“'The Lord is My Shepherd': Hope in God’s Care, pt. 2” (Psalm 23)” | 8/23/2020
Psalm 23| 8/23/20 | Will Duval
This morning, we continue our study of the “Psalms of Hope”. Last week, we began unpacking the most famous and familiar of ALL the psalms, and one of the most HOPEFUL as well, Psalm 23. And we saw God - through David’s beautiful words here, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit - offer us 10 REASONS to be hopeful, all rooted in who God is for US. God promises to play ten ROLES in our lives, IF we are his sheep, his people, his CHILDREN - that’s where the metaphor is heading this morning. But ALL of these wonderful promises point to God’s CARE for us. THAT is the central truth and takeaway from Psalm 23: We find hope in the assurance that God CARES for us.
And this morning, we see another, SUB-theme begin to emerge as well, and that is the importance of TRUSTING in the Lord. Trusting in His care for us. Trusting in His provision, his protection, his loving faithfulness.
Last week I confessed to you my own FAILURE to be an unconditionally loving shepherd, to my dog Bentley, so I figured I might as well confess this week to my UNTRUSTWORTHINESS as well. When I was 8 or 9, my next door neighbor Michael and I invented this fun game of taking turns jumping down the stairs, to see how many steps we could clear at a time. And his younger sister Catherine - she was 4 or 5 at the time - felt left out and wanted a turn, so we decided that I’d stand at the bottom of the staircase and CATCH her. So we started counting for her - “1… 2…” and she stopped us and looked down at me and said, “Will - do you promise you won’t move?” And I said, “Of course not.” So we continued counting: “1… 2…3!” And what happened next is STILL a matter of much debate, between Catherine and I, to this day. Whether, as I remember it, seeing her 40-pound body hurtling at me from 5 steps above, my 8-year-old brain started working out the physics of the amount of FORCE she was about to hit me with, and I panicked, OR whether - as CATHERINE is still convinced - Michael and I secretly hatched this plan to trick her... in either case, the end result was the same, and Catherine still has the chipped TOOTH to prove it. And I guess if there’s a lesson I want my OWN 4-year old daughter to learn from that story, it’s that “Ellery (look at me, baby) - you can’t trust boys. Got that, sweetie?”
But as much as I like to THINK I’m more trustworthy almost 3 decades later, Ellery, for good REASON, still has her doubts at times. When I taught her to ride a bike this summer, it was Catherine’s question all over again: “Daddy, do you promise you won’t let go until I say so?” And for the record, I KEPT my promise this time, and she’s riding like a champ now with all her teeth intact, thank you very much.
But why does she even have to ASK me that question? It’s because she KNOWS I’m not perfectly trustworthy, right? It’s because she REMEMBERS the nights when I promised her if she finished her dinner, she could have some ice cream when we got home, only to arrive home and realize that I ATE the last of the ice cream the night before. THAT’S the kind of dad who is asking for her trust. But I want to encourage you this morning, friends, from God’s word, that He is NOT a father like me and you. Like my imperfect father or yours. Your heavenly father is perfectly caring, and PERFECTLY trustworthy.
I mentioned last week the serious shortage of PEACE in this world. The scarcity of HOPE out there. You know what else is in short supply? Trustworthiness. Does ANYONE know who we can trust anymore?
Masks are the answer; no, they don’t even work.
Hydroxychloroquine is the cure; no, it will kill you.
I can assure you that if you think EITHER political party is trustworthy; if you are trusting EITHER candidate to care about anything more than your vote this November, you are gonna be sorely disappointed.
But we can trust our heavenly Father.
Would you stand with me, as you’re able, as we read God’s word together. I encouraged you last week to spend time memorizing Psalm 23. So we’re about to find out how many of you did your homework. :) Don’t worry - I’ll still put the words on the screen, but ONLY because we have some first time visitors with us. Can we recite Psalm 23 together:
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside still waters.
3 He restores my soul.
He leads me in paths of righteousness
for his name's sake.
4 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.
5 You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord
forever.”
This is the word of the Lord... (LET’S PRAY...)
Quick recap of points #1-5, from verses 1-3, from last Sunday:
#1 - The Lord is my Shepherd. (v1)
We noted the personal language that David uses here - The LORD, Yahweh, God’s personal name - is MY shepherd. Not just “A” shepherd; he’s MINE.
