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THE SECRET TO A LIFE WELL LIVED
Psalm 23 - Introduction
Bob Bonner
July 16, 2006
The Word of God, the Bible, is just that—God’s Word. Therefore, all of it is precious and all of it is vital to our lives if we are going to know, serve and bring honor to Him, as well as if we want to learn how to live a meaningful life. As a pastor, part of my responsibility is to sense the Spirit’s leading as to what He would have me teach from the Word week in and week out to our Church family. This requires me to guard against wanting to copy fads of what is popular to teach, whether it be prophecy, certain topical subjects or particular books of the Bible that may be easier to teach. As a pastor of this Church, my desire is to know and to be convinced of what it is God would have us here at Crossroads look at every week from His Word before I ever teach it. My desire is to seek direction from the Lord as to what applications He would have me make for us, that we might become a healthier, effective, God-honoring body of believers.
I’m convinced that God has you here today and not somewhere else, because He providentially has chosen for you to be here and desires you to hear from His word as it applies to you, rather than hearing me preach a sermon series that went over big at some other church in another part of the country or world. Our intimate and personal Savior wants us, as a Church family, to worship Him, to seek His face, through His Word as it concerns our individual lives as well as our lives as a Church family.
Having said all that, there are times when I want to teach something or I have plans to go in a certain preaching direction, originally sensing that it was the direction God would have me to go. Then, suddenly, in mid-stream, or even before I get to the stream, I sense His Spirit pointing me in another direction. When that happens, I seek the staff and the board’s confirmation as to whether or not they agree with a change of direction. I ask for their sense of what I’m considering and whether or not they sense the Lord’s direction in this thing. If they say, “Not now” or “Go for it,” then I feel the freedom to follow their lead.
Several of you may remember a few years back, I had already prepared a message, the outlines were printed and the Powerpoint was put together for a Sunday morning message. On the Thursday before that Sunday, the Lord moved me and the staff to put aside the planned sermon for that Sunday and to do something totally different. It took me way out of my comfort zone. I was to just show up and spontaneously, depending upon the needs or questions of those in the service, teach from the Word. That was one of the hardest things for me to do, because I like having all my ducks in a row before I do anything. I don’t like surprises. I like knowing where I’m going before I get there. But that Sunday, I wouldn’t even know where the ducks were until I showed up. I was left exposed and vulnerable that Sunday, but in His hands. It was a terrifying yet wonderful experience. But not one I necessarily would like to repeat!
As I have prayed in the past about various passages of Scripture the Lord would have me teach, one of those passages that I thought I never would need to preach is the 23rd Psalm. I felt that way, because it was such a familiar and obvious psalm to many, that I thought it might be less profitable or less informative for some, than maybe some other passage of Scripture. (I confess the stupidity of that very thought! How could any part of God’s Word, which is alive and active, be of less value than another part?!) Furthermore, I admit to thinking that when individuals such as Phillip Keller, have done such a wonderful job relating the truth of this psalm to our hearts, I questioned if I would I ever have anything to add to their works? Why not save time preaching on the 23rd Psalm and simply point you to his work, “A Shepherd’s Look At The 23rd Psalm”?
Did you notice how many times I have mentioned “I” just now? That was and will continue to be my problem in life. It’s not about me, my ideas or my ability or confidence to even communicate the Word, but about God and His Word and the power of His Word.
I was reminded of that last October, when the Shepherd showed up in my life, and in a unique way grabbed me by the hand in the midst of my own personal “valley of the shadow” and said, “Come, walk with me through this psalm.” It all began with one of you recommending a book to me that had really touched your soul. The book was Max Lucado’s devotional work on the 23rd Psalm, entitled, Traveling Light. Having read that book, my appetite was whetted for taking a closer look at this psalm, and the Shepherd. As I did, Jesus took me places I never expected to go. As a result, for three months, the intimacy of fellowship with Him that grew out of this study, was grand. So grand, I wished for others to share in the reality of knowing that intimacy with Jesus, as we see Him in this psalm. As W. T. Davison observed, “The meaning and helpfulness of this perfect little psalm can never be exhausted, so long as men like sheep wander and need guidance, and as long as they learn to find it in God their shepherd...Admittedly, we live in complex times; but the Shepherd of whom David wrote has not changed.”
