PSALM 23 COMME�TARY

WRITTE� A�D EDITED BY GLE�� PEASE

I quote many different authors in this study. Some are old and some are new, but all add a great deal to the whole commentry. If anyone I quote does not want their valued imput to be shared in this way, they can let me know, and I will delete it from this study. My email address is gdpease1@gmail.com

I�TRODUCTIO�

SPURGEO�, "There is no inspired title to this psalm, and none is needed, for it records no special event, and needs no other key than that which every Christian may find in his own bosom. It is David's Heavenly Pastoral; a surpassing ode, which none of the daughters of music can excel. The clarion of war here gives place to the pipe of peace, and he who so lately bewailed the woes of the Shepherd tunefully rehearses the joys of the flock. Sitting under a spreading tree, with his flock around him, like Bunyan's shepherd-boy in the Valley of Humiliation, we picture David singing this unrivalled pastoral with a heart as full of gladness as it could hold; or, if the psalm be the product of his after-years, we are sure that his soul returned in contemplation to the lonely water-brooks which rippled among the pastures of the wilderness, where in early days she had been wont to dwell. This is the pearl of psalms whose soft and pure radiance delights every eye; a pearl of which Helicon need not be ashamed, though Jordan claims it. Of this delightful song it may be affirmed that its piety and its poetry are equal, its sweetness and its spirituality are unsurpassed.The position of this psalm is worthy of notice. It follows the twenty-second, which is peculiarly the Psalm of the Cross. There are no green pastures, no still waters on the other side of the twenty-second psalm. It is only after we have read, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" that we come to "The Lord is my Shepherd." We must by experience know the value of blood-shedding, and see the sword awakened against the Shepherd, before we shall be able truly to know the Sweetness of the good Shepherd's care.It has been said that what the nightingale is among birds, that is this divine ode among the psalms, for it has sung sweetly in the ear of many a mourner in his night of weeping, and has bidden him hope for a morning of joy. I will venture to compare it also to the lark, which sings as it mounts, and mounts as it sings, until it is out of sight, and even then is not out of hearing. �ote the last words of the psalm—"I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever;" these are celestial notes, more fitted for the eternal mansions than for these dwelling places below the clouds. Oh that we may enter into the spirit of the psalm as we read it, and then we shall experience the days of heaven upon the earth!

BEECHER, "Whole Psalm. David has left no sweeter Psalm than the short twenty-third. It is but a moment's opening of his soul; but, as when one, walking the winter street sees the door opened for some one to enter, and the red light streams a moment forth, and the forms of gay children are running to greet the comer, and genial music sounds, though the door shuts and leaves the night black, yet it cannot shut back again all that the eyes, the ear, the heart, and the imagination have seen—so in this Psalm, though it is but a moment's opening of the soul, are emitted truths of peace and consolation that will never be absent from the world. The twenty-third Psalm is the nightingale of the Psalms. It is small, of a homely feather, singing shyly out of obscurity; but, oh! it has filled the air of the whole world with melodious joy, greater than the heart can conceive. Blessed be the day on which that Psalm was born! What would you say of a pilgrim commissioned of God to travel up and down the earth singing a strange melody, which, when one heard, caused him to forget whatever sorrows he had? And so the singing angel goes on his way through all lands, singing in the language of every nation, driving away trouble by the pulses of the air which his tongue moves with divine power. Behold just such an one! This pilgrim God has sent to speak in every language on the globe. It has charmed more griefs to rest than all the philosophy of the world. It has remanded to their dungeon more felon thoughts, more black doubts, more thieving sorrows, than there are sands on the sea-shore. It has comforted the noble host of the poor. It has sung courage to the army of the disappointed. It has poured balm and consolation into the heart of the sick, of captives in dungeons, of widows in their pinching griefs, of orphans in their loneliness. Dying soldiers have died easier as it was read to them; ghastly hospitals have been illuminated; it has visited the prisoner, and broken his chains, and, like Peter's angel, led him forth in imagination, and sung him back to his home again. It has made the dying Christian slave freer than his master, and consoled those whom, dying, he left behind mourning, not so much that he was gone, as because they were left behind, and could not go too. �or is its work done. It will go singing to your children and my children, and to their children, through all the generations of time; nor will it fold its wings till the last pilgrim is safe, and time ended; and then it shall fly back to the bosom of God, whence it issued, and sound on, mingled with all those sounds of celestial joy which make heaven musical for ever. Henry Ward Beecher, in "Life Thoughts."

TRAPP, 'This Psalm may well be called David's bucolicon, or pastoral, so daintily hath he struck upon the whole string, through the whole hymn. Est Psalmis honorabilis, saith Aben-ezra; it is a noble Psalm, written and sung by David, not when he fled into the forest of Hareth (1 Samuel 22:5), as some Hebrews will have it; but when as having overcome all his enemies, and settled his kingdom, he enjoyed great peace and quiet, and had one foot, as it were, upon the battlements of heaven. The Jews at this day use for most part to repeat this Psalm after they are sat down to meat. John Trapp.

PLUMER, " Some pious souls are troubled because they cannot at all times, or often, use, in its joyous import, the language of this Psalm. Such should remember

that David, though he lived long, never wrote but one twenty-third Psalm. Some of his odes do indeed express as lively a faith as this, and faith can walk in darkness. But where else do we find a whole Psalm expressive of personal confidence, joy, and triumph, from beginning to end? God's people have their seasons of darkness and their times of rejoicing. William S. Plumer.

Bob Deffinbaugh, "The shepherd image was very common in the ancient �ear East78 and very obviously based upon one of the principal occupations of that day. The Israelites, in particular, were known as shepherds (cf. Gen. 46:28-34). The term “shepherd” came to be used in a much broader way,79 describing leadership either of an individual or a group. Jacob spoke of God as “The God who has been my shepherd all my life …” (Gen. 48:15; cf. 49:24). The title of shepherd was given to kings, especially David (2 Sam. 5:2; 7:7; Ps. 78:71), and the Messiah who was to come, of whom David was a type (Ezek. 34:23-24; Mic. 5:4). Thus the Lord Jesus identified himself as the Good Shepherd (John 10:11; cf. Heb. 13:20; 1 Pet. 2:25; 5:4).

