Good morning. I would like to ask you to turn to Psalm 23. I will read from the Authorized Version, the King James Version. This is the version from which I memorized this psalm when I first came to the Lord years ago, and those words have stayed with me. I think everybody is familiar with it: Psalm 23, David’s psalm.
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.
Let us commit these words to prayer.
Lord, once again, as we open Your Word together this morning, we confess our absolute dependence upon You. Lord, we say again, as Peter said in John 6, “Thou hast the words of eternal life. To whom shall we go?”
Lord, speak. We wait upon You. We ask that You would take Your Word—this psalm that so many of us love, whose words so many of us know—and breathe Your words of life into it. May we see in a greater way our blessed Good Shepherd.
Open our eyes. We would see Jesus. He is everything; He is all. So we commit this Word to You and pray that Your Holy Spirit would breathe upon it in a fresh and living way. Though we may be very familiar with it, Lord, we pray in the name of Jesus that the Holy Spirit will make it alive again to us this day, and that we will behold You in a fresh way. For this we ask in the name of our blessed Lord Jesus. Amen.
Somebody told me this morning that it has been a long time since I shared on Psalm 23, and they are right. In fact, I think it has been years upon years since I shared anything on this psalm. But recently, it seems that the Lord Jesus has burdened me to go back and reflect upon it—to consider how comprehensive it is, how full it is, and how much it shows us what we are and why we gather in His name.
When you look at this psalm, it is only six verses, but its power, breadth, and depth are amazing. I think everyone knows this psalm. From the youngest child, perhaps one of the first biblical truths ever recorded in memory is this shepherd song. You could go to almost every child in this room—and some people get offended when I call them kids, thinking I am calling them goats—but every child could probably quote Psalm 23 from the heart. What a beautiful treasure it is.
The title I would give this is not very imaginative. It is simply “The Shepherd’s Song.” But that title has a dual meaning. It is David’s psalm; everyone knows it is David’s song. Your Bible says, “A Psalm of David.” No one questions that.
But, dear brothers and sisters, this is where I want us to go this morning: it is far more than David’s song. It is the psalm of the Good Shepherd. It is the song of the Chief Shepherd. It is His song.
When you begin to look into the first verse, you see that David’s emphasis is not on David. It is not on David’s shepherding skills, nor on what David did in the field with the sheep, although certainly all of that influenced what he wrote. It is a focus upon the One described in Psalm 80:1: the Shepherd of Israel. That is the focus of this little song. It is the Shepherd’s Song.
My thoughts go immediately to John 10, when the Lord Jesus stood before His people and said, “I am the good shepherd.” Here is the Good Shepherd. Here is the One we serve. He is the Shepherd of His flock, and we are His flock.
It also leads me to 1 Peter 5:4:
And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away.
The Chief Shepherd is the subject of this psalm. It is who He is, and David focuses upon all that the Chief Shepherd is, all that He provides, and all that He desires to bring us into. That seems to me to be the heart of the Shepherd.
I read a number of things, and one statement I appreciated was Spurgeon’s description of this psalm as David’s “heavenly pastoral.” He said, “None of the daughters of music can excel this.” It is a psalm that everybody treasures and loves—whether you have just come to know the Lord and have known something of His goodness and mercy, or whether you have walked with the Lord for some time, passed through deep shadows and darkness, and known His provision to take you through everything. This song is a favorite.
There are at least two views concerning the occasion of this psalm. Some believe it was the product of David’s early years in the field as a shepherd, as he reflected upon God’s mercy and love. That is one view.
There is another view, and it is the one I like: that this psalm shows such maturity that it was written by an aged man looking back over all of God’s providences and declaring before the people of God what this Good Shepherd was like.
Regardless of your view, I am not going to press mine upon you. But I believe we can all come to one conclusion: when David begins this psalm, his emphasis is not upon himself. His emphasis is upon the Good Shepherd.
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
Brothers and sisters, all these years the Lord has gathered us together, and this has been the one thing upon our heart: all our focus must be upon the Good Shepherd. When our focus is upon the Good Shepherd, when our focus is upon God Himself, we soon discover the reality of the second part of that opening verse: “I shall not want.”