Hence, for the next several weeks, I invite you to join me as we take an in-depth look at the 23rd Psalm. In order for you to take advantage of our time together and the examining of this psalm, I want to challenge you to do something. This week, I want to challenge you to daily read slowly this psalm and ask the Lord to speak to your heart. The following weeks, as we look closely at the psalm and I reveal something that maybe you have never considered before, go back to the verse we are studying during that week and go over it with the Lord. I believe if you take the challenge, Jesus will meet you, as the Shepherd, possibly in a way that you have never experienced Him before.
This morning, our goal is a simple one. It is to introduce you to the author of this psalm, the historical backdrop to this psalm, the unique place in Scripture that we literally find this psalm, and the why or importance of this psalm.
Let’s begin with simply reading out loud together this short psalm. Please note that the inspired Word of God, as it concerns this psalm, does not begin with verse 1, but with the title where we are told that David is the author of this psalm. We read,
Psalm 23
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 quiet waters.
3. He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake.
4. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil; for Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort me.
5. Thou dost prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; Thou hast anointed my head with oil; My cup overflows.
6. Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
If you have never read this Psalm before, or if you are reading it again for the ump-teenth time, I wouldn’t be surprised if you told me, “Wow! That’s something. Just reading that psalm really touches my heart.” If you feel that way, you are not alone. For centuries ordinary people everywhere, have received it gladly and turned to it constantly for comfort. It reveals the personal and intimate side of God who wants to relate to us as individuals like no other psalm I know of, except for maybe Psalm 139. The list of ordinary people who have been touched by meditating on this psalm is endless. Charles Swindoll, I think, has done a good job, however, of helping us get a sense of the broad spectrum of people that this portion of God’s Word has touched in a mighty way. He lists: “The soldier in battle, fearing injury and possible death; the grieving widow standing before a fresh grave, wondering how she can go on with her life; the guilty wanderer seeking forgiveness and direction; the lonely stranger longing for love and companionship; the suffering saint strapped to a bed of pain; the orphan and the forgotten; the depressed and the jobless; the prison inmate, on death row and the persecuted; the prodigal and the divorced....A psalm that has touched those struggling with career choices, direction in life, purpose in pain, job security, financial pressures, physical handicaps, relational snags.” [Swindoll, Living Beyond The Daily Grind Vol. 1, pp. 68-69]
I remember the very first time I had ever heard this psalm read. I was in grade school, but home, sick in bed with blood poisoning. My fever was raging. My mother came into my room, sat on my bed, and opened up the Bible and read to me this psalm. I don’t know if she read it to me for her own comfort, because she was worried about me, or if she read it to me, because she thought I was afraid. All I know is that other than the Lord’s prayer, this is the only time I ever remember my mother opening up a Bible and reading it to me. Even as a young boy, I was impressed by and understood that God was a being who cared for me and desired that we would have a real and personal relationship. Although, it took me many years before I took advantage of His offer to walk with Him and know Him in a personal way.
This truly is a psalm for all peoples and all seasons. Through it, we see our Lord Jesus’ love, commitment and desire to be the Shepherd of our lives.
By itself, this psalm is indeed significant. But if we do not look at it in light of its literary setting, we risk missing of some of its greater significance. If you look at your Bibles, you will notice that the psalms on either side of this psalm are also written by David. When you study closely each of these three psalms, you realize that they form a unit. Each of these three psalms paints a prophetic picture of Jesus Christ.
Originally, the purpose of this trilogy of psalms was to give a clue to the Jews as to who their Messiah would be, how He would function on earth and the undeniable evidence of how they would know when He had arrived.
In Psalm 22, Jesus Christ is presented as the Savior, dying for our sins. In this psalm, David stares down across the hills of history and sees the knoll of Calvary with the suffering Messiah hanging on a tree. Psalm 22, therefore, deals with the Good shepherd [who] lays down his life for the sheep [John 10:11].
In Psalm 23, Jesus Christ is presented as the resurrected satisfier who comes to empower and fulfill our souls. He is the “Great Shepherd” who presently cares for His sheep, as described in Hebrews 13:20-21. “May the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, may He equip you with everything good for doing his will,...” In 1 Peter 5:7 we are also told that Jesus, the “chief shepherd, “cares for you.”
