Ps 23:4-6 – The LORD, as our Shepherd, is with us in trouble

Ps 23:4-6 - 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 love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.

Preamble

Psalm 23 is a psalm by King David. 

I have expounded on Ps 23:1 – The Lord is my shepherd,I shall NOT be in want.  In it we talked about if we truly are holding the Lord as our shepherd, we must mean what we declare; we must want to be led by the Shepherd, and NOT go about on our own, as if we got everything that we need to manoeuver through life, outright.

Then, for verses 2-3, in the article, Ps 23:2-3 - Theleading of the LORD, my Shepherd, we looked at the expansion of verse 1, that we shall NOT be in want; NOT in want of our sustenance (what we will eat, drink and wear or shelter), NOT in want of restoration of our soul, and NOT in want of the righteousness Guide (for the NT believers, He is the indwelling Spirit of Christ). 

The trouble times

In the rest of this psalm, vv4-6, David talked about (in addition to the LORD’s seeing to our sustenance, soul restoration, and growth in righteousness) how, if we are led by the LORD, we will NOT need to fear, even when we pass through trouble times.  The psalm culminated into the climax of our blessedness in the earthly phase of Kingdom of God and the heavenly phase.

Psalm 91, too!

This time round when I read this part of the Ps 23, my thought straightaway turns to Ps 91:14-16.  This, I believe, is the prompting of the Spirit.  What is in Ps 91:14-16?

Ps 91:14-16 - 14 "Because he {the psalmist} loves me," says the LORD, "I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.  15 He will call upon me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him.  16 With long life will I satisfy him and show him my salvation."

Many would NOT dispute Ps 23 and Ps 91 are among the favorite psalms of believers.  Ps 91 is also known as the Protection Psalm, and many “fall in love with it”, reading its 1^st verse, but sadly, for some, it is without practical understanding of what it said! – “He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.” (Ps 91:1)

How does one dwell in the shelter of the Most High?  Where is the shelter of the Most High?  Is it a place?  How does one get there?  The verse gives you no comfort and meaning if you know NOT how to be dwelling in the shelter of the Most High!  I am NOT in here to expound on Ps 91; you can get a good exposition of mine, if you read this: Ps 91 – Secret of our well-being   

I will give you the essence of how one gets to dwell in the shelter of the Most High; and it is this: As given in the opening of the text of vv14-16 of Ps 91, love the LORD. 

The common thread – love, obey, follow, be led

How can we correlate Ps 91:14-16 text to Ps 23:4-6, when the Ps 91 text demanded we love the LORD, and we do NOT see that, directly, in the Ps 23 text?  In fact, many people expounded Ps 23 stressing there was no condition whatsoever required, it was all “He (the LORD) makes…; He leads ….; He restores…; He guides ….”; purportedly nothing for us, sheep, to do.

This is what we need to appreciate:  One leads, another is to follow.  The one who leads is no leader to you, if you follow him NOT!  If the LORD is your shepherd, you have to follow Him; if you follow Him NOT, how can He be shepherding you. 

How does one follow another?  You obey; when he says, “Go to the left”, you are to obey and go to the left; when he says, “Go to the right”, you are to obey, too, and go to the right!  For the LORD, our Shepherd, to lead us, we have to follow, and to follow, we have to obey his commands.

Bro. Anthony, but it still does NOT say, “Love the LORD”!  No, no, it does!  How?  The chief way God defines love for Him, is this way:  He who loves Me, obeys my commands (John 14:15), and He who obeys my commands are the one who loves Me (John 14:21a).  In other words, implicit in Ps 23, is that we are to love the LORD, for we need to obey (His commands) in order to follow, and we are to follow, so that we are being led by Him, our Shepherd.

How come, still has valley of shadow of death or trouble?

Below, I put the 2 texts “side by side”, so that we can more clearly see the parallels, and the same theme of the goodness of the LORD that can be available to us, if only we love Him, and obey Him in that love, and so, follow Him, wholeheartedly, and unreservedly.

Ps 23:4-6 - 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 love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.

Ps 91:14-16 - 14 "Because he {the psalmist} loves me," says the LORD, "I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.  15 He will call upon me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him.  16 With long life will I satisfy him and show him my salvation."