This was David’s emphasis, and I believe it should be ours. One brother put it this way: “The subject, the object, of this psalm is to lose oneself in the great current of the Divine Being.” I do not know whether that sounds strange to you, but the whole point of this psalm is that we, as the people of God, would lose ourselves in the current of the great Divine Being. Personally, I believe that is what the Christian life is about.
I like the title of the book The Purpose-Driven Life. I confess that I have not read all of it, but I love the title. One thing I did read said, “It’s not about you.” Isn’t that amazing? Dear saints, I think David saw that and recorded it forever in this song. It is all about Him. That seems to me to be the real reason we gather in His name.
It is a deeply personal psalm. I cannot think of any writing in literature that has meant more to people through the ages. I cannot think of any word that has given greater hope in dire circumstances. Even the dying have found immense hope in these words, and the living have found courage to go through life and know the provision of the Shepherd.
We are going to try to cover the whole psalm today, so stick with me. Since there was no meal, I assume I have that time as well. Maybe that is a bad assumption. If I see people begin to disappear early, I will know that is my cue.
There are three things I would like us to consider. If the Lord helps us focus upon these three things, I think they will help us understand at least part of this psalm as it has opened up to me:
First, the great need of the people of God is to see the complete Shepherd—not merely to see some things about the Shepherd, but to see Him in His fullness. When you behold the complete Shepherd, you begin to see His completed work and how great that work is.
Second, at the heart of this psalm is the consolation of the Shepherd. You cannot help but behold the comfort that comes from these few verses.
Third, the ending of the psalm has arrested my attention: we see the cause of the Shepherd. As the Lord has gathered us together as His people, do we see the complete Shepherd? Have we seen His complete work? Have we known something of His great comfort? Are we taken up with His cause?
This is the Shepherd’s Song.
Let us begin with the complete Shepherd. This first verse is astounding:
The Lord is my shepherd.
That is a powerful word. Do you realize how comprehensive it is? You could put it another way: the Lord Himself is my Shepherd. Isn’t that fantastic? He did not send some agent. He did not merely give some help or some way through. The psalmist declares that He Himself is my Shepherd.
God Himself has condescended to be your Shepherd. I think that is profound. I think that is spectacular. I do not know what excites you or causes your heart to rise in adoration, but when I behold from David’s words that “the Lord is my shepherd,” and when I too can say, “The Lord is my shepherd,” that is powerful.
This is who the Lord is. He is the Good Shepherd of the sheep. He is the Chief Shepherd who will appear. He is the Shepherd and Bishop of our souls. He is my Shepherd. That first word is so full and so complete. It takes in everything concerning His comprehensiveness.
You know my perspective already. I believe this aged man looked back and said to the people of God, “This is the lesson I have learned. This is life’s lesson: the Lord is my shepherd.” Those words never grow old. They are full of encouragement and complete in themselves.
You will notice that the psalmist did not begin with his need. Now, I know some of you may argue with that, but bear with me. He began with who the Shepherd was. There is a divine principle here: when we see the complete Shepherd, we will declare the second part of the verse. We will say, like David, “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.”
That is how complete He is. When you discover the Shepherd in all His comprehensiveness and fullness, you come to the conclusion: “I shall not want.” All of my need is wonderfully met in this complete One.
This is one of the great paradoxes. We are often focused upon our need, and I thank God that He meets our needs. I know Him as One who meets needs. But if our focus is our need, we will simply discover more need. It is like finding a string in your clothing and beginning to pull it. There seems to be no end to the string, and before long Linda asks, “What did you do?”
All our need is met in the complete Savior. That is the great paradox. I think it is like what the Lord meant in Matthew 10:
He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for My sake shall find it.
If we are always running around looking for all our needs to be met, we may discover that we have opened a huge can of worms. Understand where I am coming from: I am speaking about focus. Our focus must be upon the complete Shepherd. Then, when we behold all that He is, we make the same great discovery that the aged David made: “I shall not want.”
All our needs are comprehensively met in Christ Jesus. I believe that is the message of Colossians:
For in Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.
And ye are complete in Him.
Sometimes the world is scurrying around looking for completeness, wholeness, and fullness. But all the fullness of the Godhead bodily is in the Lord Jesus, and praise the Lord, the Word adds this phrase: “Ye are complete in Him.” Isn’t that beautiful?
If it said only that all the fullness of the Godhead bodily is in the Lord Jesus, it might seem like theory—something distant that I could never lay hold of. But then the Holy Spirit records, “And ye are complete in Him.” Full salvation. The complete Shepherd.