In Psalm 24, Jesus Christ is presented as our Sovereign King, who will one day rule all of creation, with us by His side. 1 Peter 5:4, tells us that He is the “Chief Shepherd” who will one day come “rewarding” those who care for His sheep.
Psalm 22 shows us the Jesus who delivers me from the penalty of my sin. He took care of my past. Psalm 23 shows Jesus delivering me from the power of sin. He presently, cares for my life. Psalm 24 shows Jesus delivering me permanently from the presence of sin. Here, Jesus is guaranteeing for me what awaits me in the future.
In summary, we have Psalm 22, the past work of Christ on the cross; in Psalm 23, the present work of Christ, with the crook; in Psalm 24, the future work of Christ, in the crown. Without Psalm 22, and the death of Christ, there could be no Psalm 23, and likewise, no hope of Psalm 24.
So, this is not just a nice little poem, a psalm describing our personal God. It is more than that. It is a psalm, in the middle of two other psalms, that prophetically proclaims the person, glory, work and hope we have in Christ.
If one is really going to appreciate this psalm, one must understand who the author is and the historical backdrop of his writing this psalm. One can tell from the title of this psalm that King David is its author. David was not only the heroic slayer of Goliath, the devoted friend of Jonathan, a lover of music and an able king, but he was also a haggard fugitive, an adulterer and a murderer.
As all leaders of countries did, he slew his share of enemies. But as a servant, when wrongly accused and wrongly hunted down by King Saul, an unrelenting enemy, David took only Saul’s shield when he could have taken his life. David was not a bloodthirsty ruler. As a father, he had watched his baby die as a consequence of his own sin, and had wept when Absalom, an ungrateful son, was slain as he led an armed rebellion against his father.
But the real measure of David, the man, was his obsession with God. In Psalm 27:4 we read of a man who was preoccupied with the love of God. Yet, David had other obsessions as well. He was often consumed by pride, ambition, and lust. Dave Roper in his commentary on this psalm reminds us that “Capable of any sin and culpable of man, he frequently gave in to sudden, careless passion and that more deadly device—deliberate and determined evil. That was David—eaten by lust and by the love of God, his dual obsessions.” And yet, this imperfect man was called, “A man after God’s own heart.”
David grew up in a home where he was neglected by his mother and father and demeaned by the rest of his family. He was deeply scarred. He carried with him as an adult a lot of emotional baggage. But through those hurts he sought out one who would love him as he was and who would meet all of his needs. Out of his loneliness and heartache David wrote, “Though my father and mother have forsaken me, the Lord has taken me in” (Psalm 27:10). God saw that lonely, ragged, love-starved boy as no one else did and set out to shape him into the mighty man God wanted him to be, and a man David wanted to be, one who would make a positive difference in his world.
Having given you a brief overview of David’s life, it is also important for us to understand when David penned this psalm. For years, I believed that David must have written this psalm on a lazy afternoon, overlooking a green pasture as he cared for his sheep. But the more closely I looked at the message of this psalm, I realized that the expressions and thoughts behind this psalm were not those of a carefree child. These expressions are such of a mature man who has experienced his share of conflicting passion and confusing problems.
In my research, I soon discovered that most commentators agree. One wrote, “The words of the psalm were not penned during the morning of David’s life, nor the noontime of his experience. I believe they were written during David’s twilight years, for they are the words of a man who has lived and done much, who has greatly sinned and been greatly forgiven.” Another states, “This is life viewed from one looking back upon his checkered career. Life had beaten, battered, baffled and bludgeoned this man. Hence, what we have here is not the theorizing of immaturity but the fruit and the mature judgment born of a long life.”
Allow me to quickly direct your attention to just a few illustrations of the more mature themes mentioned in this psalm that surely no young man would have understood. In verse 5, we read about the author’s many “enemies.” Typically, a young man does not have many enemies, but a mature man often does. In fact, because of following God, this old man has learned not to fret when his enemies show up. In verse 6, David writes of God’s “lovingkindness” or mercy, as someone who knows his sin. Does a young man experience this, or does someone who has truly been humbled rejoice over how precious God’s lovingkindness is? In addition, “I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever” refers to living forever in God’s presence. As one gets older, one really begins to look forward to or gets excited about or anticipates living forever with Jesus and away from this crazy world. This, typically is not a young man’s perspective, who most often lives for the moment.
