Psalm 23

Psalm 23, please. And I'm gonna take 10, 20 minutes to allow lots of time for others. Psalm 23, the 23rd Psalm.

I'm sure it's familiar to many, probably memorized. It's read by many today, I'm sure, but it's nice to be able to read it with intelligence, knowing that the Lord definitely is our shepherd. A few thoughts that I have enjoyed over the past year on Psalm 23.

We'll read at verse number one. A Psalm of David. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.

He maketh me to lie down in green pastures. He leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul.

He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. 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.

Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of my enemies. Thou anointest my head with oil. My cup runneth over.

Surely, goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Wonderful words. They're very powerful, they're only six verses, but there's much in that little psalm.

The Lord was very kind during my sickness to use this to encourage me greatly, and it's wonderful when you go through a trial that God gives you something from the word of God that is able to put your eyes back on him and get them off of your circumstances. Just for those that like to do a little bit of a study, it's interesting that in the Hebrew language there's only 55 Hebrew words in this psalm. That means you've got a middle word, and that middle word is in verse four, and if you have a Newberry Bible, it's the one that is emphasized, thou, for thou art with me.

So right in the center of these six verses, God is the center. Now, if you go and look at the very first part of the psalm, the Lord, and actually you have to read the title, you count three words in. Our psalm is one word, of David, second word, the Lord.

The third word. You come to the end of the psalm and count three words back from the end. Ever, one, four, two, the Lord.

So isn't it something how the spirit of God has structured the psalm? Right at the beginning, Lord, right at the end, Lord, and right in the middle, thou. Very interesting that it doesn't say God is my shepherd. The Lord is my shepherd.

You'll notice in our English Bibles the translators used a nice little code. If you see Lord in all capital letters, that's really your Hebrew word, Jehovah. If you see God in all capital letters, that's the Hebrew word, Jehovah.

So maybe someone's sitting here today wondering, well, what's the big deal about Jehovah? Well, Jehovah is the covenant-keeping God. The promises that he has stated, he will follow through with his promises. You and I look at time very differently from God does.

We always talk about the past, the present, and the future. But if you did a little study on the word Jehovah, it brings the three Hebrew verbs, and it's the complete opposite of the way we think. It starts out with the future, then it goes to the present, and then it deals with the past.

So really what the word Jehovah is telling me is that in my future, God has promised to be there. And that's linked with his covenants. Only one who controls time, who is over time, can actually make a promise and guarantee that he will follow through with it.

So I like to think that Harold Paisley is right when he makes the comment that this psalm was probably written at the end of David's life. I think that's kind of nice. I enjoy this thought from that.

You think of all the different words, the pictures that David, through the spirit of God, would use in relaying God to us, a fortress, a mighty tower, my rock, and all those sort of different pictures that you can think of. Isn't it lovely if the case is, he wrote this at the end of his life, he picked, the Lord is my shepherd. There's something very tender, very personal about having that relationship.

Pretty hard to have a relationship with a rock or a raging waterfall, but there's something about a shepherd, something alive about it. Now, when you look at this psalm, there's, for those that want to get a little technical, there's 14 verbs in the six verses. But, and they fall into three different groups.

But I'm only going to pick up on two. If you look at verse number one, and verse number five, there's only two participle. That means something that ends in an ing, okay? It's something that's ongoing.

So the very first one is this. The Lord is my shepherd. That sounds like a noun when we read it, but it's actually a verb.

So really, we could read it this way. The Lord is my shepherding one. That's always ongoing.

Look at the next ing. It's down in verse five. In the presence of mine enemies.

That's a verb ending in ing. So isn't it interesting just how the psalm, just looking at its structure, I start out with the active work of the shepherd. And in contrast to that is the active work of our enemies.

I'm glad that it's not the other way around. It's the shepherding working first before the enemies are working. It's a wonderful person to know, isn't it? Our savior.

He's always on our side. Now, it's amazing how it starts off. Look at how he ends the first phrase.

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. That's inward, inward contentment. I shall not want.

Look how he ends in verse number five. My cup runneth over. That's the exterior.

Now you and I will normally reverse that, don't we? When we start to get our eyes off of God and we start to get our eyes on our blessings, that is a recipe for disaster. You see, last weekend we were studying Genesis 22, Abraham and Isaac. And isn't it interesting that Abraham didn't get occupied with the blessing, the son.

