at night, we typically don’t need to be too fearful about what’s around—though obviously, we do take precautions when we find ourselves in certain places (like bad parts of urban cities or in a bear-infested forest).

In Israel, particularly during biblical times, to travel outside of the city was typically very dangerous. And what David has in mind here is to walk through a valley in the desert alone—and you might hear that and think, “ok, but what’s the big deal?”

Valleys in the dessert and really any road outside of the city was notorious for criminal activity. There were groups of people who roamed the countryside with the specific goal of robbing people and hurting people.

There are wild animals that live outside of the cities that do attack and kill people. And in the desert, there are places in Israel called wadis, a wadi is very literally a dried out valley, but during certain times of the year when the rainy season starts in Israel, these wadis flood with a river of water—they go from being barren to being fool with a few hours, so clearly, they’re very dangerous.

David has in mind all of the treacherousness of what’s around when alone traveling through the desert—there are bandits, there are wild beasts, and there are wadis that can hurt, maim, and even kill you.

But clearly, David doesn’t leave the illustration at just physical places of danger, this really applies to any time in life in which a believer finds himself in a valley—spiritually, physically, or even mentally.

David states that even when he’s walking through the valley of the shadow of death, “[he] will fear no evil, for you are with me.”

I mentioned over the course of working through Psalm 22, that there are plenty of times in our lives when we feel as if we’re all alone—we feel as if God has abandoned us, that he refuses to answer our prayers, and that we’re all alone.

But David, who wrote Psalm 22 also knows in Psalm 23 that there’s no reason for fear because God is with him. As Jesus reminds us in Matthew 28:20 “and behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

David recognized that even in times of life that are like walking through the valley of the shadow of death, there’s no reason to be afraid because God is still there in his presence, he is immanent. He is with us.

Even when we feel as if he has left us and we feel as if we’re all alone.

Now, the last phrase in this section is subject to much confusion because of an old myth. “Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.”

The old myth is that in Bible times the shepherds would use a rod to break the legs of sheep that continuously stray. Now, the benefit of that myth is that it provides a really good analogy as to how the Lord disciplines his people, but let me tell you the truth, no shepherd in his right mind would ever break his sheep’s legs. It just takes a little bit of logical thinking to realize how untrue this myth is:

The psalmist has just explained how the good shepherd will lead his sheep to water and to good food, which means that the flock has to remain mobile.

Now the argument is that the shepherd would break the sheep’s legs and then carry the sheep from pasture to pasture so that the sheep would grow dependent on the shepherd—that idea might work, if a sheep stayed the same size as a lamb for its entire life, but they don’t. A full grown male sheep can weigh anywhere between 99-350 pounds and a full-grown female sheep can weigh up 220 pounds.

According to multiple gyms, the average man can only bench press about 135 pounds. A shepherd might be able to lift a sheep temporarily but not as they travel from pasture to pasture.

Not to mention, breaking the sheep’s legs runs the risk of the sheep’s legs not healing properly and the sheep never being able to walk properly again.

And if you know anything about sheep, you know that they aren’t particularly smart and they all tend to stray a lot. According to Collin and Carmella Abel, who are modern-day farmers that raise sheep, sheep stray for multiple reasons: (1) they could be afraid, (2) they might be looking for more food, (3) they might be following another sheep, or (4, and this is my favorite one), they might just be curious.

If sheep are that liable to wandering off, how many of their legs would you have to break simultaneously to stop them from straying? How many sheep would be out-of-commission if the shepherd broke the legs of all the sheep who strayed?

The reality is that the rod was used to beat but not to beat the sheep. The rod wasn’t an instrument of discipline as some seem to believe. The rod was an instrument utilized to keep wild animals away from the sheep.

If a wild animal came too close to the flock, the shepherd alone in the pasture would need to defend the sheep somehow. You’ll recall that David as a child utilized a sling for this.

Well clearly, if the wild animal is close enough that you could hit it with a stick or a rod, then you don’t have time to sling a rock at it, you’d have to hit it with the rod.

The rod is an instrument of protection, not discipline (at least, it’s not disciplinary in this text).

The staff is another instrument or another piece of equipment that was utilized both for protection and for guidance. If a sheep happens to wander a little bit off the path, the shepherd would use the end of the staff to pull the sheep back in line.

God is the shepherd who protects his people.