I will tell you a little of my history so you will know where I come from. I was saved in what was called the Jesus Movement. Young people may not even know what the Jesus Movement was; perhaps they think it happened two thousand years ago. But in the late 1960s and early 1970s, if you can imagine that I am that old, I believe there was a move of the Spirit. In that movement, the Lord graciously saved me, along with many others.
I will never forget that salvation experience. The impression is still upon my heart. I remember the night when I met the Savior. I came home filled with joy, filled with release from my sins, singing to the Savior—only a few hours old in the Lord. He was everything. It was as though He were everything.
But I soon discovered that, although I was saved in the charismatic movement, we often had various emphases. Sometimes the emphasis was power; sometimes it was gifts, grace, or love. We had all these emphases. Yet I remember as though it were yesterday when the Lord opened my eyes and I began to see that we are complete in Him. Everything is in the Lord Jesus.
I remember 1 Corinthians 1:30:
But of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption.
He has been made those things to me. I remember the impact of it. The Lord began to show me that our emphasis needs to be Christ Himself. In Christ, everything is provided.
Let me use an illustration which may help you, or it may confuse you. Today everything is about superstores. I went to a Walmart Superstore, and it was such a huge place that you almost need GPS to avoid getting lost. I concluded that if I ever got lost in the world, I would want to be lost in a Walmart Superstore. You could live forever there: get your food there, sleep there, get your entertainment there. There is even a story of a man who lived in one for five days before they found him.
Why? Because in that one place, everything is there. Do you see the point? I hope you do not think it is too demeaning, but in the Lord Jesus is God’s superstore. Everything is there. He is complete. All we need is in Christ Jesus. All we want is in Christ Jesus. All that will make us whole is in Christ Jesus. Everything God has provided is through Christ Jesus.
Dear ones, this is the basis upon which we stand: Christ, the all-sufficient One. He is enough.
I remember the first time I saw the phrase, “Christ all in all.” It lit up in the Word of God. It seemed to jump off the page, and I said, “Lord, that is it. You are all in all. There is not a thing lacking.”
This is what I believe the psalmist meant when he said, “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.”
Years ago, in 1972, Jerry and I came among these brothers and sisters. I remember some dear older ladies. I have recently apologized for calling them “dear old ladies,” because I have now exceeded their age. They look mighty young to me from this side of the picture.
I remember the difference, the heart, and the passion of those few women. I believe God put something in their hearts. They spoke of Christ as everything, and I knew in my spirit that this was right. It drew me to Him, and it changed me forever. What a passion. I resolved, “Lord, give me this singular passion. This is who we are.”
One of those dear ladies gave me a tract, and it has remained in my Bible all these years. The title was Himself. What an impression it made upon me.
I was once with a Christian and Missionary Alliance pastor, and I was so excited to tell him about A. B. Simpson. I said, “Wasn’t that tremendous—Himself? Wasn’t that tremendous what A. B. Simpson saw?” I remember the blank look on his face, and I thought, “Have they lost this vital truth?”
This is part of that tract:
It is not the blessing—praise God for His blessings.
It is not the healing—praise God, we believe He heals.
It is not the sanctification—praise God, He sanctifies us wholly.
It is not the thing.
Notice the focus. It is not the it. It is Christ. It is Himself.
How often that comes out in His Word: “Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses”; “Himself bare our sins in His own body on the tree.” In the person of Jesus Christ is all we want.
Plenty of people get the idea and do not get anything out of it. They receive it in their head, conscience, and will, but somehow do not receive Him into their life and spirit. They have only an outward expression and the symbol of reality. Brothers and sisters, I believe this is all we are about: in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and we are complete in Him.
You can look at the Bible and see doctrine. You can look at the Bible and see words. Or you can look at the Bible and see “the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” in 2 Corinthians 4:6.
One man told of seeing a copper plate upon which the Constitution of the United States had been engraved. It was masterful work. He beheld these glorious words, but when he stood back and looked at the copper plate, it was the face of the Lord Jesus.
That is what I am saying. May we be able to say, like David:
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
Now, in verse 2, David’s emphasis does not change. I used to think it changed, but it does not. Notice the repetition of the pronoun “He.” In the next two verses, “He” and “His” occur five times:
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.