And God knows we NEED him! Because like sheep, we are stupid, stubborn, and prone to stray- Isa 53:6, “All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned every one to his own way. BUT the Lord has laid on HIM, on JESUS, the iniquities of us all”. Jesus is the GOOD Shepherd of John 10, who laid down his life for us, His sheep, by BECOMING God’s sacrificial LAMB, in our place.
#2 - The Lord is our PROVIDER (v1)
“I shall not want” - doesn’t mean God gives me everything I want; it means “I shall not LACK.” Our most necessary, urgent need - the forgiveness of our sins - God has already provided for, in Jesus. But he goes BEYOND that to promise Philippians 4:19 - “God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory”. Psalm 84:11 “NO good thing does the Lord withhold from those who walk uprightly”.
W.S. Plumer exhorts us (Psalms, 316): “If you would be happy, set your hope in God alone… We need nothing but what we find in Him.”
#3 - The Lord is my PEACE . v2: “green pastures… still waters...” The prophet Isaiah declares of God: “You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.” (Isaiah 26:3) And once again, that promise finds its ULTIMATE fulfillment in Jesus, the PRINCE of peace (Isa 9:6), who “himself is our peace” (Ephesians 2:14), and who gently and generously beckons us: ““Come to me… and I will give you rest.” (Mt 11:28)” And only Jesus can promise us rest, TRUE rest, because only Jesus is...
#4 - [The Lord is] my RESTORER. David says in V3: “He restores my soul.”
My nephesh, my LIFE. While we were CAST sheep - who had wandered from the fold, and laid down in unsafe pastures, got stuck upside down, on our backs, gases building up internally, in imminent threat of DEATH - that’s the state Jesus found US in, in our SIN, when in his undeserved mercy and grace, he REDEEMED us, he RESTORED our souls, and set us BACK on our feet, on the “RIGHT path”, the path of “righteousness.” V3: “He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake.”
So we concluded last week with #5 - The Lord is my GUIDE. And the beautiful gospel truth that Jesus doesn’t just show us the way back to the God we have strayed from; Jesus IS the Way, the Truth, and the Life. He MAKES a way, for sinners like you and me, who otherwise have no right to have peace with God, to expect provision from God, to enjoy His loving CARE; we who rightfully deserve nothing from a Holy God except His righteous wrath against our sin. But Jesus willingly stepped in, and laid down his life for us - He said, “No one takes my life from me; I lay it DOWN for my sheep”. He’s the good shepherd of his OWN parable, in Luke 15, who leaves the 99 to seek out the 1 who is lost.
And Jesus SAVES us, why? “for his name’s sake”. As Plumer says: “That which moves God to save his people is found in him, not in them” (312). Agape love: A loves B not because of something in B, but because of something in A. “A” is God, and God doesn’t CHANGE. So no matter HOW much you and I screw up, no matter HOW far we stray from the path, we can trust that God still loves us, because His love doesn’t depend on anything good in ME; his LOVE is grounded in who HE is, in HIS unchanging character and goodness. That’s good news!
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And that’s ALL the sermon BEFORE the sermon. That was LAST week’s sermon. But it gives us the necessary CONTEXT for vv4-6 this morning. So to those 5 promises, let’s add 5 more:
#6 - The Lord is my Protector ; v4: “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me”. How is THAT for a glorious promise this morning?! Can we just proclaim that AGAIN together this morning, because some of us here may be in the valley RIGHT NOW, and you need to remind yourself of these words; declare it with me: “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me”!
FIVE important points I want to highlight here:
1) The same Shepherd who leads us through life’s pastures, is STILL the Shepherd through life’s valleys. The shepherd of v2’s pastures is the same shepherd of v4’s valleys. He’s the god of the hills and valleys. It is not as if God needs a break, so he hands over his staff to SATAN for a season. If you’ve seen Bruce Almighty - great movie, overall, but some questionable theology - there’s a scene where God, played by Morgan Freeman, remarks to Bruce, played by Jim Carrey, that he got tired of running the world after a few millennia, and decided to take a vacation, and the result was the Dark Ages. It may be funny, but it’s not TRUE. COVID isn’t the result of God taking a NAP. God hasn’t taken a break since Day 7 of Creation. Not from governing human history, not from shepherding your LIFE. Sometimes in our well-intentioned but misguided theological attempts to protect God, from any hint of presiding over what WE might consider “evil”, we bring Satan into the picture instead. As if God is dooking it out with Satan, for control of the shepherd’s crook. But Scripture makes it really clear that it’s not even a competition, that SATAN falls under God’s purview. God holds Satan’s leash. God declares, “I form light and create darkness, I make well-being and create calamity, I am the Lord, who does all these things.” (Isa 45:7) So no MATTER the valley - the Dark Ages, coronavirus, the loss of a job, loss of a child, the DARKEST valleys imaginable in this life - we can still affirm: my Shepherd is still in charge. We can agree with Job, who despite losing EVERYTHING, still trusted: ““I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.” (Job 42:2) But here’s why we find such HOPE in that, because…
2) The Shepherd is never closer to you, than when you’re walking through the darkest valleys. God is SO PERSONAL in this psalm - he’s Yahweh; he is MY Shepherd. But in v4, notice the shift in even the pronouns here: for 3 verses, it’s been “HE makes me lie down… HE leads me... HE restores me…” But what does David say in v4? “YOU are with me.”
