PSALM 23
“1The LORD is my Shepherd I shall not want. 2He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: He leadeth me beside the still waters. 3He restoreth my soul: He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake. 4Yea, 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. 5Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: Thou anointest my head with oil: my cup runneth over. 6Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD for ever (Psalm 23:1-6).
One of the things (and there are just too many to name) I love about the Lord is when He is the one who leads in whatever endeavor we may undertake. I had the pleasure of teaching the first lesson in His Sabbath School this past Sabbath. I could feel the Holy Spirit’s presence throughout all the individuals who were attending. While teaching the lesson, we were learning from one another. If you would like to download the lesson plan (the panel discussion is great, too), click here.
~ The LORD is my Shepherd; I shall not want~
Other translations will say “be in need or not have need of anything” and this is true. He provides all that we need. We should never “want” anything but Jesus, our Shepherd. We can trust Him to take care of us. Philippians 4:19 states, “But my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”
Hear what Jesus, our Shepherd, has to say to us in John 10:14-16 which reads, “I am the good Shepherd, and know My sheep, and am known of mine. As the Father knoweth Me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down My life for the sheep. And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear My voice; and there shall be one fold, and one Shepherd.”
~ He maketh me to lie down in green pastures~
Our group focused on the word “maketh” because it almost sounds as if we have no choice in the matter. But when we thought about it, we started thinking about where David was in his walk with the Lord. There were times in our own lives that our fathers or mothers had to say to us, stay in this spot for your own good. The choice was still ours to follow those instructions, but if we got it wrong; we are made to stay somewhere until we learn our lesson. This may be what David was referring to in his Psalm; in essence, stay here in the “green pastures” and learn of Me (Matthew 11:29). Additionally, “green pastures” suggest plenty of food for the sheep. Jesus is our daily bread, after all, John 6:35 states, “And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to Me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on Me shall never thirst.” Which brings us to the waters…
~ He leadeth me beside the still waters~
One thing I thought about was Revelation 17:15 which compares waters to peoples, multitudes, nations, and tongues. From David’s point of view, after being pursued relentlessly, the still waters were a wonderful respite. What comes to mind is peacefulness, and Jesus promises to give us His peace (John 14:27). But then there is also this from our Shepherd, John 4:10 and 14, “10Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give Me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of Him, and He would have given thee living water.” And “14But whosoever drinketh of the water I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.”
~ He restoreth my soul~
The renewing or restoring of our soul is in His hands. Only He can do it because our hearts are deceitful above all things (Jeremiah 17:9). We need Jesus to change us and make us new. Romans 12:2 states, “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” And 2 Corinthians 5:17 reads, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” Things change—we change.
~ He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake~
Now He can lead us on the right paths. He will help us stay the path, but we need to take His corrections when we stray from His side. The Shepherd’s staff is there to lead us, correct us, and keep us moving in the right direction. Hebrews 12:6-7 states, “For whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and scourageth every son whom He receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chaseneth not?”
With Jesus, all paths lead to righteousness because; guess what, it is HIS righteousness that is given to us. Our righteousness is as filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6), so we have to have Jesus’ righteousness to cover us. 2 Corinthians 5:21 says, “For He (God) hath made Him (Jesus) to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.” So we need His righteousness or we are lost.
One thing I did prior to teaching was look up “His name’s sake.” And it means for the sake of showing His abilities and His character. So the right paths will show just who He is and what He will do for you and me.
~ Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death~
There will be hills and valleys in our lives. But when the valleys come, are we prepared because we know Jesus, our Shepherd, is by our side? This is what Psalm 23 is all about. The only way to be prepared is to allow Him to lead us in every aspect of our lives and to listen when He calls. Yes, there are times that it becomes difficult to hear Him. We allow whatever storm we are dealing with to drown out His voice, but like Peter did when he was sinking—call on Jesus (Matthew 14:29-30).
~ I will fear no evil: for Thou art with me~
Now we transition to the next section of the Psalm, that of knowing He is with us. We can then have no fear in anything. Do you have a fear of something? Is it because you are afraid that He can’t handle what you are fearful of or that it is something you have to handle yourself? I ask you how powerful is our God? There is nothing that He can’t do (Luke 1:37). Even death should not be fearful because when we have accepted our Shepherd, We receive everlasting life. There is one verse that says be fearful and that is found in Matthew 10:28 which reads, “And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear Him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”
Again, when we have Jesus, our Shepherd, He protects and helps us. But even if our life is taken, we can rest assured of Him and His promise of everlasting life (John 3:16).
~ Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me~
The Shepherd’s rod and staff show authority and are used to defend the sheep. They also were used for leading straying sheep back into the fold. It is a comforting thought that He is always with us and when we fall or stray from His side, He is there to pick us back up or find us. Matthew 18:11-13, “For the Son of man is come to save that which was lost. How think ye? if a man have an hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and goeth into the mountains, and seeketh that which is gone astray? And if so be that he find it, verily I say unto you, he rejoiceth more of that sheep, than that of the ninety and nine which went not astray.”
~ Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: Thou anointest my head with oil, my cup runneth over~
One question raised was, why would the Shepherd prepare a table in front of his enemies? Doesn’t He want to protect us? In David’s culture, the anointing of oil was for and honored guests so the enemies would see that he was favored. We came to the conclusion, that this feast and the anointing were showing the glory of God. God gives us the riches of His glory (Romans 9:23) even when we are in adversity or in front of our enemies. How we handle the prepared table, the anointing, and the cup running over makes a difference. The fruits of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-26) need to shine at times like this and just maybe some of those enemies will turn to the Lord.
~ Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life~
The lesson guide brought out something about this verse. It stated that the original verb for “follow” is a much stronger one and the text should use the word “pursue.” I like the idea that our Shepherd will pursue us. After all didn’t He say he would leave the ninety and nine who hadn’t strayed to get the one who did?
~ And I shall dwell in the house of the LORD for ever~
The idea of dwelling in the house of the Lord is not only that we will have everlasting life in His house, but also through our life we shall dwell in His house. Psalm 92:13 states, “Those that be planted in the house of the LORD shall flourish in the courts of our God.” And this one, “For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens” (2 Corinthians 5:1). We need to dwell in the house of the Lord continually, and we can do this when we accept our Shepherd.
Let’s end with one individual’s overview of Psalm 23. Read it again with the mind set of just what Jesus (our Shepherd) is doing in David’s life and will do in ours, too. Think about the timeline of the things listed, remembering that our God is a God of order. First, we choose the Shepherd and He gives abundantly (Ephesians 3:19-20). Second, He corrects us when needed by taking us to Him (in green pastures) to learn of Him (Psalm 46:10) and will give us peace and living water (beside the still waters) (see Philippians 4:6-7 and Revelation 22:17). He renews (restores) us (Romans 12:2). He then can lead us in the right paths (paths of righteousness) and we will not fear the valley of the shadow of death because we KNOW He is with us (Matthew 28:20). He has His rod (Revelation 2:27) and staff to protect and save us from the evilness that may come our way. He can, in turn, prepare that table before our enemies, anoint us, and make our cups to overflow with the goodness and grace of our Lord, because he made sure we can stand and not waiver when we came to know Him previously. And sometimes even some those enemies can see and believe. Also, once we are His, He will never leave nor forsake us (Hebrew 13:5) and He will be there knocking on the door (Revelation 3:20) to our heart when we fall (surely goodness and mercy following us) which leads to repentance so that He can take us home (John 14:1-3 and Revelation 21:1-2).