He, He, He, His. David’s whole focus was upon Him. He saw not only the complete Shepherd, but the complete work that the Shepherd performs for His sheep.
Notice the first provision: “He maketh me to lie down in green pastures.” The provisions of the Lord are so lush that you can actually lie down in them.
Many of you may be city people—I am too, at least a suburbanite—but as a child, I loved to lie down in deep grass. I did not always like the bugs I picked up from it, but I loved to lie down in that deep, cool grass and roll around.
The provisions from this complete Shepherd are so full, so deep, and so surpassing that everything is provided in those pastures. Of course, it points to His Word. It points to what Paul writes in Ephesians concerning “the unsearchable riches of Christ.” This is what we can lie down in. This is where we find our comfort.
There is a second provision: “He leadeth me beside the still waters.” I think most of you have heard the phrase, “Still waters run deep.”
These are not shallow rapids full of obstacles and danger. The psalmist says, “He leadeth me beside the still waters.” To me, this opens up what the writer of Hebrews says concerning the rest we have in the Lord Jesus.
I wonder whether many of us do not have rest. I will speak for myself. If you do not believe me, ask Linda—she will tell you that I am a restless soul.
Yet His complete work is that He leads us beside still waters. Hebrews 4 says:
There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.
Hebrews 4:1 also gives this warning:
Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into His rest, any of you should seem to come short of it.
This is a warning in the Word of God. I was brought back to Matthew 11. I think everyone knows these verses, but there is a dual rest here:
Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
The first rest points to the initial rest we have in Christ Jesus. I remember the day I came to the Lord Jesus and the burden rolled away. There was immediate peace—peace I could hardly communicate to my friends. I went to school the next day, and my friends thought I had flipped my lid. But there was immediate rest in Christ Jesus.
Yet the passage goes on: “Take My yoke upon you. Learn of Me.” Notice the phrase: “Ye shall find rest unto your souls.” There are two rests. There is a rest we enter into when we come to the Lord Jesus.
According to 2 Corinthians 5:17:
Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
That is initial rest. But there is another rest: the rest of entering into all that we are in Christ Jesus. There is rest for our souls. We do not have to be restless. Linda may never believe that I will change from being a restless soul, but we do not have to be restless. We can find complete rest in Christ Jesus.
The third thing you notice in the psalm is this: “He restoreth my soul.” What a powerful word. Can you believe it? The soul damaged by disobedience and sin is restored by this complete Shepherd.
All that has been damaged, all that sin has wrought in our lives, can be overcome because He restores us to Himself and in Himself. There is a brother in this room, whom I will not mention because he is here, for whom this verse is his whole testimony:
He restoreth my soul.
Thank God for that complete work of the Shepherd.
But there is also an ongoing work of the Shepherd. Turn with me to 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24. We have been reading about this, and I think most of us have heard Steven’s messages on it:
And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Faithful is He that calleth you, who also will do it.
Brothers and sisters, that is good news. This is what David understood. Not only is He the One who restores our soul when He brings us into Christ, but the ongoing work of sanctification is His work. “Faithful is He that calleth you, who also will do it.”
How we need to hold on to that Word as we go through this sanctifying process every day. This is the Shepherd’s work, not my work. I cannot imagine being left to myself to sanctify myself, to separate myself unto God. How far do you think I would get?
Then David says, “He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.” Notice those words: “He leadeth me.” There is a beautiful hymn, perhaps we do not sing it: “He leadeth me, He leadeth me.” Aren’t those beautiful words?
It reminds me of Hebrews 12:2: “Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.” I like to put it this way: He is the Leader and the Completer of our faith. Did you ever notice that second part? The Leader and the Completer of your faith. This was the psalmist’s testimony: “He leadeth me.”
I wonder whether our problem is that we are not looking steadfastly unto Jesus. Some of you are baseball fans. I have to admit I am not, although even I get a little excited at this time of year. I watched some of the World Series the other night. I was a Detroit fan simply because I thought it would be good for them to win. They did not, as you know, which shows what I know about baseball.
But when I used to play ball as a child, I loved it. We played twice a day. One thing they always said was, “Keep your eye on the ball.” I will never forget it.