DR. WARRE� WIERSBE, "This psalm is a summary of the Christian life. Verses 1 and 2 speak of childhood. Children need protection and provision. God loves and watches over them. Verse 3 speaks of youth. Teenagers need direction and discipline. The Great Shepherd finds these wandering youth and brings them back. Verses 4 and 5 talk about the middle years. These are not easy years, when the children are growing up and there are bills to pay. Verse 6 speaks of the mature years.

David H. Roper, "This, of course, is a psalm of David. We know something of the circumstances of its composition. In the fifteenth chapter of Second Samuel there is recorded the instance in David's life when his own son rebelled against him and toppled him from the throne. David was forced to flee into the Judean wilderness with his family and servants, and for a period of time he was unable to reclaim his throne. His life was in jeopardy and he was hunted and hounded for a number of months. Perhaps, because so much of his early life had been spent as a shepherd in that same wilderness, the circumstances recalled his shepherd life. The images in this psalm are drawn right out of his experience as a young shepherd.

This is a psalm for people who, like David, are experiencing a major upheaval in their life. Perhaps you too have children who are rebelling, or your home is in turmoil, or some long-standing relationship in your life is breaking up. This psalm is written for you. It is a psalm for people who are shaken and in turmoil.

Tom Steller, "The 23rd Psalm is the John 3:16 of the Old Testament. Almost every Christian has memorized John 3:16. "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life." The same is true for Psalm 23. It is probably the most memorized text of the

old Testament."

J. R. MILLER, "IT is worthy of our thought how much poorer the world would be if the little Twenty-third Psalm had never been written. Think what a ministry this psalm has had these three thousand years, as it has gone up and down the world, singing itself into men's hearts, and breathing its quiet peace into their spirits. How many sorrows has it comforted! How many tears has it dried! How many pilgrims has it lighted through life's dark valleys! Perhaps no other single portion of the Bible not even the four teenth of St. John's Gospel is read so often or has so wrought itself into religious experience. It is the children's psalm, to many the first words of Holy Scripture learned at a mother's knee. Then, it is the old people's psalm ; oft-times, with quivering voice, it is repeated by aged saints as the night comes on. Then, all the years between youth and old age. this psalm is read. It is the psalm of the sick-room ; how many sufferers have been quieted and comforted by its words of assurance and peace ! It is the psalm for the death-bed ; scarcely ever does a Christian die, but these sweet words are said or sung Thousands of times it has been repeated by dying Christians themselves, especially the words about the valley of the shadow of death, as they passed into the valley. It is the psalm for the funeral service, read countless times beside the coffin where a Christian sleeps in peace.

I cannot think of anything in all the list of the world's achievements that I would rather have done than write the Twenty-third Psalm. To compose any sweet hymn that lives, and sings itself into people's hearts, giving cheer, com fort, or hope, making men and women stronger, truer, and braver, is a noble privilege. It is a great thing to have written "Bock of Ages, cleft for me," "Jesus, Lover of my soul," or "�earer, my God, to thee;" but, of all hymns which have been born into this world, I think I would rather have written David's Shepherd's Psalm. I would

rather be the author of this little song than be the builder of the pyramids. Earth's noblest, divinest achievement is to start songs in the world's wintry air, to sing into its weary hearts something of heaven's music. �ot many of us will be permitted to write a twenty-third psalm to bless men with its strains of sweet peace; but we may at least make our life a song, a sweet hymn of peace, whose music shall gladden, com fort, and cheer weary pilgrims as they pass along life's rough ways.

OUTLI�E BY VA� COCHRA�EDavid's Shepherd

The Shepherd's presence

YHWH is the shepherd (v. 1a) His sheep never lack (v. 1b)

The Shepherd's provision

Rest (v. 2a) Refreshment (v. 2b) Restoration (v. 3a)

The Shepherd's protection

Guidance (v. 3b) Safe passage (v. 4) Confidence before enemies (v. 5a) Personal touch (v. 5b) Abundant blessing (v. 5c)

The Shepherd's purpose

Lifelong devotion (v. 6a) Eternal relationship (v. 6b)

A psalm of David.

1 The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.

1. We tend to think of the shepherd as first of all a guider, but here we see that he is pictured first as a provider. Sheep need things, and so do believers. All God's people have needs for survival and for pleasure, and this Psalm makes it clear that the shepherd considers it his responsibility and duty to provide what makes life possible and enjoyable with food and a pleasant environment. As you read through this Psalm you will see that the Shepard provides provisions, peace, protection, pardon, purpose and paradise. Or, in other words, everything we need for time and eternity. He is the ultimate provider.

Pastor R. I. Williams telephoned his sermon topic to the �orfolk Ledger Dispatch saying, "The Lord is my Shepherd." "Is that all," he was asked. He replied, "That's enough." On the church page his topic was listed as "The Lord is my Shepherd-That's Enough." The pastor liked it, and chose the expanded version for his topic in the church bulletin. When you consider what the Shepherd provides in this Psalm, you will have to agree that if he is your Shepherd, that is enough, for he provided it all. Here in awesome simplicity is the essence of all Biblical theology. If Jesus is your Shepherd, you have it all.