He was always occupied with the blesser. So when it came time to offer up the blessing, he didn't crumble to the ground because he still had his eyes on the blesser. And he knew with his confidence in the blesser that even if the blessing was to pass into death, the blesser would bring him back out of death.

So you can see, even for our own benefit, dear child of God, always try to keep your eyes upon God. Because God, as I mentioned yesterday, God will test our faith. We will be brought into circumstances that we might not deem are a blessing.

But never forget, the Lord is my shepherding one. Now notice what it says. I think David is reflecting on a long life of God dealing with him.

Look what he says, he maketh me to lie down in green pastures. You know, ever sometimes try to train a dog and you got him on the leash and you're saying, sit, he's not sitting. So you put your hand on his behind and you kind of try to push him down when you say, sit.

And you can feel the strength as he's fighting against your hand. You ever experienced that? I had to discover that I was doing that to God. God was wanting me to sit, but I didn't want to sit.

God, there's something not right. This sickness that has come into my life, it's really derailed meetings. I mean, it just doesn't seem to make sense.

I don't want to sit. But look what it says, the Lord is my shepherd. He knows what's best.

And you know, I was mentioning this to the young people there last night. You'll never find this picture where you're driving down a nice country road and there's a field full of sheep and there is a shepherd on his elbow looking into the eyes of the lamb, asking him, now what would you like to do today? What field would you like to graze in today? That's just not the way it works. But isn't it something? Did you ever find yourself, have you ever discovered in your heart that you think you know better how to run your life than God? You ever think like that? Well, I do.

I have to confess it as sin. And there are times, there are circumstances when I am brought into, that's really what's behind the word meekness. Meekness is not the idea of gentleness.

Meekness, Moses with the meekness, meekness is seeing and understanding God in the circumstances. So all of a sudden you're driving to a meeting and you have a flat tire. Don't get angry.

Don't try to blame your wife. You ran over a nail. See God in it.

There has to be something that God has for me. The next time there's a problem, you're faced with a problem. We're so quick to fly off the handle and isn't there something in us? It's the flesh, eh? I remember Robert McFeet, a dear man that's gone to heaven, a full-time preacher from over the other country.

He said, children of the flesh are born quick. That was Abraham and Ishmael. Children of the spirit take a while.

It's Abraham and Isaac. And it's just built into us. I think maybe it's the fact that I'm 47 going by middle age and maybe you start to realize, wow, when you're young, you got all kinds of strength and you just feel like, I'll just grab that thing and do it.

You know what I mean? Sometimes God has to teach us things. And you know what he has to do? He has to take us and make us lie down. It says the green pastures.

I'm glad it doesn't say just pastures. Do you know that little Hebrew word green? It's just what you're seeing right there. It's the tender, fresh shoot of grass.

A little kind of our God. Wonderful to understand from this Bible that any time with the Bible is not a waste of time. God has a pasture in this book that will feed and nourish you.

Look what it says. He maketh me to lie down in the green pastures. He leadeth me beside the still water.

It's not when you're ready to get up out of the pasture. He might lay you down for half a year. He might lay you down for a week.

He might lay you down for a couple of years. But the shepherd knows what he's doing. And then it's time to come up and it's time to go by not just water, the still water.

The pool, the quiet little resting of the water. Now notice what comes next. He restoreth my soul.

That's how he restores my soul. The green grass and the still waters. What is it? What is it about us that we deny? I really don't need restoring.

Do we not have that in us? We all think that we're just on top, we're on the top of our game. Listen, we're never on the top of our game. There's always things that have to be, there's always little tiny shoots, suckers.

You know, this time of year you're gonna, you'll see the tree pruners and they'll be watching for the little tiny shoots that grow up wide. They wanna cut them off to keep growth up on the top part for the fruit. I've got a wicked heart in here, dear child of God.

Do you know what's always cropping up in my mind? There's these little suckers. And the spirit of God, he's gotta nip them. I don't like that.

But the shepherd knows what is the best for me. So here's what, look at the progression. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures.

He leads me beside the still waters. Here's the end result. He restores my soul.

He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his namesake. That comes after you're restored. I'm sure every Christian here would, just would love, you wanna live for God.

You wanna be able to do work for God. You can't do work for God in the flesh. Just from human effort.