Now I have taken up golf. It is a lot less strenuous, and I find I am about as good at golf as I was at baseball. They tell me the same thing today: “Keep your eye on the ball.” All my troubles in golf happen when I take my eye off the ball. I am looking for a beautiful drive like Tiger Woods; the setup is perfect, and then I take my eye off the ball, and it goes dribbling down the fairway—not even to the ladies’ tees.
Why? Because I took my eye off the ball.
I hope you understand what this means:
Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.
That is keeping your eye on the ball.
So, brothers and sisters, in this first part of the psalm, we see the complete Shepherd. Everything is provided in the Shepherd, and His work is complete. It is comprehensive in nature. It meets all our needs, gives us perfect rest, restores our souls, and leads us in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.
Isn’t that comprehensive? To me, that is amazing. This should be our testimony when we say:
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
Now let us look at verses 4 and 5. I think everyone knows these verses, and if you belong to the Lord, these words have meant something to you at one time or another. If you are not the Lord’s, perhaps they have meant little more than poetry. But I believe they have significant meaning.
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.
What is the psalmist saying? I believe he takes two worst-case scenarios and shows us the consolation of the Shepherd in the very worst circumstances.
If the Lord Jesus can meet us in death, in the valley of the shadow of death; if He can be everything to us in the presence of our enemies; if His anointing can come upon us and we can know the abundant life that overflows—then we walk with Him and have victory. That is what he says: in the worst possible circumstances.
This is not merely poetry. One writer said that this valley of the shadow of death was so deep and dark that not even the midday sun could reach its bottom. Yet the psalmist says:
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil: for Thou art with me.
What beautiful words. Notice that he says, “walk through.” Every Christian should understand that. We are not going to stop dead in the valley of the shadow of death. We walk through the valley.
Not only that, but he calls it the valley of the shadow of death. It is only a shadow. I do not know what you have been through. Many of us have passed through deep things, and they seemed like the darkest moments of our lives—valleys so dark that we wondered aloud, “Lord, will You get me through this? Is it possible?”
It is only a shadow. One brother said, “The shadow of a dog cannot bite you.”
When I was a child, fear was my main problem. I remember coming home alone in the dark one night and setting a land-speed record on my bike. I think it may still be in the book of records somewhere. I heard sounds and was fearful until the Lord delivered me from fear. Darkness made me afraid. Sounds made me afraid. I always thought something was going to get me.
But the psalmist says, “I will fear no evil.”
Recently, I have seen those bumper stickers and shirts that say, “No Fear.” I do not know exactly what they mean, but only the believer can truly say, “No fear.” We fear no evil.
I teased one of the brothers on Friday night. I said that I think we ought to market a new bumper sticker: “One Fear.” The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Do not take that idea and make money from it, because I intend to someday.
Only the Christian can say, “No fear.” How can we say that? There is only one reason:
For Thou art with me.
It is the presence of the Lord that takes away fear. That is it.
Psalm 139:7-8 says:
Whither shall I go from Thy Spirit?
Or whither shall I flee from Thy presence?
If I ascend up into heaven, Thou art there:
If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, Thou art there.
The whole point the psalmist makes is that the one thing we have is the presence of the Almighty. The reason we can say, “I will fear no evil,” is because “Thou art with me.” Isn’t that beautiful?
What did the Lord say? “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.” The presence of the Lord is our stand and our testimony.
The Lord said concerning His church in Matthew 18:20:
For where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them.
His presence—that is our secret. That is the key.
Turning back to Psalm 23, David uses a second extreme:
Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies:
Thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
Think about what this is saying. In the presence of war, God the Shepherd provides a table for us in the presence of our enemies. That is unlikely. I have never been in the service, but I do not normally think of war as the place for a banquet table.
Yet I have watched enough history to see that in the great European and Napoleonic wars, grand tents would be set up for the emperor in the midst of battle. There would be fine silver, linen, wine, and food right in the heart of the battle—cannons going off and conflict all around. There was a table in the presence of enemies.
What does that remind you of? This is why we gather. We have come this morning to the table of the Lord. Our testimony is that right in the heart of this world, right in the midst of battle and spiritual darkness, we assemble at the table of the Lord. He has prepared a table before us in the presence of our enemies.
This is why we gather every week. This is our testimony. We are here to say that the Lord Jesus is everything. He is complete, and in Him all that we need is provided.
