Oakbrook Evangelical Free Church

“The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures,
He leads be beside quiet waters, he restores my soul.
He guides me in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.
Even through 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.
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil my cup overflows.
Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.”

Introduction:
1. Lets look at some of the lessons taught by the structure of the song itself.

First, notice that there is a significant shift in the Psalm
The Lord is my shepherd, he makes me…he leads me…he restores me.
Then, verse 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 staff comfort me…you prepare a table before me, you anoint my head with oil.”

Then in 23:6 he switches back to the 3rd person “I will dwell in the house of the Lord”

Do you see it? Why does he shift from “he” to “you” and then back?
1. The universal experience of the people of God is that the crises of life draw us closer to the Lord. In the green pastures of life we talk about God but in the valley’s of life we are drawn closer to God. We all learn how frail we are and how much we need God in the difficult valleys of life when all we can do is trust God.

The greatest danger is not in the difficult and fearful valley’s but in the green pastures of prosperity. There we tend to forget God and get wrapped up on enjoying life and meeting our own needs.

So reframe your difficulties. “Draw near to God. Trust him. Count it all joy when you fall into various trials.”

2. At first he is thinking about God and then he is talking to God. He switches back and forth from reflective thinking to personal conversation.

I. The Good Shepherd, 23:1-3
“The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures,
He leads be beside quiet waters, he restores my soul.
He guides me in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.

1. Very personal relationship
Notice how personal this song is!
Not “we” and “us” or “they” but “my, me, he, you, I” This song is about David’s personal experience with God and his experience brings us closer to personally experience God too.

John 10:7, 11, 14, 27-28 “I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. He will come in and go out, and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep…I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me…My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand.”

1 Peter 2:24-25 “He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed. For you were like sheep going astray, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls.”

2. Everything that is good
“I shall not want.” He is my provider!
English this sentence sounds like, “I shall not desire.”
Does it mean that when God is your shepherd you don’t have the feeling of desiring anything any more.
Hebrews - “want” in the sense of “be wanting”: “I shall not be wanting anything.”
Literal “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not lack.”
We will still have desires but will not lack what God wants us to have. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not lack what?
Do God’s sheep ever lack anything?
When the sheep is walking through the dark valley it lacks light,
green pasture and the quiet waters.
Matthew 6:28f “Why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin…If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So do not worry. Your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”

“I shall not want” includes the present with assurance of tomorrow.
TRUST YOUR PROVIDER!

Rest – Makes me lie down in green pastures
Soothing effect on eyes and skin.
Refreshment – food and drink

Restoration – two different interpretations
1. May picture the straying sheep brought back
Ps 60:1 “You have rejected us, O God, and burst forth upon us; you have been angry – now restore us!”

1 Peter 2:11 “abstain from fleshly lusts which war against your soul”

Spiritual repentance and renewal – restoring the soul.

2. Dry and lifeless inner life refreshed!
He refreshes my soul when I am dry and lifeless. The same phrase occurs in Lamentations 1:16, which says, “My eye, my eye runs down with water because far from me is a comforter, one who restores my soul.” The idea of comfort also occurs here in Psalm 23:4, “Your rod and staff comfort me.”

Proverbs 18:14 says, “A man’s spirit will endure sickness, but a broken spirit who can bear?”

If our hearts are strong in the Lord, if our soul is refreshed, we can endure the pain of the body. But if the spirit is broken, if our hearts are downcast, if our soul is flat like a deflated beach ball, what can you do? The very will is broken; the flags of our affection just hang there with no wind in our spiritual sails. Every believer has known these times.
What we need in those times.
First, we need a sense of release from the anxious cares that have made me feel hopeless.

Overload on our time with frustrating hindrances to getting it all done Tight straps around the soul that squeeze all the life out of it. I need to feel those straps broken and a great swelling of hope.

Second, we need to see some beauty.
We have all felt the healing power of nature.

Third, we need to feel the reality of a great power outside myself flowing into me. God created us to be conductors of an infinitely powerful current of life flowing from Christ himself. Satisfying restoration of soul comes from God.

Guidance

Yet, no matter how well things are going you always lack something.
What David means is that God’s sheep never lack anything that the shepherd thinks is good for them.