John Piper asks: “"Why does David switch from 'he' to 'you' precisely at verse 4? [Because] ...The crises of life draw us closer to God. We are more prone to talk about God when we are in the green pasture, but more prone to cry out to God when we enter some fearful ravine.” You can wax poetically, and reflect philosophically ABOUT God all you want in life’s meadows, but when you’re walking through the valley of the shadow of DEATH, God better be more to you than some theological abstraction then. You need more than a pleasant sentiment from a Hallmark card. A nice but feeble idea that your pastor publicly entertains for 40 minutes a week on Sundays. If that’s all God is to you, friends - it won’t be NEARLY enough to get you through the valley.
God wants to be so much MORE to you than that. And He may be leading you through your current valley for that very reason. He says, “Draw NEAR to me” - James 4:8 - and “I’ll draw near to you”. Psalm 145:18 “The Lord is near to all who call on him”, and especially, when we’re hurting: Psalm 34:18 “The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.”
3) The path that leads through the valley is just as “right” as the one that led through the pasture. Not only is the same good Shepherd still leading, but he’s LEADING you on the same good PATH. It’s not just the path of “righteousness”; it’s the “right” path; it’s the path you’re supposed to BE on.
James Johnston explains (188): “Since water and grass can be hard to find in the land of Israel, shepherds led their flocks on long migrations from one pasture to another. [Overgrazing would destroy fields.] The sheep wouldn’t understand why they left a good place to climb up and down ravines as they walked through the wilderness. Where are we going? The ground is rough, and there is no water here. And still the shepherd leads on. The sheep don’t know where they are going, but he does… Not a single step of the journey is wasted.”
Skip Heitzig adds: “In the middle east, when it gets really hot, shepherds will move their sheep down into the ravine, the ‘wadis’. Sheep hate it. Sheep don’t have great eyesight and they hate walking downward into a shadowy dark ravine. But it’s cooler down there, and that’s where the streams of water are running. In other words, sometimes the darkest valleys are pathways to the greenest pastures.”
And guess what: it’s not just that the eventual green pasture makes the valley worth it; a faithful sheep will find joy even in the valley itself, because not only does God draw closest to US in our times of need, but WE draw closest to HIM too. Piper says, “There is a danger in the valley that we might get angry at God and reject him, but there is an even greater danger in the pasture that we might become satisfied with the grass and forget the shepherd. In the dark, we hug his knee; in the light, we are prone to wander off in all directions.” It’s why I love haunted houses. I hate being scared. But my love language is physical touch, and my wife’s is NOT. But guess where I can get a guaranteed half hour’s worth of REALLY tight squeezing; I’m talking like CLINGING to me like her life depends on it!
That’s what God wants from us in the valley. Why does he lead us through it? Listen: if God’s chief aim in your life was your comfort, he’d be a miserable failure; but if God is after INTIMACY with you, if God wants you to draw NEAR to him, to learn to LEAN on him, TRUST him, RELY on his strength in your weakness, then it makes sense that he would allow us to go through some REALLY difficult things in this life, doesn’t it? We still may not LIKE it; we can still pray “deliver me from evil”; “Father, if it be your will, let this cup pass from me.” But what? “Not my will but yours, Lord”. And if this valley IS the “right path” for me right now, God - give me the strength to cling to you like my life DEPENDS on it... because it DOES!
I don’t have time to share the stories, but I know I can personally testify to the fact that God has used every ONE of the valleys in MY life, to draw me closer to Him in a way that I NEVER would have in the pastures. And I would bet He’s done the same in your valleys as well. That’s why the apostle James can say: “Count it all joy… when you meet trials of various kinds”, because it’s a unique window of opportunity to draw a whole lot closer to the Lord. CLING to your Shepherd. But ALSO realize...
