- The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
- He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.
- He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
- Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.
- Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
- Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.
We have all heard this as a prayer or a reading at a service or the funeral of a friend or family member. How many times have we heard the deeper meaning of this passage? Not very often?
Not at all? It was something I learned in Sunday School? Let us take a look at this psalm verse by verse. I heard this last night at a service and it was really a blessing to me.
1.) The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.: For the rest of this psalm to work, you must first acknowledge that the Lord is "MY" shepherd. Yes it is true that He is "A Shepherd", or even "The Shepherd", but you must make him "Your Shepherd". He must be a personal leader, a personal God, a personal Savior. The shepherd leads or guides his flock to the place that they need to go for food, nourishment, water and safety. Remember, sheep are basically dumb animals. They are unable to sense water by smell as other animals do, therefore they must be led to where water is. Not only water, but still water. Left to their own, sheep can find water by it's sound. Think about this; if you hear the sound of running water and you are on four hooves with relatively skinny legs, how much chance would you have in a rapidly running stream or river. The answer is little or none. This is where the shepherd comes in. He guides his sheep. He protects them. He takes them to where "They" need to go. To a sheep, green pastures and still waters is heaven. This is where verse two comes:
2.) He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: He leadeth me beside the still waters.: My shepherd has both made me to be in heaven, and led me to that place where I can now have nourishment and water that is safe. The best part here is simple: If the shepherd leads his sheep here, then He must be here also. Now, let us get into the meat of the psalm.
3.) He restoreth my soul; he leads me down the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.: There is a definate growth period here. No longer are we just sheep being blindly led, but we are now renewed. Our soul has been restored, strengthened, rejuvenated and ready for the shepherd to guide us again. This time, however, we are with a soul; God's own image, in us, filling us, strengthening and guiding us. The shepherd is now leading us down certain paths, and those paths are of righteousness. It doesn't say easy paths, or green paths; it says paths of righteousness for "His name's sake". This is where God puts his name on the line. He wants us to follow him, trust him, and believe on HIM. It is not for anyone elses righteousness; only His. It doesn't make it easy or fun. IT JUST MAKE IT RIGHT. Now that God is leading us down His paths, do we have to fear what is ahead. The answer is a resounding NO! Remember, "The Lord is "MY" shepherd."
4.) Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.: God knows where the end of the road is. He knows where the best place for you is. You may have to cross through some scary places, but He is with you, so why be afraid. It says that you will walk through the valley of the "Shadow" of death, not through the valley of death. You may see or be tempted by things that seem bad, but they are only shadows and a shadow cannot harm you. It is like being a child, left in his room at night. Once the lights go out, shadows in the room make things pretty frightening. Once we turn the lights back on and show the child it was only shadows, the bad things tend to go away. Now why does it say both rod and staff. Think on this my child. The staff of a shepherd is for the protection of the flock and to test the grounds where the flock is to go. The rod is for correction. If a sheep strays away from the fold, it is not sufficient to just call the sheep back in. There are times when correction must be administered. It is better to suffer a little correction, than the pain of being lost from the flock or worse, snatched away by the enemy. Now once you are going down the paths of the Lord, you must have a goal in site. Keep in mind that you are no longer sheep, but a soul of God. You can see this in the next verses.
5.) Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: Thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.: This is the awesome part. God has made a place for YOU! Sheep won't eat at a table. They eat in the fields. Not only is a place set for you, but it is set before you and all those who would do you harm (your enemies) can only watch, while they hunger and thirst. Remember the story of the rich man and the beggar who died? The beggar went to heaven while the rich man, who refused even a single kindness to him in life, went to Hell. He could not even get a single drop of water from the beggar to quench his thirst. That, my friends, is a powerful statement. It then says, "Thou anointest my head with oil,". God is welcoming you to His house as his special guest. He anoints your head with oil as a sign of great blessing, before you are seated at his table. Now, when you are seated, the first thing you see, in front of you is a cup and: "My cup runneth over." God's blessings are so great that nothing can contain them all. They overflow, no matter how much you try to contain them or pass them around, they just keep on filling and overflowing your cup. How awesome is that! and finally:
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.: What a Promise! What a Goal! SURELY goodness and mercy will follow ME; and not just today, but for the rest of My life! God is truely AWESOME! The best part is; it doesn't stop there. The last part says it all: "I will dwell in the house of the Lord FOREVER!!!" That is our ultimate goal, isn't it? To be with the Lord forever in heaven. To forever be in His presence, His Glory and His Marvelous Light is MY Goal; that I can reach because I follow My Shepherd. Amen.
Can you see the growth through this simple psalm. It is both a comfort and a promise to us all and all we need to do to start on that path is to make the first verse our own: The Lord is MY Shepherd. Amen and God Bless.
More later
No comments:
Post a Comment