A Reflection on Psalm 23 by Rev. J. Patrick Bowman A Psalm of David. The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want.

2He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters. 3He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness For His names sake. 4Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. 5You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You have anointed my head with oil; My cup overflows. 6Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life, And I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever. David had little to sing about in the natural. He was in exile from his people, living sometimes with strangers and sometimes even with his enemies. Saul was after him. He constantly had to look over his shoulder. He was homeless, tired, hungry, and discouraged. There is restlessness in the soul of those who have no place of their own to lay their head. David was tired. Always on the go. Always looking to see who was after him. Constantly pushing himself, seeking a refuge from his troubles. David and his men were hungry, having to rely on the kindness of strangers for provision. What realms of discouragement he must have felt. It was not after his troubles were over that David wrote this psalm. It wasnt on the other side of illness. It wasnt on the other side of financial pressure. It wasnt on the other side of strained relationships. It wasnt on the other side of shattered dreams. It wasnt after all the questions had been answered. It was in the midst of his troubles that David made this profession of faith

23:1The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want. I can imagine David, in this state of upheaval, remembering back to his own days as a shepherd. He knew firsthand the needs of the sheep as well as the loving care that he gave them as their shepherd. He was a shepherd who now put himself in the place of the sheep to be shepherded. David knew that as much as he loved his sheep and provided for their every need, that God loved him more. He was willing to lay his dependency at the feet of the Great Shepherd, to humble himself, and position himself in a place of reliance upon and receiving from the Shepherd of his soul. We notice the personal place of humility that David assumed; The Lord is my shepherd. Yes, Hes a big God. Yes, He cares for all the sheep. But at that particular moment, it was a confession between one man and his God. The Lordship of Jesus in our lives is a personal relationship. Many things can be done corporately in the Body of Christ, but we must make Him our Savior, Shepherd, and Redeemer by an act of individual will. David then says, because of his own position of humility and Gods position of oversight, I shall not want. Those around me in the world with more money, power, position, and resources may seemingly have it all, but they will still want. Whether it is in the temporal things or in the spiritual things, those that know their God as the Great Shepherd shall lack in nothing. No matter the economy, no matter the government, no matteras the closing verses of Romans 8 say--neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. 2He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters. Where the grass is thick and lush, thats where I want to lay down. Thats where I want to eat my fill and find my rest. Sweet and full are Gods promises in His Word. We need look no further. The grass is not greener on the other side. David knew what he was after. He wanted the same things he looked for as a shepherd for his flock: provender and peace, refreshment and rest. There is a ditch on either side of true faith and practice. False
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teachers, false shepherds, will try to take away from or add to the Word of God. Either error removes our refreshment and rest and leaves us in the ditch of want and ruin. But if we, by faith, dig in to the riches of His glory in Christ Jesus, and yield our will to His will, He will make us to lie down in the good, green, living pastures. David longed for the rest of green pastures but also for the leading to the quiet waters. The Spirit Himself leads us quietly to the deep wells of the Spirit. These again are personal waters. They are waters of perfection. The Spirit fits or perfects us in the personal, silent, dark places of our lives. Paul eludes to these deep waters of the Spirit in Romans 8:26-27 when he says, In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. David undoubtedly knew his sheep well. He knew from his relationship with them their characteristics, their habits, their likes. He knew what made them happy and he knew what would bring them harm. David here acknowledges his need to be known like that and proclaims that he is known like that. His Shepherd knows where to take him; not only to the tall grass but to the deep waters. Discipleship is all but removed from the church today, or at such a shallow level that it has little effect. It takes consistency over time in the disciplines of prayer, study, solitude, fellowship, and service to cultivate the deep places within. We are not called to make Christians; we are called to make disciples.