4) That the valley won’t last forever. We need reminders while we’re in the valley, that God’s leading us THROUGH it, v4; we’re NOT called to camp out IN it. It may FEEL like it; it can start to FEEL like your present trial is permanent; but it’s NOT. Remember, Romans 8:18 “The sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.”
HEAVEN is permanent; Eternal LIFE is permanent. The Bible says this life is but a SHADOW of the life to come (Col 2:17). And speaking of shadows, we need to realize that we DON’T travel through the “valley of DEATH”, but “the valley of the SHADOW of death”. Because for GOD’S sheep, that’s all death IS anymore; even the darkest valley of ALL - DEATH ITSELF - is just a shadow. Christ has REMOVED the sting of death - 1 Cor 15 - so that we can now say with confidence, that “Neither death nor life… nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord!” (Rom 8:38-39)
Charles Spurgeon said: “Death is not the house; it is only the porch”
As we sang this morning: “The worst that can come
But shortens our journey and hastens us home”
What glorious HOPE to know that one day the darkest valley of all, will ultimately only lead us to the most radiant pasture imaginable. And through it all,
5) And most important of all: Our Good Shepherd is WITH us, every step of the way.
What does David say, “I’ll fear no evil because… “you promised me a life of ease”? Because… “you promised not to let anything bad happen to me”?
No, because “you are WITH me”. And friends, Jesus is all the PROOF you NEED that God keeps that promise; He is Emmanuel = “God with us”. And Jesus more than ANYONE knows about walking through the valley of the shadow of death, except HE did it WITHOUT God the Father - “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” - and in quoting Psalm 22, which not coincidentally comes just before this one, Psalm 23, Jesus reveals that in his death on the cross, he bore our sins and experienced the utter separation from God the Father that you and I deserve, so that WE could experience the intimacy with God that only JESUS deserves. Jesus walked through the valley totally CUT OFF from the Shepherd, so that you and I would never have to. And now, “Nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord!” Amen?
#7 - The Lord is my COMFORTER (v4). “your rod and your staff, they comfort me.”
Every shepherd in antiquity carried two things: a staff, for directing the sheep, and a rod for protecting the sheep. The staff, or crook, was used for pulling straying sheep back onto the path; the rod or club, had spikes and hung from his belt and was used for fighting off predators. So a good shepherd always had to be ready to protect his sheep from threats both INTERNAL and external. Against both the sin INSIDE us and the world AROUND us. Boy, it seems like either ONE would be enough to worry about on its own, doesn’t it? It’d be a full-time job if the ONLY thing God had to defend me against was this crazy world we’re living in. Here’s just a sampling of the headlines in the news from this past week:
“The worst news yet for America's Covid frontline workers”
“More than 560 fires torch California”
“China's Communist Party is a threat to the world”
And best of all: “NASA says an asteroid is headed our way right before Election Day”. Don’t worry - they say there’s only a 0.46% chance of Armageddon.
And yet, in the midst of ALL those external threats, more OFTEN than not, the greatest threat to me doesn’t even COME from outside; I am my OWN worst enemy. The sin that’s already inside me is sufficient to lead me OFF the path, and into mortal danger. I need a shepherd with a GIANT rod and an even BIGGER staff, and praise God, we have one. Jesus said, “I am the good shepherd” (Jn 10:11), and “I have lost not one of those whom the Father gave me” (John 18:9). What comfort, to straying sheep, in a world full of wolves. That God has promised not only to save us and call us into his flock, but to WATCH OVER us and SUSTAIN us to the end. Psalm 55:22 “Cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved.” What comfort and hope!
#8 - The Lord is my Empowerer (v5). “You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.”
So the setting shifts now, in the last 2 verses, from the sheep fields to a BANQUET TABLE. And for us modern readers, at first glance, this is sort of a bizarre, unwelcomed scene. God “prepares a table in the presence of our enemies,” and WE’RE thinking, “Umm, thanks, but are there any other tables open?! I’m happy to wait... ”
God “anoints my head with oil”; THAT’s just greasy and weird.
“My cup overflows” - well now you’re just making a mess all over the TABLE, God. What gives?
I think this is a COMMISSIONING banquet. In the Bible, whenever we see God ANOINTING someone, esp in the OT, he was APPOINTING them, setting them aside, for a special task, typically, to be a leader of his people, an UNDER-shepherd, as it were: to bring care, provision, peace, guidance, protection, restoration, and comfort to God’s people.