When we look at both the texts, it clearly tells us that in our lives, there is no promise by God that, in the entirety of it (our mortal life), there will be no trouble.  Ps 23:4 said, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, ….”; and Ps 91:15, “…. I will be with him (the psalmist) in trouble,…”  In fact, Jesus said (in John 16:33), “In this world, you will have troubles …..”

If you did read the article (on the verses earlier), “Ps 23:2-3 – The leading of the LORD, my Shepherd”, you will remember that it said there, in the verses (2-3), the LORD makes, leads, restores, and guides.  How come there is this, now, in verse 4, “I walk through the valley of the shadow of death”; how are we to make of it?

I repeat what I was trying to say, of the shepherd-sheep metaphor: it was portraying for us a journey; that the Christian life is a journey; nothing of the sort that we have arrived or reached one place or position and that is it; the plurals of the pasture and water were used in verses 2-3; and I stated in my article on that part of the psalm, that the restoration of the soul, it too, was NOT just a one-time salvation restoration alone, but a restoration that needed to maintained; even for the path of righteousness in verse 4, plurals (paths) were used.  All of these were because the whole affair was a journey – moving from one green pasture to another, one quiet water to another, on-going restoration, and moving in paths of righteousness, hopefully, in growth, from glory to glory.  If we follow wholeheartedly and unreservedly, it will result in our growth, and we will move from glory to glory.

But why is there still valley of the shadow of death?  Does the LORD go away, and leave us to travel by ourselves, and we get into the valley of the shadow of death? 

Between one green pasture and another, and between one quiet water and another, there are the valleys of the shadow of death; to go from one pasture ground to another, or from one water to another, we may pass through such a valley of the shadow of death.  You and I pass through it, but if we follow the LORD, the LORD is right there with us, in that passage – that is what verse 4 was saying.  The LORD is able to maneuver us through the valley of the shadow of death.  David, the psalmist, said he would NOT fear, for the LORD was with him.  In Ps 91:15, God said He would be with the psalmist in trouble.  The bad valleys or troubles are there in the fallen world, the world we are still in, are NOT without such, and the LORD does cross through them, bringing us through, to the next green pasture and next quiet water.

Fear NOT, when you are led by the LORD

When the LORD is with us, we need NOT fear any evil; that was what the verse 4 of Ps 23 said; David said the LORD’s staff would bring us comfort, for that was the symbol of power and authority of God.  Not only that, recently, I believe the Holy Spirit has revealed to me, the staff is also a symbol of signs and wonders and miracles. Miracles by the Lord can bring us pass the valley of death or trouble.

What does v5 mean; God prepared a table before David in the presence of his enemy?  This is equivalent to Ps 91:15’s God honoring the psalmist.  God NOT only would be with us, in trouble, when it is we followed Him into it, He would deliver us, and honor us, even before our enemies.

Climax of blessedness

When we follow the LORD’s leading, we would have His favor as that for High Priest; more than satisfied.  In OT time, it was the High Priest who had the privilege of entering into and lingering in the presence of God. In NT, with veil torn, we are high priests who can enter into the presence of God.  How satisfying is, “in the presence of God”?  In what way is our cup overflowing?  Here are some verses telling us what it is like; have you experienced any of them(?):

The presence of God, there is fullness of joy (Ps 16:11);

In the shelter of God’s presence, we are hidden from the intrigues {plots and snares} of men (Ps 31:20);

In Ps 91:16, God said He would satisfy the psalmist, one who love Him, with long life {long, eternal}, and show him His salvation.  In Ps 23:6 the same reads as the psalmist’s exclamation of “surely goodness and love would follow him all the days of his life as he dwells with God in His house {Heaven}, forever”.

Recap

The entire psalm 23 spoke about a journey, from us acknowledging the LORD as our Shepherd, to following Him, to how the LORD would shepherd us, providing us with the sustenance we need, the soul restoration we need, and guiding us in the paths of righteousness, maneuvering us through “rough” patches in earthly life, to finally having us reach the final green pasture and quiet water, Heaven, where we would be with eternal life, experiencing forever, the goodness and love of God for us.  What it requires, is that we love the LORD, we obey Him, and so, follow Him as He leads us, by His Spirit.  There may NOT be trouble-free earthly life, but we fear NOT, the trouble-spots, when we walk with Him through them.  Don’t tread through them on your own, but do so, as the Lord brings you through them.