Verse 4 confirms this…

II. The Great Companion
“Even through 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.”

This is confirmed by verse 4 about walking through the valley of the shadow of death. The picture here is of a situation with extreme danger that could take the sheep’s life if the shepherd weren’t there to protect and guide with his rod and staff.

Dread of darkness! Some overwhelming danger too big for the sheep to handle.

Why would a sheep be going through such a place?
Not because he strayed off in sin because the shepherd goes with
The reason the sheep is going through the valley is because the shepherd is leading it.

3-4 “He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake; even when I walk through the valley you are with me.” The path through the valley is also one of the paths of righteousness in which God leads.

But why would a shepherd lead a sheep into a valley filled with danger and death threats? The only possible answer, “To get to some better place?” God has seen to it that the grazing pastures for his flocks are not fence to fence, but are separated by often very treacherous territory.

So we learn from verse 4 that we might have to lack many things in following the shepherd, but we will never lack anything that the shepherd thinks is good for me.

Psalm 84:11 says, “No good does the Lord withhold from those who walk uprightly.”

Philippians 4:19, “My God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.”

Deuteronomy 31:8 “The Lord himself goes ahead of you and will be with you; he will never leave you or forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.”

Matthew 6:25-34

Rod = club
Staff = used only with the sheep!

III. The Lavish Host, 23:5
“You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil my cup overflows.”

In verse 5 God is the host.
He spreads a banquet for his guest, anoints his head with festive oil and keeps his cup filled to the brim.

Luke 7:46 “you did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet”

The reference to enemies may mean either that they are held at a distance and can’t interfere with the guests’ security,

Or it may mean that even in the midst of situations where we are surrounded by enemies God brings into our lives things to celebrate and rejoice over.

This is not the continuous norm of the Christian life because it isn’t. The psalm begins in green pasture and ends in the house of God but in the middle is the dark valley of the shadow of death. The point of verse 5 is not that life is a big party, but that there are those festive times in life, and that we should recognize as gifts of God and we should rejoice in. These times are signs of God ultimate intent for us.

IV. The Highway Patrolman, 23:6
“Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.”

After David has gone through a number of dark valleys he comes to an awesome conclusion: He concludes that God’s goodness and mercy will follow him all his days.

The English word “follow” is a little weak and might be taken to mean trail behind and never quite catch up. The idea that goodness and mercy will lag behind me all my days is not too comforting when you think about it.

But the Hebrew word is much more active It almost always means pursue, usually in the sense of pursuing to do harm or persecute.
But David turns this picture upside down. He paints a much different picture.

Imagine yourself driving down the freeway, when you see a red light flashing in your rear view mirror. At first you don’t think much about it because you aren’t driving too much over the speed limit. But then sense he is coming after you and for some crazy reason you make the decision to push the gas instead of the brake. You roar down the freeway at 100 miles per hour and try to get away from the highway patrol. All the times you went over the speed limit flash before your eyes. Your anxiety and sense of guilt mounts. All the driving faults of your life start popping up into your consciousness and you remember that if you get one more ticket you will have 6 points and you license will be suspended and you won’t be able to drive for 6 months. Your car simply does not have the power to outrun the highway patrol, and he forces you over.

You sit there trembling as he walks up to your window and asks for your driver’s license. Then he pulls out a wallet and says, “That motel you just left asked me to catch up with you and bring you your wallet you left on the counter.” So you feel a fool, and as you reach out to take it he says, “O, and there’s one other thing. They had a drawing this morning for the sweepstakes you registered for at the motel last night, and you won a free trip for two to Miami if you phone in your acceptance by noon today.”

God is not only our good shepherd, nor only our lavish host; he is also a highway patrolman pursuing you with goodness and mercy every day of your life, and he is fast.

Just when you think the officer is going to let you off the hook for running from him, he says, “You are under arrest now, you will have to come with me.” So you leave your car and get in the back of his patrol car and head off, but he doesn’t say where to. Soon you realize that he is not heading for the courthouse but into the country. When he turns into a magnificent estate through a huge gate and drives under two-hundred year old oak trees to a beautiful old mansion, you ask, “Where in the world are we?” And he says, “This is my place, and I would like you to live with me. That is your bungalow down by the river among the willows. It’s free. I’m going to go get your wife and family. Hopefully they won’t try to run away too.”

“And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” The focus here is on the house and grounds.

But in Psalm 27:4 the focus isn’t on the house but on the Lord himself. “One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple.”