Steven Cole wrote, "But the Bible says that God has provided us with everythingpertaining to life and godliness (2 Pet. 1:3), and we are to be content with His provision. Psalm 23 is the psalm of a contented heart." The uncontented heart never has its wants met. He concludes his sermon on this Psalm like this-

A 14-year-old wiser than his or her years wrote this poem(from an Operation Mobilization newsletter, 10/91):It was spring, but it was summer I wanted—The warm days and the great outdoors.It was summer, but it was fall I wanted—The colorful leaves and the cool, dry air.It was fall, but it was winter I wanted—The beautiful snow and the joy of the holiday season.It was winter, but it was spring I wanted—The warmth and the blossoming of nature.I was a child, but it was adulthood I wanted—The freedom and the respect.I was twenty, but it was thirty I wanted—To be mature and sophisticated.I was middle-aged, but it was twenty I wanted—The youth and the free spirit.I was retired, but it was middle-age I wanted—The presence of mind without limitations.My life was over—but I never got what I wanted!Real contentment comes from experiencing all that the GoodShepherd has provided for you. It’s available in Christ, for everyone of His sheep. Don’t miss it!

Joseph Parker points out that the Shepherd represents the infinite God, but he is

beyond our comprehension, and so he has to be scaled down to where we can have an understanding of who he is. He is like a map that scales distance down so we can get an idea of how far away places are. We can't draw lines that are hundreds of miles long, for that would be incomprehensible, but if we scale it down to one inch representing a hundred miles, we get the picture and understand. The Shepherd image of God is the Biblical was of scaling God down to our level of comprehension.

This truth will be stressed by others, but let me point out the importance of that little word "my." The Lord is a shepherd, but if he is not my shepherd we lose the whole point of the Psalm. This is about a personal relationship with the Lord, and it motivates people to write poetry like this-

That little word "my" in the warfare of lifeIs a marvelous helper of envy and strife;And oft that diminutive source has suppliedThe streams of contention,and passion, and pride.

But honor'd, and holy, and happy are theyWho like the sweet Psalmist,sincerely can say"The Lord is my Shepherd" though many His sheep,Even me, I believe and am sure He will keep.I trust to His guidance and wisdom divine;I know this adorable Shepherd is mine!

John Piper wrote, "The psalm is very personal. There is no "we" or "us" or "they," but only "my" and "me'' and "I" and "he" and "you." It is an overflow of David's personal experience with God. One of the reasons it has such an attraction for us is that we all hunger for such authentic experience with God, and a personal witness to that experience brings us a step closer ourselves."

If it is not personal, it is not profitable to claim Jesus as Shephard. Steven Cole put it, "Jesus made it clear that this is not a blanket truth. �ot everyone has Jesus as his or her personal Shepherd. Some of His criticssaid, “If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.” Jesus replied, “I toldyou and you do not believe; the works that I do in My Father’sname, these bear witness of Me. But you do not believe, becauseyou are not of My sheep. My sheep hear my voice, and I knowthem, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and theyshall never perish” (John 10:25-28)."

George Adam Smith adds, "This Psalm is a psalm for the individual. The Lord is _my_ shepherd: He maketh _me_ to lie down:He leadeth _me_: He restoreth _my_ soul. Lay your attention upon thelittle word. Ask yourself, if since it was first put upon your lips youhave ever used it with anything more than the lips: if you have any right

to use it: if you have ever taken any steps towards winning the right touse it. To claim God for our own, to have and enjoy Him as ours, means, asChrist our Master said over and over again, that we give ourselves to Him,and take Him to our hearts. Sheep do not choose their shepherd, but manhas to choose--else the peace and the fulness of life which are herefigured remain a dream and become no experience for him."

Geoff Anderson has captured the same spirit of David in this Psalm in his poemMy God.

My God protects and cares for meAs a shepherd tends his sheep.The lake is clear and still for meAnd by its banks I sleep.

My God renews my soul for meAnd guides my wayward feet.His name's a shining light for me,His love for me's complete.

My God is with me in the valeAs death's dark shadows grow.And as the evening light turns pale,The more His strength I know.

My God prepares a meal for me,Invites my foes to sup.His blessings pour like oil on me,His love spills from my cup.

My God will watch me evermore,His care will never cease.He'll call to me at heaven's door:'Come in and share my Peace!'

What we have in this great Psalm is the essence of the happy life, for David expresses optimism and a self image that would make anyone's life a pleasure to live. He has the powerful gift of self-accptance. Someone wrote this about that gift:"Self acceptance is the key to contentment. People who have to act more important than they really are cannot accept themselves as they really are. If conflict begins to dominate your life you are struggling with your self-image. People are often unhappy because they refuse to accept it as a fact of life. �ot everyone is always happy. It is a normal part of life to be unhappy, lonely, or sad. Self fulfilling prophecy is what the negative self-image does. I cannot get a better job, so I don't try, and then I say I was right. I will fail at this, and then I do, and then I say I was

right. If you predict a negative future you will guarantee the future will be negative.

An enemy I had, whose mienI stoutly strove in wain to know;For hard he dogged my steps, unseenWherever I might go.

My plans he balked; my aims he foiled;He blocked my every onward way.When for some lofty goal I toiled,He grimly said me nay.Come forth! I cried, Lay bare thy guise!They wretched features I would see.Yet always to my straining eyesHe dwelt in mystery.Until one night I held him fast,The veil from off his form did draw;I gazed upon his face at lastAnd, lo! myself I saw. Edwin L. Sabin

If we can read this Psalm and quote it as how we really feel about our relationship to the Shepherd, we will have the same optimism and self-acceptance that David had. We can stop being our own worst enemy, and become our own best friend by an honest acceptance of who we are in Christ, and as a follower of the Lamb of God. This Psalm forces us to deal with the paradox of selfishness. It is bad to be selfish, as we all know, and yet there is a very positive side to this negative reality of being selfish. This whole Psalm is self centered in its language. It is my shepherd, and it is I who will lack nothing, and it is me who is made to lie down in green pastures, and it is me he leads beside the still waters, and it is my soul he restores, and so on and so forth. There are ways in which you need to be selfish in order to be the best you can be for God and others. The Prodigal was selfish and left home and blew it, but is was also selfishness that led him back home to a new life. He did it for himself and it was good that he did, for he had no future. It can be wise and good to be selfish and do what is best for you, for it is also best for those who love you. It is being selfish even to seek your own salvation, but nothing could be wiser. The point is, it is a good thing to be selfish when it helps you be what God wants you to be.