3He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness For His names sake. We so often read the first line of verse 3 as an add-on to verse 2. But verse 3 stands by itself, connecting restoration of soul with walking in righteousness. David longed for restoration in the natural realm of food, rest, and safety, but also for the restoration of his inner man. And he knew the only way to get that was to follow Gods leading into righteousness. Not
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just righteousness as a thing to be held up and examined from all angles, but the ways or paths of righteousness; the practical ways we walk out our salvation. Our salvation, in the fullest expression of the word, saves not just from the penalty of sin, but saves from the power of sin in our lives. Sanctification is that process by which we move from being saved to living saved. If our justification is the front door to the kingdom of God, sanctification is the tour guide to the rest of the estate. He guides me in the paths of righteousness. And its for His names sake. God gets no glory in a shallow, Bless Me Lord Relationship. It may start there at the front door, but as He leads us in paths of righteousness, he expects us to follow Him all the way in. That is where He is glorified. John 15:8 says, My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples. Romans 12:1-2 says, Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. Both Jesus and Paul called for more than just a front door experience with God. This is what David longed for and this is what David proclaimed he was walking in. 4Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. So often we focus in this verse on the valley of the shadow of death, and we gloss over Even though I walk through. I want to suggest that the walking through is related to the paths of righteousness in verse 3, and that often times these paths will lead us to the valleys of our lives where our flesh is crucified. Its the shadow of death. Its not a physical death, but a death to self, where we present our bodies a living sacrifice. And that living sacrifice will hurt. Sure, David had physical needs. As we saw before, he was hungry and tired. But he was also discouraged. He had many internal questions. Why God, have you led me here? Why, if Im Your man, am I hiding in caves, while the proud, arrogant, Saul, lives in splendor and pursues me? I believe the Why questions within David were far harder for him to deal with than the external circumstances, as bad as they were.

But David also remembered the times he had led his flocks through some precarious places. Did David purposely take his flock into the presence of the lion and bear? Of course not. Yet they found him and his flock. There are things in our lives that sneak up on us unawares and turn our green pastures into valleys of the shadow of death. We have to deal with things in our lives that we would just as soon ignore. These are the paths of righteousness that lead us to the valley of the shadow of death. Remember, it was the confidence David gained in dealing with the lion and bear that gave him faith to deal with Goliath. As David walked, so we walk. Yet David feared no evil because God was with Him. David needed God to be with him and here proclaimed that God, the Good Shepherd, was with him. If God was leading him in these personal paths of righteousness, through the valley, He was indeed with him. If we stay on the paths God has prepared beforehand that we should walk in them, we need not fear where these paths will lead us. The rod and staff of the Shepherd gave David comfort. The rod and staff are the same. It is in the application that we make the distinction. God both directs and protects. Davids own sheep were protected and directed by the staff that he held. This speaks to me of Gods grace. Can amazing grace at times also be abrasive grace? Was David above wacking a sheep on the backside to keep it out of harms way? Does God, in His grace, correct us? Hebrews 12 says so. 4 You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin; 5 and you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons, MY SON, DO NOT REGARD LIGHTLY THE DISCIPLINE OF THE LORD, NOR FAINT WHEN YOU ARE REPROVED BY HIM; 6FOR THOSE WHOM THE LORD LOVES HE DISCIPLINES, AND HE SCOURGES EVERY SON WHOM HE RECEIVES. 7 It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? 8 But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. 9 Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we
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respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live? 10 For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness. 11 All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness. Paul here connects discipleship with righteousness. So did David. 5You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You have anointed my head with oil; My cup overflows. David now moves through the valley of despair to a place of abiding hope and faith. All good men and women have enemies. The world is at enmity with the Spirit and therefore there will always be those who oppose us. Could it be that God purposes this enmity so that we are no so attracted and captivated by the world? David here is proclaiming the provision of God within a world system that is hostile toward God. David knew that he was in the world, but not of it. If we, too will fully realize this, we will not be surprised by either the hostility of the world or Gods provision for us in it. Perhaps David was recollecting on when he came to his brothers who were faced off with the armies of Israel against the Philistines. Perhaps he remembered bringing them food at his fathers bidding and spreading a table before them in the midst of their enemies. Perhaps he thought, If I was willing to do this for my brothers who thought the least of me, will not the Shepherd of my Soul, who loves me with a fervent love, do the same for me? We read in 1 Sam. 16:13 Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers; and the Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon David from that day forward. David possessed not only the Word of the Lord spoken over him as Samuel anointed him as Sauls future replacement, but he had a measure of the Spirit that overflowed him. In 2 Tim 1:5-6 Paul talks to Timothy of the faith in him and tells Timothy, For this reason I remind you to kindle afresh the gift of God which is in you
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through the laying on of my hands. This was Davids rekindling moment as he stirred up what had been given to him in both Word and Spirit. He was remembering who he was, not in his own sight, but in Gods. 6Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life, And I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever. David here saw beyond his current circumstances to a glorious future. It wasnt Saul who would follow him all the days of his life, it was goodness and lovingkindness. He saw that his trip through the valley was only preparation for the glory to come. Paul echoes this same sentiment, in writing his second letter to the Corinthians, when he states, Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal (2Cor 4:16-18). So we see in Psalm 23 that David was very well aware of the natural trials and limitations that surrounded him. Yes he was hungry, tired, and discouraged, but a greater reality within him cried out. We also see a man of faith that proclaimed those things that were hidden as though they were manifest. And it was in that proclaiming in the hard place that inaugurated Gods glory in him.