Life is indeed beautiful because He lives.

Anthony Chia, high.expressions

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Psalm 23:2-3 – The leading of the LORD, my Shepherd

Ps 23:2-3 - 2 He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, 3 he restores my soul. He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

Preamble

Psalm 23 is a psalm by King David. 

I have expounded on Ps 23:1 – The Lord is my shepherd,I shall NOT be in want.  In it we talked about if we truly are holding the Lord as our shepherd, we must mean what we declare; we must want to be led by the Shepherd, and NOT go about on our own, as if we got everything that we need to manoeuver through life, outright.

In today’s article, we look at how the Lord leads, as the shepherd of our life, when we follow Him wholeheartedly.

NOT we have arrived, but it is He is still leading, and we follow

This is the foremost thing we must all know and remember, that we are NOT arrived, but it is that we are to follow our Lord, our Shepherd, as he leads, and in the process we are to grow in holiness and godliness. 

All those teachings promoting we are arrived, perfect, not needing to seek righteousness, not needing be taught by another, having the full mind of Christ, cannot sin, having no need to be forgiven again and be cleansed of any unrighteousness from sins which we may commit from time to time, they are heretic.

Be led by the Spirit, the key to holiness and godliness

The metaphor of shepherd-sheep, found in both OT and NT, tells that we need to be led by the Shepherd.  Not only do we NOT be in want, in terms of sustenance, soul restoration, and righteousness guided (vv 2-3), we will find later (in subsequent verses, v4 & ….), that we need to be following after the Lord to be availing ourselves to protection, etc, etc. 

For the NT believer, be led by the Shepherd is the same as be led by the Spirit of God or the Holy Spirit or the Spirit of Christ, for all three, are referring to the same.  In the time of Jesus living on earth, it was as prophesized; Jesus was come, as the Emmanuel – God with us. The Jews then had Jesus living with them, and led them who were willing to follow after Him.  When Jesus went back to the Father God in Heaven on His death and resurrection, He was still with us, even for the present day, through His Spirit being with us; indwelling us, and leading us, if we let Him do so.

What does the Shepherd or the Spirit of Christ lead us to? Remember now, we are still living on earth, we are NOT dead, and so, Ps 23:2-3 is NOT about we have arrived or we had reached the endpoint, Heaven; green pastures, quiet waters, are NOT representing Heaven.  These verses are referring to here and now, as we live, following the Shepherd.  I repeat we have NOT got everything we need, outright, that we can go about, on our own; it is the Shepherd leads (leads by His Spirit), and we follow.

“He (the Lord) makes me lie down in green pastures, leads me besides quiet waters”, said the psalmist King David. Notice the plurals used, green pastures, and quiet waters.  In our life journey, as we continue to live, the Lord, by His Spirit, wants to lead us to green pastures and quiet waters; meaning, He wants to see us get to positions where our needs can be met.  It is NOT one position or place, but positions or places, just like the sheep would be led to different places of pasture and water.  Is it NOT true, for various reasons (weather change, invasion of beasts, etc), the man-shepherd would move the sheep to different pasturelands and waters, from time to time?  The shepherd knows when to direct the sheep to one piece of pasture, say, of young grass, to another, say of different grass specie; or from one place of quiet water that is going to freeze over, to another, that is NOT, for example. 

The point is that the shepherd wants the needs of the sheep met, and he would lead them to where such can be met.  The same too, is the Lord, as our Shepherd, doing, wanting our needs met.  That the Lord knows; it is the role of His, for you to be NOT in want (v1). What are our needs, in the eyes of the Lord?

Our needs, according to Ps 23:2-3

Green pastures and quiet waters.  What do these represent?  What the sheep needs; they are the diet of the sheep, what they need to take in to maintain mortality or physical life.  Putting us in, it means the Spirit leads us to positions of us having our sustenance.  In another psalm of David, Ps 37, he spoke of it this way (Ps 37:25) - I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread.  It would a failure of the Lord, if you truly are righteous (if follow Him absolutely, how can you NOT be righteous), and you have to go hungry and thirsty, for no apparent reason!  (Righteous ones can be persecuted, and he can only be persecuted when God allows it, and God does NOT allow it for no reason; even when we are aware NOT of the reason, or could NOT appreciate it).  In Matt 6:31-32, we read this: 31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.