Hence, I understand this psalm to be an enshrinement of the memories and metaphors of an old man, nearing the end of his life, looking back over his life having passed through many bitter experiences and having fought many battles, and come to realize that he is where he is because of the faithfulness of his God. He is a mature man who has learned to sort out the complexities of life, and focused on that which matters most. As a result, he composes this psalm to educate his readers or those closest to him about the secret behind living a meaningful life amidst a crazed world, that is hurtful and rarely makes sense.
I would like to suggest a possible biblical setting for this psalm. In 2 Samuel 15, there is recorded the instance in David’s life when he is old and about ready to step down from his throne. At this time, his own son, Absalom, rebels against David and for a short time, topples him from the throne. David was forced to flee into the Judean wilderness, the very place he roamed as a child when shepherding sheep. With him were the rest of his family, old friends and faithful servants, until he was able to return to Jerusalem and reclaim his throne. Psalm 3 and Psalm 4 were also written during this event and share much of the same themes as Psalm 23. It appears that Psalm 27, with its similar themes also was written during this time. All of them have as a major shared theme, the yearning of a worn out, battle weary king and faithful servant of God, whose sole desire is to spend forever in the eternal house of the Lord.
But as his life was in jeopardy and he was hunted and hounded for a number of months, David’s youthful but loyal friends that surrounded him were greatly disturbed. In contrast, David, the proven warrior, the mighty man of God, remained peaceful and content. He was concerned, but not all shook up. As others questioned him with their concerns for him and his life and the future of Israel and the future of their lives, I see David penning this psalm to teach them the secret, the wisdom of life that he has learned over having walked with the Lord for many many decades. Perhaps, because so much of his early life had been spent as a shepherd in that same wilderness, the circumstances brought to mind this metaphor that describes the secret of a life well lived, declared in verse 1, “The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want.”
You see, that’s why we need to look at this psalm, in depth. For in its brief six verses, it holds the secret to not just survival, but to a life well lived, that we must return to daily, if we desire fulfillment, true love in the innermost recesses of our soul.
Theologically, there are many reasons this psalm is important for us to understand. One is that in this psalm we see illustrated for us many of the Old Testament names for God. There’s Jehovah-Jireh, “The Lord will provide” (Gen. 22:13–14); Jehovah-Rapha, “The Lord will heal or restore” (Ex. 15:26); Jehovah-Shalom, “The Lord our peace” (Jud. 6:24); Jehovah-Tsidkenu, “The Lord our righteousness,” (Jer. 23:6); Jehovah-Shammah, “The Lord is there,” (Ezek. 48:35); and Jehovah-Raah, “The Lord my shepherd” (Ps. 23:1).
But the most important name for God mentioned in this psalm is His personal name, “Yahweh.” The ever present, personal “I-care-about-you” God. But sometimes, hearing about how much God loves you is not enough. God knew that. That’s why He sent Himself, in the flesh, in the person of Jesus Christ to show us His very personality, His heart, His justice, His power and His moment- by-moment concern for you. It is why Jesus says, “If you have seen me, you have seen the Father.” Once again, it’s why all of these three prophetic psalms, but especially Psalm 23 is so important. They show us Jesus.
The old King David is teaching us that Jesus Christ is to His sheep all that they ever need. But like children, who often live in fear, we want to ask, “But what about this....?” And David says, “Let me show you the Shepherd. Once you see Him and look to Him, you will realize you are not alone, you are loved and no matter what it is, you are all right.” That’s the practical importance that comes from the theological truth and treasure buried in this psalm. Through it, God wants us to know more intimately Jesus the Shepherd, that we might live victoriously here on earth, regardless of the valley of darkness, confusion and fear we may find ourselves in.
David grew up with his own emotional baggage that he carried with him most of his life. As life moved on, he learned to let some of it go, to turn it over to the Lord, and to experience what Max Lucado calls, “traveling light” with the Lord. Jesus said it best when He stated, “For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
Allow me to close with these words of Max Lucado: “Do you have some luggage of your own? Do you think God might use David’s psalm to lighten your load? Traveling light means trusting God with the burdens you were never intended to bear....God has a great race for you to run. Under his care you will go where you’ve never been and serve in ways you’ve never dreamed. But you have to drop off some stuff.” In the weeks to come, I invite you, as we study this psalm, to begin shedding some baggage and learn with me what a wonderful secret it is to travel light with the Lord.
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