Thus far, what we’ve seen in Psalm 23 is an illustration of God being a shepherd. And David expressly points out three attributes of God that tie into God being a shepherd. God is the shepherd who provides, leads, and protects. In the remaining two verses, David lays aside the illustration of God being a shepherd and gets at the heart of the psalm. Not only is God a shepherd who provides, who leads, and who protects, but he’s David’s friend. Let’s re-read vv. 5-6.

The Lord as Friend (5-6)

Psalm 23:5–6 ESV

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.

The last two verses of Psalm 23 ends with a scene change. Instead of being in the fields with the sheep and the shepherd, we’re now viewing a scenario in which a host provides great hospitality.

The shepherd illustration was utilized to show us a God who provides, leads, and protects, but David wants to end the psalm in a deeper level of intimacy when speaking of the Lord.

And in this new setting, there is a deep connection with what is to come.

Or in other words, in giving us a deeper view of the intimacy that David expresses about God’s relationship with his people, David chooses to do something unique. In v. 5, he looks at what’s presently occurring and in v. 6, he looks ahead a bit.

David writes in v. 5, “you [meaning God] prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.”

There’s an image here of a table being set by God in the midst of David’s enemies. Clearly, the image of God preparing a table is that of hospitality, that God cares for his people enough that he would bring forth a feast for his people.

What’s unique about this feast is that it in “in the presence of [David’s] enemies.” Now, that might sound a little unusual, “why would God set up a feast in the middle of enemies?” But if you think of it as poetry and look for the meaning of this idea, it’s really just a way of saying that despite impending danger, the Lord spread out a table for him.

We might say it like this, that despite the valley of darkness that David might be walking through, he knows that God was in his presence ready to feast—we might think of this with the idea of a victory celebration in mind.

God prepares this table and he “[anoints David’s] head with oil; [his] cup overflows.”

Anointing of David’s head speaks of a common Ancient Near Eastern way of taking care of a guest—the anointing of oil was refreshing and soothing. It was often mixed with perfumes to soothe weary travelers.

In the scenario of a feast being set like Psalm 23:5, the idea again points towards hospitality. That David is being regarded as God’s special guest, as one to dine with the King.

Of course, “My cup overflows” speaks of abundance as a guest of the Lord.

In the Old Testament world, to eat and drink at someone’s table created a bond of mutual loyalty.

Maybe in our modern culture, we don’t understand the significance of eating together, but in the Ancient Near East culture, to share a meal together was significant because it expressed loyalty, unity, and even a bond.

It’s no wonder then that Jesus initiates the Lord’s Supper shortly before his death—part of its purpose is a symbol of the bond between God and believers through Jesus Christ.

Keeping in mind that the ideas presented in Psalm 23:5 concern hospitality and an intimate relationship, what we see then is this, that even in situations in life when David is very literally surrounded by enemies, he still enjoys an intimate relationship with the Lord.

And that intimate relationship with the Lord even in times when he’s surrounded by enemies ought to provide great comfort, great hope, and even great joy.

Clearly, it does, because David ends this psalm by expressing that comfort, hope and joy in v. 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’s response to God being a shepherd who provides, protects, and leads; his response to God being the King who chooses to eat with his people causes David to well up in praise. Knowing who God is causes David to respond in faith, we see this in the very last verse.

The phrase, “surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life,” focuses on two attributes of God—both God’s goodness and his mercy (or what we refer to as God’s covenant-keeping love).

Both of these attributes will remain with him everywhere that he goes through his life. And the reason for this keeps with v. 4, that even as David walks through the valley of the shadow of death, God is with him.

God’s goodness and God’s covenant-keeping love follow him all the days of his life because God doesn’t leave his people. John 10:27-28 “27 My sheep listen to My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; 28 and I give them eternal life, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand.”

God’s people are in his hand, God’s goodness and mercy will continuously follow his people, which again, should be comforting, hopeful, and filled with joy. It’s the reason for David’s last statement of the psalm.

In light of God being a shepherd who provides, protects, and leads; and in light of this intimate relationship that God has with his people, David makes this final statement. “And I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”

David chooses, in light of the truth that he’s expressed in vv. 1-5 to continually dwell in God’s house.