But here’s the thing: who ARE God’s people? Jesus said “I’ve got other sheep not in this fold. [NOT your good church-going folk…] We gotta bring them in also” (Jn 10:16). That’s why he invites “enemies” to the party in v5. Remember the parable of the Great Banquet that Jesus tells in Luke 14? A man throws this MASSIVE dinner party, and NO ONE he invited came, so he sends his servants out to welcome in the tax collectors and prostitutes instead. The kinds of people that, if we’re honest, you and I consider to be “unseemly”, “unworthy”, “BENEATH us” - God says, “THAT’s who I want.” And I’m sending YOU - my servants - out to gather them to me, because I get glory from turning God-hating enemies into a Jesus-loving CHILDREN who repent and come sit at my table. Jesus says: “Love our enemies”. Like, whoever YOUR enemy is - think of the person you LEAST expect to see sitting next to you in heaven at God’s banquet table, who if you’re honest - maybe you least WANT to see! - that is EXACTLY the person God most wants you to be praying for, who he is anointing you, commissioning you, to go reach with the gospel. And he’s pouring your glass extra full, to make sure you’ve got plenty to share with them too. That’s the only way an overflowing cup isn’t a mess and a total WASTE - is if you’re meant to share it, to pay it forward. And we ARE friends. Jesus called us to “go make disciples”. He’s EMPOWERED us to do it - “I am WITH you always, to the end of the age.” We SAY we’re gonna do it, every single Sunday in our Benediction together. So ARE we? Who are you reaching with the gospel?
#9 - The Lord is my Sustainer; v6: “Surely[d] goodness and mercy[e] shall follow me
all the days of my life”
We’ve already discussed the Lord’s sustenance, so I’ll just add that the Hebrew verb here for “follow”, really means something closer to “CHASE AFTER”. What a beautiful picture. That sinners like us, who deserve to live in fear of God’s anger and justice chasing us down, now get to live in the FREEDOM of God’s goodness and mercy, his chesed, his loving faithfulness, his GRACE, chase after us, all the days of our life. Praise God we can’t outrun his mercy. Praise God we can’t out-sin his grace. That our sins, they are MANY, but his MERCY is more.
And finally, #10 - The Lord is my FATHER. V6: “I shall dwell[f] in the house of the Lord
Forever.” Just about every commentary I read and sermon I listened to described God in vv5-6 as a “host”. God is “hosting” a banquet for his “guests”; Listen: I don’t know about you, but there’s not a guest in this world I wanna host for... “FOREVER”! My Mom is in town visiting this weekend, and I love my mom DEARLY. But she’s not STAYING forever! You know who can stay in my house FOREVER? My daughter. My son. God isn’t some proper host who treats us like his guests; He’s a FATHER who calls us his CHILDREN!
John 1:12 “To all who received [Jesus], who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God”
And children ALWAYS have a seat saved for them at the table.
A room in the house - Jesus said, “In my Father's house are many rooms... I go to prepare a place for you” (Jn 14:1-2). THAT’S where you want to be, friends - in the FATHER’S house. A single day there is better than THOUSANDS elsewhere.
But you know WHY it’s so good? It’s not the pearly gates, or the streets of gold, or the fountains of living water...
As James Johnston says (189): “The blessing of being in “the house of the LORD ” (v. 6) is being with the Lord. If you travel for business, you may stay in hotels that have nicer furniture than you have in your house. Managers do their best to make you feel at home, but you never do. Home is where your family is. Take away the people and a house becomes a sad and empty place. The joy of Heaven is not mansions or streets of gold. Jesus is the joy of Heaven. It will be home because he is there. Jesus said, “[I]f I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also” (John 14:3).”
But friends, he’s only taking sons and daughters. So I ask you this morning: are you a child of God? Have YOU “received [Jesus], believed in his name, and been given the right to become a child of God”? Are you a sheep of his fold? Johnston asks: “How do you know if Jesus is your Shepherd? There are two tests. Jesus says, “My sheep hear my voice” (Jn 10:27). Do you listen to his Word? And Jesus also said, “they follow me” (v27). Do you do what he says? Many people have taken false comfort from Psalm 23. They want to believe that God is their Shepherd, but they do not listen to Christ or follow him. None of God’s blessings come to us except through Jesus. HE is the great Shepherd for God’s people. If you do not belong to Jesus, God is not your Shepherd. If you know Jesus and love him, Psalm 23 is for YOU.” (The Psalms, 186)
Let’s pray...