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The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.
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He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters,
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he restores my soul. He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
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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.
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You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
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Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.
Perhaps one of the most well-known and often quoted chapters in the bible, Psalm 23 informs the reader of the extent of God’s provision for humanity. It’s known as A Psalm of David who wrote the Psalm during a stressful time in his life. Saul, the first King of the Israel, was pursuing David in order to kill him. This was after David had famously felled the mighty Philistine warrior, Goliath, with a sling shot and stone. David ultimately survived Saul’s pursuit and ended-up becoming the greatest of all the Kings of Israel.
Of course, David was not a perfect King or a person free from the bondage of his own sin. King David made some huge mistakes that cost the lives of others and caused him a ton of grief and sorrow. His was a violent life with much of his time spent in battle against enemy nations. He survived a revolt led against him by his son Absalom. And famously he fell in love with the beautiful Bathsheba whose husband, Uriah, was one of his Generals. He had Uriah sent to the front lines where he was killed in battle.1 A murder and adultery that he spent the rest of his life regretting. 2 To be sure, David did not have an easy life and did things to displease God. He struggled…..just like we all do and he experienced anxiety and stress…..just like we all do.
We are not unfamiliar with or immune to experiencing struggles in our lives. Some struggles may be brought on by our circumstances; some struggles by our choices. Our struggles can lead to stress and anxiety that is very real and can cause us to spiral into feelings of deep worry, despair, and depression. Everyone suffers to some extent and many seek professional help and medication to help cope with these debilitating feelings.
Psalm 23 portrays God as a source of comfort and security. It is a song of gratitude recognizing that God is our one true comforter. Note that the metaphor features God as our shepherd and we his sheep. That imagery, also found in other places in the bible,3 is incredibly important to understanding our relationship with God. We are like sheep who have gone astray, seeking to make it through life on or own terms. The Psalm states that we are called to live our lives with God reigning supreme and in control. What God offers us is comfort even as we suffer; guidance even as we struggle; and purpose as he leads our lives toward righteousness. The Christian foundation for coping with our struggles is to live life with God as our Shepherd.
I remember having lunch with a colleague during a very tough time in my life. Knowing that I am a Christian, he said, “Karl, I’m a little surprised that bad things have happened to you, given that you are a Christian….” He let that hang for a second and then claimed that because I am a Christian, God is supposed to protect me from life’s hardships. To my friend, my struggles indicated a failed faith in a non-existent God. But to me, they remind me that I live in a fallen world surrounded by fallen, depraved 4people.
The mistake we tend to make is to view Christianity in a pragmatic fashion. If it works, if it has value, then it’s good. The discipline of prayer or reading the bible is good if it leads us to feel better about ourselves or leads to a cancer cure. We believe because we expect results! But the gospel truth (pun intended :-)) is this: the following of Christ involves absolute truths about who he is and who we are; about what he’s done and what we cannot do. Christianity is not about tit for tat – I’ll believe and follow because I expect God to then heal or comfort. To be sure, he can and does respond to prayer and the Holy Spirit can and does move in our hearts as we seek him.
So, where is our comfort? The key to Psalm 23 is it’s recognition of who God is in relation to who we are. That recognition is where we derive our comfort. David is telling us of the greatness of God and is basically saying his comfort comes from living in reliance on God’s ultimate control and his grace in saving us to eternal life. Sometimes I pray through Psalm 23 during times when I am struggling. The acknowledgement in prayer of God as my Shepherd and my Lord and Savior serves to comfort me.
Looking forward to writing to you again soon!! Love, Karl
- See 2 Samuel 11:17. The whole of Chapter 11 is devoted to the story of David, Bathsheba, and Uriah. David saw Bathsheba bathing, called her to him and slept with her. After Uriah’s death, David takes Bathsheba as his wife. The last verse in Chapter 11 lets us know that God was displeased with David ↩︎
- In Chapter 12 of 2 Samuel we read that David is confronted by Nathan (a prophet and servant of God) who calls David out (verse 7 – “You are the man!”). David confesses to the crime and acknowledges that “I have sinned against the Lord” (verse 13) and God punishes him. Its important to note the reference to Christ in Nathan’s reply in verse 13: “The Lord has taken away your sin. You are not going to die.” Awesome!! Wonderful!!! I am no better than David and, like he did for him, God has taken away my sin and given me eternal life!! The Gospel (aka The Good News) is given to us in 2 Samuel a thousands+ years before Christ’s death on the cross. , ↩︎
- See Isaiah 40:11; Ezekiel 11:11-24; John 10:1-18. ↩︎
- The theology of depravity proclaims the state of the human condition that each and every one of us, including such well-known “good” people like Mother Theresa, are at our core depraved and unable to avoid arrogance, jealousy, anger, hate, and self-pity (just to name a few of the baked-into our hearts human bad characteristics) all while failing to consistently be kind to others, to love others unconditionally, to love God with all of our heart and soul, and completely avoid looking to secure our own personal gain. ↩︎