Now, the verses talked about green pastures and quiet waters; the connotation is that the sustenance provided by the Lord is good, NOT lacking, and NOT fearful to be consumed.  Sheep is fearful of rushing waters, and will NOT drink from it; they will drink from quiet waters.

Not to worry; but what if I seem NOT able to sense the leading of the Lord? Do this:  Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition {supplication}, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God (Phil 4:6).

Ps 23:3 said He restores our soul.  In the KJ version, verse 3 is a new sentence, although in the NIV, it is NOT.  I do NOT read the satisfaction of our physical needs, of food and water, as all that is needed for restoration of our soul, although, it does NOT help an already devastated soul, if he is in dire hunger and thirst.  The soul, as the seat of emotion and passion (and is the life-participle), its well-being can be unperturbed by hunger and thirst, even impending physical death, but can be greatly troubled from disagreement with God or from being unrighteous. 

The KJ version puts restoration of soul with the paths of righteousness, and rightly it is to be so.  We read this, as continuation of Matt 6:31-32, which I have already quoted in the preceding paragraph, “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things {what you need} will be given {added} to you as well.” (Matt 6:33)

What is restoration of soul?  To restore something, first of all, has the connotation that, that something was originally of a certain manner or state, and now no longer of the same (manner or state); and to restore is to bring it back to the original state.  What was the original state of the soul?  What had happened to it? 

The original state of the human soul was that it was in agreement with God, and that simply was that the soul was righteous – right on with God, as to what He desired done and when He wanted it done; in short, in tune with God.  From the Fall of Man, in the Garden of Eden, the soul of Man was corrupted; it now needs to be guided in the paths of righteousness. 

The fallen soul needs to be restored, and the primary restoration with Jesus’ coming (first coming), is through we entering into salvation or be converted.  Even so, the soul continues to have the need to be maintained and guided.

There are 2 sets of paths opened to the soul, paths of unrighteousness, even evil, and the paths of righteousness which are the ways of God or of His kingdom.  We are exhorted to seek the paths of righteousness, and the Lord, through His Spirit, leads in such paths; evil leads the other set of paths.

Why does it say that – “for His name sake”? The 2 sets of paths lead to 2 very different endings or places; one, to eternal life in Heaven, to live with God, and the other, to torment in the lake of everlasting burning fire of Hell.  God’s people obviously are to go to Heaven; God’s name is at stake, for we, believers, are called His people, His children.  We as children of His, are to make it back to His heavenly dwelling place, Heaven; He knows (His part) and He is faithful to guides us in those paths of righteousness, that we may reach the desired ending; our failure does NOT reflect good on God.

If we follow the Shepherd, we shall NOT be in want – NOT in want of our sustenance (what we will eat, drink and wear or shelter), NOT in want of restoration of our soul, and NOT in want of the righteousness Guide (for the NT believers, He is the indwelling Spirit of Christ).  There are more, to what we would NOT be in want of, when we next look further down the psalm, in another article to come, on the remaining verses of this psalm.

Know rightly, and have faith

For those who read the 1^st article (The LORD is my shepherd; I shall NOT be in want) of this series, they will realize that I said that those who suggest the OT characters in the like of King David, could be saying and praying like any “half-baked” modern day believers who have NOT the correct understanding of how the ways of God are to work, they are so wrong to quickly jumped to the conclusion that such claims are of no validity.  We have to know what was said, rightly, and then, have faith; and note 3 very important things: one, perseverance is often needed (on our part), and two, God’s thoughts towards those who love Him are always good, and three, He is able. 

On perseverance, Rom 5:4 tells us that perseverance produces in us character, and well-developed character, is with hope in God, always.  On God's thoughts towards us, Jer 29:11 said this - For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.  And on God's ability, in Eph 3:20, we read it said of God this way: “Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think,…”, and in 2 Cor 9:8, we have this: And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.

Up to this point, remember this:

1 The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.  2 He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, 3 he restores my soul. He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

And, there is more ….

Anthony Chia, high.expressions

Comments are welcome here. Alternatively, email them to me @: high.expressions@gmail.com Or just email me your email address so that I can put you on my blog (new entry) notification list. To go back to blog main page, click here.