5/13/07

The Essence of Christ in the Psalms: The Provider

 Psalm 23:1-6 

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.  [2] He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters.  [3] He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake.   [4] Yea, 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 runs over.  [6] Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the Lord Forever.    

Since sheep are so needy, they form a special bond with their shepherd. He is required to get to know them intimately. He knows the ones who are prone to wander. He knows the weaker ones. He knows the loyal ones too. He even knows them all by name. The sheep, despite their stupidity, become familiar with the voice of the shepherd. They know his sound and his smell. There is a bond between sheep and shepherd that just isn't found anywhere else in the world of agriculture.

"I am the good shepherd; and I know My own, and My own know Me,” John 10:14

This has to be, without debate, the most beloved Psalms in Scripture.  I wonder how many children have memorized it in Sunday School or Vacation Bible School before they became teenagers?  And why?  This much beloved Psalm allows us a glimpse into the unique relationship between the Heavenly Shepherd and his human sheep. Because it speaks to so many issues of daily life.  And yet, somehow, this Psalm, more than any other, I think, has become the favorite Psalm to read at funerals.  What a misappropriation or misuse of the wonderful song!  What we have to realize is that this is not a Psalm for the dead, but, rather, it is definitely a Psalm for the living.

The Psalm is interesting in that it refers to the first person and second person; is a declarative assertion and a “prayer-like” conversation with the Lord.  As I have studied this Psalm, I get a very vivid picture in my mind as to the context of the Psalm.  I can see David out in the pasture lands with his sheep.  As he is watching them, he has a sense that what he is doing with his sheep is in some sense the way God is with us (verses 1 through three).  As he meditates on that, he breaks out with the declaration in verse four and five.  Verse six is a summation of all that he has thought and said. 

This is a Psalm of the present.  It is a Psalm of confidence.  It is a Psalm of relationship.  Notice the first stanza.  The Lord is my shepherd.  Here is relationship of possession.  David says He is mine, not in exclusive sense, but in relationship.  He is not mine by my choosing, but because He has chosen me.  Jesus said in John 15:6, “You did not choose me, but I have chosen you…”  The verbs in verse one, “is” and “shall not” express continuing action.  It could read like this: As long as the Lord is my shepherd (and He always will be), I will not ever be in a condition of want (for anything).  Since He is my Shepherd; since He is the God of glory; since in Him all the fullness of the Godhead exists; since He possesses (controls, owns, rules over) all things, then how is it that I would ever want for anything? 

He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things? Romans 8:32

He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, [6] to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. [7] In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace, [8] which He lavished upon us. In all wisdom and insight Ephesians 1:5-8

also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will, [12] to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ should be to the praise of His glory. Ephesians 1:11-12

As a Provider, He presides over that which He knows is essential for us.  He knows where we need to be and the timing of that is always perfect.  As His sheep, we must come to accept, agree to and acknowledge that where He has us is where we need to be.  If He is Sovereign (and He is), then we should not fight or resist where He leads us.  He will sometimes put us in places that we might not otherwise choose to be, or do things we might not otherwise choose to do.  The imagery of “sheep and shepherd” breaks down somewhat when we realize that a shepherd would, in reality, not know what a sheep is thinking, or where it might be hurting or the sheep’s concerns.  But, the True Shepherd does.  This Psalm goes further than “cute imagery”.  It is not like the nursery rhyme, “Mary had a little lamb…and everywhere that Mary went the lamb was sure to go.”  Our Shepherd actually lives inside of us.  He knows us more intimately than we know ourselves.  His desire is not that we follow Him around passively, but He wants to rule us.  His desire for us is more perfect than the desires we have for ourselves.  His desire is that we not just make it in this life, but He wants to transform us from stinky, unruly, wandering, dumb sheep.  His desire is that we take on the very nature of the Shepherd. 

In verse two the verb “leads” is a passive form.  It means that He is actually directing us.  He is not out front wanting us to follow Him, but He has hands-on in making sure that we walking righteousness.  This is so important, because in doing so there is something that is more important than “us getting it right”, so to speak.  What is important is the sake of “His name.”  His name…His character, holiness, righteousness, etc., is at stake.  His name, representative of Who He IS, is at stake.  His guidance is not just for our comfort, or simply for the restoration of our souls so that we feel better about ourselves.  In fact, this Psalm is really not about us.  It is about he Shepherd.  The quality of the sheep at sheering or butchering is a refection on the shepherd.  Weak, unkempt, malnourished sheep show that there has been little care.  (Illustration of heaven.)

In verse four (and I suppose this is where the “funeral” mentality of the Psalm comes from), David speaks about the journey into the “valley of the shadow of death.”  This is reference to those times when life seems so tentative, so uncertain, so death-like.  It very well could be a near-death experience where you are laying in a hospital room and the doctor has informed you that your impending surgery carries with it a 30 % chance of your survival.  These are the “shadows” that seem so devastating.  But, it is not death.  David acknowledges that even in the shadows there is the ever present confidence of God’s overpowering work.  For in the shadows is the unmistakable “image” of the Shepherd.  He is there to keep evil’s tentacles at bay.

Like a shepherd He will tend His flock, in His arm He will gather the lambs, and carry them in His bosom; He will gently lead the nursing ewes.  Isaiah 40:11  

"As a shepherd cares for his herd in the day when he is among his scattered sheep, so I will care for My sheep and will deliver them from all the places to which they were scattered on a cloudy and gloomy day.” Ezekiel 34:12

And seeing the multitudes, He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and downcast like sheep without a shepherd. Matthew 9:36

“And they were scattered for lack of a shepherd, and they became food for every beast of the field and were scattered.” Ezekiel 34:5

“And He will arise and shepherd His flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord His God.  And they will remain, because at that time He will be great to the ends of the earth.” Micah 5:4

Verse five is such a great encouragement to us all as we struggle with the world, the flesh and the devil.  He is like a “roaring lion seeking whom he may devour.” (1 Peter 5:8).  Notice that David does not say that He prepares a table in the privacy of life, but right out in the open.  He makes a mockery of Satan’s power.  His provision for us in the face of the enemy shouts His victory over death and sin.  He stands in for us.  It is His power that overcomes

"I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. [12] "He who is a hireling, and not a shepherd, who is not the owner of the sheep, beholds the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep, and flees, and the wolf snatches them, and scatters them. John 10:11-12

I think that I have said on any number of occasions that the word “follow” in the phrase “surely goodness and mercy shall follow me”, in Hebrew really means “to pursue.”  It is that God is aggressively running us down to ensure that everyday of our lives is filled with the goodness and mercy of God. 

Four things are important here:

This Psalm is not about me

It is about His Name sake

It is about His protection

It is about His changing me