1B. U�K�OW� PASTOR, " In Genesis 49:24, it was promised "the Shepherd, the stone of Israel," would come from "the mighty God of Jacob." Indeed, our Shepherd is the mighty God of Jacob.

The prophet Isaiah (Isa. 40:11), tells us what Christ would do for his sheep, when he revealed himself as our Shepherd. "He shall feed his flock like a shepherd; he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead

those that are with young."

In Ezekiel 34:23, God promised that in this gospel age he would gather his elect from the four corners of the earth, both Jews and Gentiles, under one great Shepherd. "I will set up one Shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, even my servant David; he shall feed them, and he shall be their shepherd." In chapter 37, verse 24, the prophet tells us plainly that God’s elect "all shall have one Shepherd."

Then, in Zechariah 13:7, we have a plain prophecy of Christ’s death, the good Shepherd laying down his life for his sheep. God himself cries out, "Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow!...Smite the Shepherd and the sheep shall be scattered; and I will turn mine hand upon the little ones."

You are all familiar with the passage in John 10, where our Lord Jesus Christ describes himself as our Shepherd. "I am the good Shepherd; the good Shepherd giveth his life for the sheep" (v. 11). "I am the good Shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine" (v. 14).

The apostle Paul describes Christ as "Our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep," and calls His blood "the blood of the everlasting covenant" (Heb. 13:20). And the apostle Peter says, "Ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls" (I Pet. 2:25). And he assures us that "when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away" (I Pet. 5:4).

The Lord Jesus Christ was called and appointed by his Father to be our Shepherd in the covenant of grace, before the world began. And by an act of great, condescending grace and infinite love, he freely, voluntarily agreed to be our Shepherd. Thus, from old eternity, Christ assumed all responsibility for the redemption, salvation, and eternal welfare of God’s elect, his sheep (John 10:14-18).

John 10:14-18 "I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine. (15) As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep. (16) And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd. (17) Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. (18) �o man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father."

Our great and glorious Lord Jesus Christ is abundantly qualified to be our Shepherd. He is the omniscient God. He knows all his sheep, all our maladies, and all our needs. He knows where his sheep are, what their case is, and what must be

done for them. Christ, our Shepherd, is omnipotent. He is the almighty God. He has all power in heaven and earth. He can do all things for us. �one of his sheep are in danger. This Shepherd can and will provide for his sheep, protect his sheep, defend his sheep and save his sheep. In him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. He will guide and direct his sheep in the best path and bring them all at last to the heavenly fold. Oh, may God the Holy Spirit teach us to trust our Savior as the Lord our Shepherd!

It is one thing for the Shepherd to say "This is my sheep." But it is another thing for the sheep to say, "This is my shepherd." When David says, "The Lord is my Shepherd," he is expressing his:

Faith in Christ,

Affection for Christ,

Joy because of Christ.

1C. BAR�ES, "The Lord is my shepherd - Compare Gen_49:24, “From thence is the shepherd, the stone of Israel;” Psa_80:1, “Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel.” See also the notes at Joh_10:1-14. The comparison of the care which God extends over his people to that of a shepherd for his flock is one that would naturally occur to those who were accustomed to pastoral life. It would be natural that it should suggest itself to Jacob Gen_49:24, and to David, for both of them had been shepherds. David, in advanced years, would naturally remember the occupations of his early life; and the remembrance of the care of God over him would naturally recall the care which he had, in earlier years, extended over his flocks. The idea which the language suggests is that of tender care; protection; particular attention to the young and the feeble (compare Isa_40:11); and providing for their wants. All these things are found eminently in God in reference to his people.

I shall not want - This is the main idea in the psalm, and this idea is derived from the fact that God is a shepherd. The meaning is, that, as a shepherd, he would make all needful provision for his flock, and evince all proper care for it. The words shall not want, as applied to the psalmist, would embrace everything that could be a proper object of desire, whether temporal or spiritual; whether pertaining to the body or the soul; whether having reference to time or to eternity. There is no reason for supposing that David limited this to his temporal necessities, or to the present life, but the idea manifestly is that God would provide all that was needful for him always. Compare Psa_34:9, “There is no want to them that fear him.” This idea enters essentially into the conception of God as the shepherd of his people, that all their real wants shall be supplied.

1D, SCRIPTURE, ""The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want," for "My God shall supply all your needsaccording to His riches in Glory by Christ Jesus." "For your Father knoweth what things ye have

need of before you ask Him." And "The Spirit Himself maketh intercession for us with groaningswhich cannot be uttered." And Jesus tells us, "If ye abide in me and my words abide in you, yeshall ask what ye will and it shall be done unto you." "Ask and ye shall receive; seek and ye shallfind, knock and it shall be opened unto you, for every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seekethfindeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened." Therefore, the Lord is my Shepherd; I shallnot want.

A. I shall not want any temporal good thing.

None of Christ’s sheep lack anything in this world that is good, needful, and useful for them (Ps. 37:25; Mk. 10:29-30; Lk. 22:35). Sheep do not feed, clothe, and protect themselves. They are fed, clothed, and protected by their Shepherd.

Psalms 37:25 "I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread."

Mark 10:29-30 "And Jesus answered and said, Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and the gospel's, (30) But he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life."

Luke 22:35 "And he said unto them, When I sent you without purse, and scrip, and shoes, lacked ye any thing? And they said, Nothing."

B. More importantly, I shall not want any spiritual good thing (Eph. 1:3; Col. 2:9-10).

Ephesians 1:3 "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:"

Colossians 2:9-10 "For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. (10) And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power:"

Christ is the One in whom all fullness dwells. And we have all our needs supplied from him.