It's he leadeth me. He directs me into the right area to bring glory to him. But it's only after I've been restored.

So here we are today, and if I was to ask a survey, how many people would love to just serve their God? All hands would go up. You know what we have to experience first? Laying down in the green pasture. Walking by the still water.

He restores them in the proper condition. Then I'm able to work for him. Come a little further.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. Why? For thou art with me. Do you find that as you do activity for God, you can get away from God? Does that sound like a contradiction? You can get all taken up with activity and your communion suffers? Something that's been impressed upon me just the last three or so weeks is being with Murray and listen to him a few bit of ministry.

Do you know, we hear this all the time. God saved us for what? Worship. But you know what I will put in front of worship? Activity.

Oh, we're all here to pass out tracts. We're all here to pick up kids. We're all here to go this and do this and do this.

And then we all sit Sunday morning and what happens? Just a handful get up. That is a very subtle trap of the devil. Paramount young men and young women, get it into your minds.

God wants to hear your worship. I don't understand that. It's almost profound to think that a God that knows everything.

But the spirit of God who God gave me is in me to help me produce worship. And God wants that. So that's what you discover when you find, thou art with me.

Thy rod and thy staff, they come from me. You ever notice the difference between those two things? Thy rod and thy staff. Now, if I was driving down the road and I saw a shepherd, a sheepherder in the field and he had two things in his hand, at a distance I wouldn't know which was the rod and which was the staff.

You know what this sheep here discovered? He found the difference when he was right up beside the shepherd. You know, isn't it something? I find it hard to understand. We all enjoy the tremendous truth of the advocate, Jesus Christ, the righteous.

When I sin, an advocate is a person that comes to your side and he puts his arm around you, he comforts you and he draws you back in. My mind is in 1 John. Do you not find it amazing, dear child of God, that when I'm at my lowest as a Christian, I have sinned willingly against him? Do you realize the only reason that I acknowledge that sin? He restored my soul.

That is a proof that the advocate is doing his job and he has, how many of us after we sin, we feel like reading? How many feel like praying? Do you not feel ashamed? You're just like, oh God, get away from me, I'm embarrassed. But the advocate, that's when he takes me and he comforts me and he draws me back in to himself. What a tremendous shepherd we have, eh? So keep on reading.

Thou preparest, notice this, this is beautiful. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies. Did you notice what comes first? Did you notice what's between you and the enemy? Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of my enemies.

Isn't that wonderful? So I often go back to my father, when I was a young Christian, he always used to give me just a little tiny recipe. He says, Scott, here is a victorious Christian life. You, God, and the problem.

Now he said, never allow the problem to come in between you and your God. Never view your God through the problem. Always look at the problem through the eyes of God.

That's what's illustrated right here. You know the reason, you know the reason why this shepherd took me into the green pasture, took me by the still water, restored my soul, and he's leading me? He got me close to himself because I can't handle the enemy without him, can't. And not only is he with me, but he's actually put right in front of me the very nourishment I'll need to handle the enemy.

Look at this, thou anointest my head with oil. You know, you go through the word of God, you look up anointing. It's anointing for service, it's the idea of separating something or cleansing something.

I thought of it as the idea of blessing. It's in the presence of your enemies that he anoints you. You know what we have tucked in the back of our mind? Well, if I was up in a cabin in the woods and I didn't have any world to deal with, no flesh to deal with, and I just had the Bible, oh, I would just be going on, I'd be a mighty person for God.

No, you wouldn't be. No, you wouldn't be. God wants to use us in the presence of the enemies, and God is the one that anoints.

Finally, my cup runneth over, surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. Not wonderful to know that. As believers, constantly behind us, goodness and mercy, with us, the shepherd, before us, the table.

I'll tell you what is a lovely devotional thing if you ever wanna do it. You contrast, with this I'll end, you contrast Psalm 22 with Psalm 23, and just look at the ultimate shepherd came to a point where he had no shepherd. The ultimate shepherd, he wasn't laying down in green pasture.

He was brought into a wilderness. Whereby the still water, he had no water. Just go down and just look at the contrast.

I think it's significant why the Spirit of God has put those Psalms closely together. And isn't it wonderful to know, I will dwell forever in the house of the Lord. May God encourage us with our shepherd.