We gather at the table of the Lord and testify that His presence is with us. Not only is His presence with us, but He provides a table for us in the presence of our enemies. That is the consolation of the Shepherd. What comfort that is.
“Thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.” I do not know whether we fully appreciate what that means, because most of us in the West have little idea of the custom. In the East, when you entered a home, precious ointment or perfume could be poured upon your head. Then a cup, glass, or chalice would be filled intentionally until it ran over upon the table. Your cup was running over.
If you came to my house and I poured perfume on your head and filled your cup until it overflowed onto Linda’s table, I would be in real trouble, and you would be amazed. But we need to understand the spiritual picture.
“Thou anointest my head with oil.” Everyone is talking about the anointing, but it again points to the complete Shepherd. When the Head was anointed—when the Lord Jesus was anointed—and that oil ran down His head, His beard, as the psalmist says, even Aaron’s beard, and to the hem of His garment, this became our testimony.
We, as the body of Christ, have received that full anointing in the Lord Jesus. It has come upon the Head, and by one Spirit we have been baptized into one body in Christ. The anointing comes from the Head, and every member of the body receives that anointing.
Secondly, our cup overflows. This points to the abundant life we have in Christ Jesus. When the Lord Jesus came in John 10 and declared that He was the Good Shepherd, He said:
I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.
That overflowing cup is the life of the Lord Jesus. That overflowing abundance, that abundant life, is in the Lord Jesus. This is the Shepherd’s Song. This is the consolation of the Shepherd.
Finally, let me end with this last point. The way this psalm ends is interesting:
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.
It seems to me that everything in the first two points builds toward this end. When I look over David’s life, I see that David saw something of the heart of God that changed his life.
You remember the stories. When Saul was rejected, God said of David in 1 Samuel 13:14 that He had sought “a man after His own heart.” You know that.
You remember how Solomon records concerning David in 1 Kings 8 that David had in his heart to build a house unto the Lord. God said, “It was well that it was in thine heart.” That was not merely Solomon speaking; it was God saying, “David, it was good that this was in your heart.” Something in David’s heart changed his life.
It is the cause of the Shepherd. I wonder: do we have something in our hearts like David had?
I think it is in 1 Chronicles, perhaps in 1 Kings, where David says:
Now I have prepared with all my might for the house of my God.
Think of it: “With all my might.” David also declared at that time that, because of his affection for the house of his God, he had prepared silver and gold, and he went on and on.
David ended this psalm by saying, “I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.” I wonder, brothers and sisters, because I think this gets to the heart of who we are and why we meet.
Years ago, the Lord put something in the hearts of a few people. It was contagious. It caught us. It laid hold of us. Something of an affection for the house of God came into us, and thank God, it never left.
I believe that, in the end, God is looking for those who not only see the complete Shepherd, who not only know something of the comfort and consolation of the Shepherd, but who also know the cause of the Shepherd.
I believe that is why Acts 13:36 records:
For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep.
Saints, this is what I want to conclude with: Has something of God’s heart touched your heart? Or, in the end, have you simply seen how good and merciful He is, been comforted along the way, been taken through deep trials, dark shadows, and enemies, and been given something of His fullness?
When David looked back, he said:
And I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.
This is God’s heart, and I believe it is why we meet. Our prayer has been through these years, however weak we have been and however much we have failed: “Lord, help us to satisfy something that is in Your heart.”
Help us, Lord, toward that one purpose and that one end. We believe that if this is our end, as it was David’s end, then we have a life full of purpose in the purpose of God.
Let us pray.
Lord, we thank You for this little psalm. It is so comprehensive. We thank You for the fullness that we see in it. We pray that we, like David, will see the Good Shepherd in a new and full way.
O God, open our eyes to see what we have in Christ Jesus. Open our eyes to behold all the fullness that is in Christ. May we be able to say, like David, “We shall not want.”
Open our eyes, Lord Jesus, to see the completeness of Your work, so that we can declare, as Your Word declares, that it is a finished work.
Lord, we pray that You would help us to see Your consolation, Your mercies, and Your comfort; to know that it is Your presence, and that at Your table we have full consolation. In the fullness of Your overflowing life, we have complete living.
Dear Lord, if I have not made it clear, forgive me. Cause our eyes to see beyond what we get and to see Your cause—to behold with our own inner eyes the cause of the Shepherd.
For we ask it in Jesus’ name. Amen.