Our souls shall never want for spiritual food, for by Him we go in and out and find pasture (John 10:9).

He is the Bread of Life. In Him we have bread enough and to spare. He is the Fountain of Living Water. Those who drink at this Fountain never thirst for another.

2. We shall never want for clothing, for he is "The Lord our Righteousness," and we are clothed with the robe of his righteousness (Jer. 23:6).

3. Our hearts shall never want rest, for he is our resting place, our sabbath, in whom we find rest

for our souls (Matt. 11:28-30).

Matthew 11:28-30 "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. (29) 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. (30) For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."

1E. Pastor Alvin Glassford, "Sheep often want more of a good thing then they need. They will eat old grapes until they get stone drunk. They will eat fresh alfalfa grass that tastes good but gives them tremendous intestinal gas. Causing them to blow up like balloons and suffocate. They like to run free from the protection of the flock and shepherd. In some cases bells are hung on restless ones so the shepherd can keep track of them. If this does not curb their wandering often times they are shot so that they do not lead other sheep into perilous situations.Really a sheep’s needs are very simple. A sheep needs nourishing food, clean water and safe rest. That is all! Much more than this and trouble is the result.Shepherds know these needs and strive day and night to make sure they are met."

1F. Major Allen Satterlee OF SALVATIO� ARMY, "In this psalm David departs from the fearsome image of a distant, dominating God, impossible to please and ever looking out for wrongdoing. Like a child nestled in his mother’s arms, he draws close, calling God in loving confidence “my shepherd.” He speaks of God not as a king, a deliverer, a sword, a shield or a high tower but a gentle shepherd. The image is one of the shepherd with a little lamb tucked safely and securely beneath his arm.

2. Clarke, “The Lord is my shepherd - There are two allegories in this Psalm which are admirably well adapted to the purpose for which they are produced, and supported both with art and elegance. The first is that of a shepherd; the second, that of a great feast, set out by a host the most kind and the most liberal. As a flock, they have the most excellent pasture; as guests, they have the most nutritive and abundant fare. God condescends to call himself the Shepherd of his people, and his followers are considered as a flock under his guidance and direction.

1. He leads them out and in, so that they find pasture and safety.

2. He knows where to feed them, and in the course of his grace and providence leads them in the way in which they should go.

3. He watches over them and keeps them from being destroyed by ravenous beasts.

4. If any have strayed, he brings them back.

5. He brings them to the shade in times of scorching heat; in times of persecution and affliction, he finds out an asylum for them.

6. He takes care that they shall lack no manner of thing that is good.

But who are his flock? All real penitents, all true believers; all who obediently follow his example, abstaining from every appearance of evil, and in a holy life and conversation showing forth the virtues of Him who called them from darkness into his marvellous light. “My sheep hear my voice, and follow me.”

But who are not his flock! Neither the backslider in heart, nor the vile Antinomian, who thinks the more he sins, the more the grace of God shall be magnified in saving him; nor those who fondly suppose they are covered with the righteousness of Christ while

living in sin; nor the crowd of the indifferent and the careless, nor the immense herd of Laodicean loiterers; nor the fiery bigots who would exclude all from heaven but themselves, and the party who believe as they do. These the Scripture resembles to swine, dogs, wandering stars, foxes, lions, wells without water, etc., etc. Let not any of these come forward to feed on this pasture, or take of the children’s bread. Jesus Christ is the good Shepherd; the Shepherd who, to save his flock, laid down his own life.

I shall not want - How can they? He who is their Shepherd has all power in heaven and earth; therefore he can protect them. The silver and gold are his, and the cattle on a thousand hills; and therefore he can sustain them. He has all that they need, and his heart is full of love to mankind; and therefore he will withhold from them no manner of thing that is good. The old Psalter both translates and paraphrases this clause well: Lord governs me, and nathing sal want to me. In stede of pastour thare he me sett. “The voice of a rightwis man: Lord Crist es my kyng, and for thi (therefore) nathyng sal me want: that es, in hym I sal be siker, and suffisand, for I hope in hymn gastly gude and endles. And he ledes me in stede of pastoure,that es, understandyng of his worde, and delyte in his luf. Qwar I am siker to be fild, thar in that stede (place) he sett me, to be nurysht til perfectioun.” Who can say more, who need say less, than this?

3. Gill, “This is to be understood not of Jehovah the Father, and of his feeding the people of Israel in the wilderness, as the Targum paraphrases it, though the character of a shepherd is sometimes given to him, Psa_77:20; but of Jehovah the Son, to whom it is most frequently ascribed, Gen_49:24. This office he was called and appointed to by his Father, and which through his condescending grace he undertook to execute, and for which he is abundantly qualified; being omniscient, and so knows all his sheep and their maladies, where to find them, what is their case, and what is to be done for them; and being omnipotent, he can do everything proper for them; and having all power in heaven and in earth, can protect, defend, and save them; and all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge being in him, he can guide and direct them in the best manner; wherefore he is called the great shepherd, and the chief shepherd, and the good shepherd. David calls him "my shepherd"; Christ having a right unto him, as he has to all the sheep of God, by virtue of his Father's gift, his own purchase, and the power of his grace; and as owning him as such, and yielding subjection to him, following him as the sheep of Christ do wheresoever he goes; and also as expressing his faith of interest in him, affection for him, and joy because of him: and from thence comfortably concludes,

I shall not want; not anything, as the Targum and Aben Ezra interpret it; not any temporal good thing, as none of Christ's sheep do, that he in his wisdom sees proper and convenient for them; nor any spiritual good things, since a fulness of them is in him, out of which all their wants are supplied; they cannot want food, for by him they go in and out and find pasture; in him their bread is given them, where they have enough and to spare, and their waters are sure unto them; nor clothing, for he is the Lord their righteousness, and they are clothed with the robe of his righteousness; nor rest, for he is their resting place, in whom they find rest for their souls, and are by him led to waters of rest, as in Psa_23:2, the words may be rendered, "I shall not fail", or "come short" (s); that is, of eternal glory and happiness; for Christ's sheep are in his hands, out of which none can pluck them, and therefore shall not perish, but have everlasting life, Joh_10:27.