Which brings us to our application for this evening. Psalm 23 is a very familiar text for most everyone. Thus, you might already be familiar with different ways to apply this text, but I want to look at it in two ways. First off, I want to look at some specific application concerning David’s illustration of God being a shepherd; and then secondly, I want us to look at how David applied the text to his own life. In doing so, we can actually keep the same divisions that we had as we worked through the text:

Application

The Lord as Shepherd (1-4)—in the first four verses, we see David utilizing an illustration of a shepherd to describe how God works within his life. He utilizes some vivid imagery to show us that God is the shepherd who leads “makes [his people] lie down in green pastures.” Who “leads [his sheep] beside still waters.” Who restores souls, leads in paths of righteousness, and who comforts his people. We really summed it up with one phrase and it’s that one phrase that makes up our application for this section:

God is the shepherd who provides (2-3a), leads (3b-4a) and protects (4b).

God is the one who provides sustenance to his people—this includes both physical sustenance as seen in Jesus telling us to not be anxious but to seek first the kingdom of God and God will provide our needs, but it also includes spiritual sustenance.

There’s a reason why I normally don’t recommend devotionals and the reason is pretty simple, usually people end up relying on the devotional rather than their own reading of Scripture. The issue is, that every devotional is written by man, which means that they could be wrong. But you’ll never know if they’re wrong if you only ever read the devotional and not the Word of God.

Now don’t get me wrong, there are good devotionals and occasionally I do recommend devotionals—when I do recommend devotionals, I typically recommend Spurgeon’s Morning and Evening, and My Utmost for His Highest. But anytime I do recommend devotionals I highly stress that devotionals cannot be the only time you look at Scripture throughout your day. Devotionals are only ever supplemental.

If you use devotionals as your only source of sustenance, you’re being fed by people and their interpretation of Scripture. Because they’re not God, they may be right or they may be wrong, but you’ll never know if you aren’t actively seeking spiritually sustenance from God through His Word.

The reality is, God has given us his Word for the purpose of providing us with spiritual nourishment, which means that if we want to be nourished spiritually, we ought to go to the source of living water and we ought to seek that spiritual manna in the one book that God gave us.

God provides sustenance for his people. How does God do this? He does it in a variety of ways, but he does it primarily through his Word. So, seek sustenance in God’s Word.

God is the one who leads his people—this might sound obvious but often, Christians today find themselves following people rather than God. For instance, I know several people who could very easily tell me what certain famous pastors say about different things but they couldn’t tell me what God says about the very same issue.

The reason for that, is because they’re following a person rather than God. But it is God who restores the soul and it is God who leads in paths of righteousness.

To follow man rather than the God is to elevate the creation above the Creator—its to create an idol, which in and of itself is sinful, but again, since man is fallible, it leads to the great possibility that the person that you’re following could be wrong.

And you’ll never know this if you’re following a man rather than following God. God leads his people and God utilizes qualified men to lead his people within the church, but you’ll never know if the man leading your church is leading properly if you’re not being primarily led by God.

Now, your question might be, “how do we recognize when God is leading us?” There are all sorts of mystical ideals for this, but the reality is that 2 Timothy 3:16-17 teaches us how we can determine when God is leading us, “16 All Scripture is inspired by God and beneficial for teaching, for rebuke, for correction, for training in righteousness; 17 so that the man or woman of God may be fully capable, equipped for every good work.”

Now, you might hear that and think, how does 2 Timothy 3:16-17 teach us to determine when God is leading us?

Because in affirming the sufficiency and inspiration of God’s Word, Paul makes the point that it is God’s Word that teaches, rebukes, corrects, and trains.

It is through God’s Word that a believer is matured and equipped.

Thus, if a believer wants to be led by God, he first needs to look at the one book that God wrote for us to be matured and equipped with.

“To hear God’s voice we must belong to God . . . We hear His voice when we spend time in Bible study and quiet contemplation of His Word. The more time we spend intimately with God and His Word, the easier it is to recognize His voice and His leading in our lives . . . We should be so familiar with God’s Word that when someone speaks error to us, it is clear that it is not of God . . . While God could speak audibly to people today, He speaks primarily through His written Word. Sometimes God’s leading can come through the Holy Spirit, through our consciences, through circumstances, and through the exhortations of other people. By comparing what we hear to the truth of Scripture, we can learn to recognize God’s voice.” (S. Michael Houdmann, "How can we recognize the voice of God?" Got Questions Ministries, accessed May 14, 2022, https://www.gotquestions.org/voice-of-God.html)

God leads his people. How does he do this? He does it through a variety of ways, but he does it primarily through His Word. So, seek God’s guidance in His Word.

