The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not
be in want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
he restores my soul.
He guides me in paths of righteousness
for his name's sake.
Even though I walk
through the valley of he shadow of
death,
I will fear no evil,
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.
Surely goodness and love will
follow me
all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.
I grew up associating this psalm with funerals. How many times do we see this psalm at a memorial of someone we knew? I suppose it's an appropriate psalm for funerals because it speaks about God leading us beside quiet waters, about fear being comforted and having a table prepared for me in the presence of my enemies. It speaks about dwelling the house of the LORD forever, which obviously sounds like Heaven.
But is this absolutely what David was speaking about? Did he really think that much about the afterlife while penning these words? Couldn't he be speaking about his life as he knew it at that moment?
I honestly think so.
For me, I see that Psalm 23 is a declaration we should all make as Christians. "The Lord is my shepherd...he makes me lie down...he leads me...he restores my soul...he guides me." Isn't that something to consider?
Although, to be honest it seems as though we Christians are many times just mouthpieces. I know that I am. (I have the reputation as a "motor mouth" to back me up). We spout out what unbelievers call Christianese: the language of Christians. We use words like sin, salvation etc. all the time and we quote Scripture throughout our lives, but I have a feeling (not just because I'm guilty of this) that Christians easily make a habit of using empty words as we do so.
How often do we consider what the Lord's position as our shepherd actually means for us? The psalm could basically be taken two ways when considering the first line. "The LORD is my shepherd" -- meaning that that is simply who the LORD is because that is who the LORD is. Just because. OR "the LORD is my shepherd"-- meaning that I have put myself under his guidance. These interpretations are connected. Yes, the LORD is my shepherd because that's His rightful place as God, but I must recognize this and place myself under His authority.
And I don't think we do this very well all the time. I'm not confident that I do this even at a part time level, but I aspire to meet that and more. I aspire to meet this full time in my life.
If we consider the whole psalm we see then that we shouldn't be in want, meaning we come to God to provide for us. We should recognize that he restores us which means we should rely on the Spirit of God for healing first. We should recognize that we no longer need to fear evil, so why stress, why worry? God is our comfort, right? On and on it goes during the whole psalm.
Part of coming under God's guidance is letting go of our own ways. And we often think that we have the right to have our say-so on pretty much all matters of life. Part of this isn't necessarily our fault as this is how our culture is set up. But, we need to recognize that we are without God like sheep without a shepherd (Isa. 13:14; Mt. 9:36; Mk. 6:34). Having our say-so in life only puts us in the trials that we try to run away from or get out of or fix ourselves (which doesn't have a great success rate).
Recognizing Jesus as our Good Shepherd (Jn. 10) means that we let Him speak into our lives concerning what we ought to do. He won't ask for our opinions. He never did in the New Testament. I guess that means we have to get used to giving up control in order to hear His voice.
How many of us belong to His flock? How many of us will recognize His voice?
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