4. Henry, “From three very comfortable premises David, in this psalm, draws three

very comfortable conclusions, and teaches us to do so too. We are saved by hope, and that hope will not make us ashamed, because it is well grounded. It is the duty of Christians to encourage themselves in the Lord their God; and we are here directed to take that encouragement both from the relation wherein he stands to us and from the experience we have had of his goodness according to that relation.

I. From God's being his shepherd he infers that he shall not want anything that is good for him, Psa_23:1. See here, 1. The great care that God takes of believers. He is their shepherd, and they may call him so. Time was when David was himself a shepherd; he was taken from following the ewes great with young (Psa_78:70, Psa_78:71), and so he knew by experience the cares and tender affections of a good shepherd towards his flock. He remembered what need they had of a shepherd, and what a kindness it was to them to have one that was skilful and faithful; he once ventured his life to rescue a lamb. By this therefore he illustrates God's care of his people; and to this our Saviour seems to refer when he says, I am the shepherd of the sheep; the good shepherd, Joh_10:11. He that is the shepherd of Israel, of the whole church in general (Psa_80:1), is the shepherd of every particular believer; the meanest is not below his cognizance, Isa_40:11. He takes them into his fold, and then takes care of them, protects them, and provides for them, with more care and constancy than a shepherd can, that makes it his business to keep the flock. If God be as a shepherd to us, we must be as sheep, inoffensive, meek, and quiet, silent before the shearers, nay, and before the butcher too, useful and sociable; we must know the shepherd's voice, and follow him. 2. The great confidence which believers have in God: “If the Lord is my shepherd, my feeder, I may conclude I shall not want any thing that is really necessary and good for me.” If David penned this psalm before his coming to the crown, though destined to it, he had as much reason to fear wanting as any man. Once he sent his men a begging for him to Nabal, and another time went himself a begging to Ahimelech; and yet, when he considers that God is his shepherd, he can boldly say, I shall not want. Let not those fear starving that are at God's finding and have him for their feeder. More is implied than is expressed, not only, I shall not want,but, “I shall be supplied with whatever I need; and, if I have not every thing I desire, I may conclude it is either not fit for me or not good for me or I shall have it in due time.”

5. Jamison, “Under a metaphor borrowed from scenes of pastoral life, with which David was familiar, he describes God’s providential care in providing refreshment, guidance, protection, and abundance, and so affording grounds of confidence in His perpetual favor.

Christ’s relation to His people is often represented by the figure of a shepherd (Joh_10:14; Heb_13:20; 1Pe_2:25; 1Pe_5:4), and therefore the opinion that He is the Lordhere so described, and in Gen_48:15; Psa_80:1; Isa_40:11, is not without some good reason.

6. SPURGEO�, “"The Lord is my shepherd." What condescension is this, that the infinite Lord assumes towards his people the office and character of a Shepherd! It should be the subject of grateful admiration that the great God allows himself to be compared to anything which will set forth his great love and care for his own people. David had himself been a keeper of sheep, and understood both the needs of the sheep and the many cares of a shepherd. He compares himself to a creature weak, defenceless, and foolish, and he takes God to be his Provider, Preserver, Director, and, indeed, his everything. �o man has a right to consider himself the

Lord's sheep unless his nature has been renewed for the scriptural description of unconverted men does not picture them as sheep, but as wolves or goats. A sheep is an object of property, not a wild animal; its owner sets great store by it, and frequently it is bought with a great price. It is well to know, as certainly David did, that we belong to the Lord. There is a noble tone of confidence about this sentence. There is no "if" nor "but," nor even "I hope so;" but he says, "The Lord is my shepherd." We must cultivate the spirit of assured dependence upon our heavenly Father. The sweetest word of the whole is that monosyllable, "My." He does not say, "The Lord is the shepherd of the world at large, and leadeth forth the multitude as his flock," but "The Lord is my shepherd;" if he be a Shepherd to no one else, he is a Shepherd to me; he cares for me, watches over me, and preserves me. The words are in the present tense. Whatever be the believer's position, he is even now under the pastoral care of Jehovah.The next words are a sort of inference from the first statement—they are sententious and positive—"I shall not want." I might want otherwise, but when the Lord is my Shepherd he is able to supply my needs, and he is certainly willing to do so, for his heart is full of love, and therefore "I shall not want." I shall not lack for temporal things. Does he not feed the ravens, and cause the lilies to grow? How, then, can he leave his children to starve? I shall not want for spirituals, I know that his grace will be sufficient for me. Resting in him he will say to me, "As thy day so shall thy strength be." I may not possess all that I wish for, but "I shall not want." Others, far wealthier and wiser than I, may want, but "I shall not." "The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger: but they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing." It is not only "I do not want," but "I shall not want." Come what may, if famine should devastate the land, or calamity destroy the city, "I shall not want." Old age with its feebleness shall not bring me any lack, and even death with its gloom shall not find me destitute. I have all things and abound; not because I have a good store of money in the bank, not because I have skill and wit with which to win my bread, but because "The Lord is my shepherd." The wicked always want, but the righteous never; a sinner's heart is far from satisfaction, but a gracious spirit dwells in the palace of content.

7. TREASURY OF DAVID BY SPURGEO�, “ Verse 1. "The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want." Let them say that will, "My lands shall keep me, I shall have no want, my merchandise shall be my help, I shall have no want;" let the soldier trust unto his weapons, and the husbandman unto his labour; let the artificer say unto his art, and the tradesman unto his trade, and the scholar unto his books, "These shall maintain me, I shall not want." Let us say with the church, as we both say and sing, "The Lord is my keeper, I shall not want." He that can truly say so, contemns the rest, and he that desires more than God, cannot truly say, the Lord is his, the Lord is this shepherd, governor and commander, and therefore I shall not want. John Hull, B.D., in "Lectures on Lamentations," 1617.