God is the one who protects his people—David speaks of God protecting him as he walks through the valley of the shadow of death—that he has no reason for fear because God is with him.

Often, when we find ourselves in times of great distress, our tendency is to actually run everywhere except to God—we seek help from our friends or our family; we might seek help in other ways, but when it comes to actually going to God for protection, that’s usually our last resort.

When we’ve exhausted everything else that might help, we finally turn to God; and typically, if we’re honest, we would admit that we should’ve ran to God first.

Why is that? Because intellectually, we would admit that we ought to run straight to God, so why do we seek protection in other ways first? It’s our flesh. Our flesh convinces us that it’s better to seek help in other ways when the reality is that God is the one who protects his people.

That protection could be from temptation to sin or from our spiritual enemies—I’d caution against assuming that this means that God will always protect us physically because the reality is that God never promises physical well-being—we see that when Stephen is stoned to death in Acts 7 and when Paul prays for his thorn in the flesh to leave him but God refuses.

God protects his people. How does he do this? With the rod and the staff that David speaks of. Just like a shepherd would fend off wild beasts from harming his sheep, God defends his people from spiritual enemies. What does this mean for us? It means that we ought to run to God through Jesus as our first option, not our last resort; and we should find comfort and hope in him, even when we’re surrounded by enemies.

This is our application for God being our shepherd--Because God is the shepherd who provides (2-3a), leads (3b-4a) and protects (4b), you ought to seek provision from him, follow him, and be comforted in him even in times of great distress.

The Lord as Friend (5-6)—in the last two verses, David takes it a step further and describes this level of intimacy that he has with the Lord. That despite the enemies being around him, God has prepared a table to sup with him, that God has refreshed him with oil and has given him abundance.

There is a lot of symbolism going on in v. 5 but the main idea is that despite the presence of enemies, God has prepared a place for his people to be with him.

And in this place there is a feast, he refreshes, comforts, and gives abundantly.

“The Lord’s people feast at his table, upon the provisions of his love. Satan and wicked men are not able to destroy their comforts . . . Past experience teaches believers to trust that the goodness and mercy of God will follow them all the days of their lives, and it is their desire and determination, to seek their happiness in the service of God here, and they hope to enjoy his love for ever in heaven. While here, the Lord can make any situation pleasant, by the anointing of his Spirit and the joys of his salvation.” (Matthew Henry, Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary. Oak harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, 1997, Psalm 23)

This is our application from David’s application—because God has an intimate relationship with his people, praise him and dwell in his house all the days of your life.

Put simply, what we learn from Psalm 23 is that God, like a shepherd, provides for us, leads us, and protects us; and God as our King has an intimate relationship with his people. Thus, we should seek sustenance from him, follow him, go to him for protection in times of need and rejoice in the relationship that we have with him because of his Son.

God is our good shepherd who provides for us, leads us, and protects us; and He is our King who seeks an intimate relationship with His people. Praise Him and dwell in his house forever.

Pastoral Prayer

Prayer Requests

This week’s prayer requests include:

Deane Herbst—continued healing from COVID.

Caleb Miller - Medical Issues

Alan Wisor - Medical Issues

Missionaries Mikael and Zuzanna Romer sent us an update from Krakow, Poland. They were able to find an apartment in Krakow and has started working with Team Lviv and the refugees that fled from Ukraine. They have a handful of specific requests that they’ve asked us to pray for: (1) they still have some legal issues concerning immigration to deal with, (2) Mikael’s grandfather passed shortly after they arrived in Poland (Mikael flew to Finland to visit him before his passing); please pray for their family, (3) pray for wisdom for Team Lviv as they figure out what exactly they should be doing, and (4) pray for the Ukrainian-Russian war to end and for civilians to be protected in the midst of war. They did express a praise, that they were able to find a local church to worship with in Krakow, Kościól Chrystusa Zbawiciela and on their first Sunday, Mikael was blessed to baptize two people and administer the Lord’s Supper.

With the weather warming up, we want to pray for different outreach ministries that are planned, that we can reach our communities with the Gospel.

By September, I’m hoping that we can start a small group hour at 9:15am on Sundays. What this would include (for now) is an adult group in the auditorium and a children’s group in the activity room. There are a number of issues that need resolved before we can do this, but I want us to just start praying for it now. In addition, if you have any interest in helping with the children’s group, we’ll need to start training for it soon, so be aware that there will be some training for those that want to help with it (I’ll keep you updated as to when that is).