Verse 1. "The Lord is my shepherd; I want nothing:" thus it may be equally well rendered, though in our version it is in the future tense. J. R. Macduff, D.D., in "The Shepherd and his Flock," 1866.

Verse 1. "The Lord is my shepherd." We may learn in general from the metaphor, that it is the property of a gracious heart to draw some spiritual use or other from his former condition. David himself having sometimes been a shepherd, as himself confesseth when he saith, "he took David from the sheepfold from following the sheep," etc., himself having been a shepherd, he beholds the Lord the same to him. Whatsoever David was to his flock— watchful over them, careful to defend them from the lion and the bear, and whatsoever thing else might annoy them, careful of their pasturage and watering, etc., the same and much more he beholds the Lord to himself. So Paul: "I was a persecutor, and an oppressor: but the Lord had mercy on me." This we may see in good old Jacob: "With this staff," saith he, "I passed over Jordan;" and that now God had blessed him and multiplied him exceedingly. The doctrine is plain; the reasons are, first, because true grace makes no object amiss to gather some gracious instruction: it skills not what the object be, so that the heart be gracious; for that never wants matter to work upon. And secondly, it must needs be so, for such are guided by God's Spirit, and therefore are directed to a spiritual use of all things. Samuel Smith's "Chiefe Shepheard," 1625.

Verse 1. "Shepherd." May this sweet title persuade Japhet to dwell in the tents of Shem: my meaning is, that those who as yet never knew what it was to be enfolded in the bosom of Jesus, who as yet were never lambs nor ewes in Christ's fold, consider the sweetness of this Shepherd, and come in to him. Satan deals seemingly sweet, that he may draw you into sin, but in the end he will be really bitter to you. Christ, indeed, is seemingly bitter to keep you from sin, hedging up your way with thorns. But he will be really sweet if you come into his flock, even notwithstanding your sins. Thou lookest into Christ's fold, and thou seest it hedged and fenced all about to keep you in from sin, and this keeps thee from entering; but, oh! let it not. Christ, indeed, is unwilling that any of his should wander, and if they be unwilling too, it's well. And if they wander he'll fetch them in, it may be with his shepherd's dog (some affliction); but he'll not be, as we say, dogged himself. �o, he is and will be sweet. It may be, Satan smiles, and is pleasant to you while you sin; but know, he'll be bitter in the end. He that sings syren-like now, will devour lion-like at last. He'll torment you and vex you, and be burning and bitterness to you. O come in therefore to Jesus Christ; let him be now the shepherd of thy soul. And know then, he'll be sweet in endeavouring to keep thee from sin before thou commit it; and he'll be sweet in delivering thee from sin after thou hast committed it. O that this thought—that Jesus Christ is sweet in his carriage unto all his members, unto all his flock, especially the sinning ones, might persuade the hearts of some sinners to come in unto his fold. John Durant, 1652.

Verse 1 (first clause). Feedeth me, or is my feeder, my pastor. The word comprehendeth all duties of a good herd, as together feeding, guiding, governing, and defending his flock. Henry Ainsworth.

Verse 1. "The Lord is my shepherd." �ow the reasons of this resemblance I take to be these:—First, one property of a good shepherd is, skill to know and judge aright of his sheep, and hence is it that it is a usual thing to set mark upon sheep, to the end that if they go astray (as of all creatures they are most subject to wander), the

shepherd may seek them up and bring them home again. The same thing is affirmed of Christ, or rather indeed Christ affirmeth the same thing of himself, "I know them, and they follow me." John 10:27. Yea, doubtless, he that hath numbered the stars, and calleth them all by their names, yea, the very hairs of our head, taketh special notice of his own children, "the sheep of his pasture," that they may be provided for and protected from all danger. Secondly, a good shepherd must have skill in the pasturing of his sheep, and in bringing them into such fruitful ground, as they may battle and thrive upon: a good shepherd will not suffer his sheep to feed upon rotten soil, but in wholesome pastures . . . . Thirdly, a good shepherd, knowing the straying nature of his sheep, is so much the more diligent to watch over them, and if at any time they go astray, he brings them back again. This is the Lord's merciful dealing towards poor wandering souls. . . . Fourthly, a good shepherd must have will to feed his sheep according to his skill: the Lord of all others is most willing to provide for his sheep. How earnest is Christ with Peter, to "feed his sheep," urging him unto it three several times! Fifthly, a good shepherd is provided to defend his flock. . . . The Lord is every way provided for the safety and defence of his sheep, as David confesseth in this Psalm (verse 4), "Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me." And again, "I took unto me two staves" (saith the Lord), "the one I called Beauty, and the other I called Bands; and I fed the flock." Zechariah 11:7. Sixthly, it is the property of a good shepherd, that if any of his sheep be weak and feeble, or his lambs young, for their safety and recovery he will bear them in his arms. The Lord is not wanting to us herein. Isaiah 40:11. And lastly, it is the property of a good shepherd to rejoice when the strayed sheep is brought home. The Lord doth thus rejoice at the conversion of a sinner. Luke 15:7. Samuel Smith.

Verse 1. "The Lord is my shepherd." I notice that some of the flock keep near the shepherd, and follow whithersoever he goes without the least hesitation, while others stray about on either side, or loiter far behind; and he often turns round and scolds them in a sharp, stern cry, or sends a stone after them. I saw him lame one just now. �ot altogether unlike the good Shepherd. Indeed I never ride over these hills, clothed with flocks, without meditating upon this delightful theme. Our Saviour says that the good shepherd, when he putteth forth his own sheep, goeth before them, and they follow. John 10:4. This is true to the letter. They are so tame and so trained that they follow their keeper with the utmost docility. He leads them forth from the fold, or from their houses in the villages, just where he pleases. As there are many flocks in such a place as this, each one takes a different path, and it is his business to find pasture for them. It is necessary, therefore, that they should be taught to follow, and not to stray away into the unfenced fields of corn which lie so temptingly on either side. Any one that thus wanders is sure to get into trouble. The shepherd calls sharply from time to time to remind them of his presence. They know his voice, and follow on; but, if a stranger call, they stop short, lift up their heads in alarm, and, if it is repeated, they turn and flee, because they know not the voice of a stranger. This is not the fanciful costume of a parable, it is simple fact. I have made the experiment repeatedly. The shepherd goes before, not merely to point out the way, but to see that it is practicable and safe. He is armed in order to defend his charge, and in this he is very courageous. Many adventures with wild beasts occur, not unlike that recounted by David (1 Samuel 27:34-36), and in these very

mountains; for though there are now no lions here, there are wolves in abundance; and leopards and panthers, exceeding fierce, prowl about the wild wadies. They not unfrequently attack the flock in the very presence of the shepherd, and he must be ready to do battle at a moment's warning. I have listened with intense interest to their graphic descriptions of downright and desperate fights with these savage beasts. And when the thief and the robber come (and come they do), the faithful shepherd has often to put his life in his hand to defend his flock. I have known more than one case in which he had literally to lay it down in the contest. A poor faithful fellow last spring, between Tiberias and Tabor, instead of fleeing, actually fought three Bedawin robbers until he was hacked to pieces with their khanjars, and died among the sheep he was defending. Some sheep always keep near the shepherd, and are his special favorites. Each of them has a name, to which it answers joyfully, and the kind shepherd is ever distributing to such, choice portions which he gathers for that purpose. These are the contented and happy ones. They are in no danger of getting lost or into mischief, nor do wild beasts or thieves come near them. The great body, however, are mere worldlings, intent upon their mere pleasures or selfish interests. They run from bush to bush, searching for variety or delicacies, and only now and then lift their heads to see where the shepherd is, or, rather where the general flock is, lest they get so far away as to occasion a remark in their little community, or rebuke from their keeper. Others, again, are restless and discontented, jumping into everybody's field, climbing into bushes, and even into leaning trees, whence they often fall and break their limbs. These cost the good shepherd incessant trouble. W. M. Thomson, D.D., in "The Land and the Book."

Verse 1. "Shepherd." As we sat the silent hillsides around us were in a moment filled with life and sound. The shepherds led their flocks forth from the gates of the city. They were in full view, and we watched them and listened to them with no little interest. Thousands of sheep and goats were there, grouped in dense, confused masses. The shepherds stood together until all came out. Then they separated, each shepherd taking a different path, and uttering as he advanced a shrill peculiar call. The sheep heard them. At first the masses swayed and moved, as if shaken by some internal convulsion; then points struck out in the direction taken by the shepherds; these became longer and longer until the confused masses were resolved into long, living streams, flowing after their leaders. Such a sight was not new to me, still it had lost none of its interest. It was perhaps one of the most vivid illustrations which human eyes could witness of that beautiful discourse of our Lord recorded by John, "And the sheep hear the shepherd's voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out. And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice. And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers," chapter 10:3-5. The shepherds themselves had none of that peaceful and placid aspect which is generally associated with pastoral life and habits. They looked more like warriors marching to the battle-field—a long gun slung from the shoulder, a dagger and heavy pistols in the belt, a light battle-axe or ironheaded club in the hand. Such were the equipments; and their fierce flashing eyes and scowling countenances showed but too plainly that they were prepared to use their weapons at any moment. J. L. Porter, A.M., in "The Giant Cities of Bashan," 1867.

Verse 1. "I shall not want." You must distinguish 'twixt absence, and 'twixt indigence. Absence is when something is not present; indigence or want, is when a needful good is not present. If a man were to walk, and had not a staff, here were something absent. If a man were to walk, and had but one leg, here were something whereof he were indigent. It is confessed that there are many good things which are absent from a good person, but no good thing which he wants or is indigent of. If the good be absent and I need it not, this is no want; he that walks without his cloak, walks well enough, for he needs it not. As long as I can walk carefully and cheerfully in my general or particular calling, though I have not such a load of accessories as other men have, yet I want nothing, for my little is enough and serves the turn. . . . Our corruptions are still craving, and they are always inordinate, they can find more wants than God needs to supply. As they say of fools, they can propose more questions than twenty wise men need to answer. They in James 4:3, did ask, but received not; and he gives two reasons for it:—1. This asking was but a lusting: "ye lust and have not" (verse 4): another, they did ask to consume it upon their lusts (verse 3). God will see that his people shall not want; but withal, he will never engage himself to the satisfying of their corruptions, though he doth to the supply of their conditions. It is one thing what the sick man wants, another what his disease wants. Your ignorance, your discontents, your pride, your unthankful hearts, may make you to believe that you dwell in a barren land, far from mercies (as melancholy makes a person to imagine that he is drowning, or killing, etc.); whereas if God did open your eyes as he did Hagar's, you might see fountains and streams, mercies and blessings sufficient; though not many, yet enough, though not so rich, yet proper, and every way convenient for your good and comfort; and thus you have the genuine sense, so far as I can judge of David's assertion, "I shall not want." Obadiah Sedgwick.

Verse 1. "I shall not want." Only he that can want does not want; and he that cannot, does. You tell me that a godly man wants these and these things, which the wicked man hath; but I tell you he can no more be said to "want" them than a butcher may be said to want Homer, or such another thing, because his disposition is such, that he makes no use of those things which you usually mean. 'Tis but only necessary things that he cares for, and those are not many. But one thing is necessary, and that he hath chosen, namely, the better part. And therefore if he have nothing at all of all other things, he does not want, neither is there anything wanting which might make him rich enough, or by absence whereof, his riches should be said to be deficient. A body is not maimed unless it have lost a principal part: only privative defects discommend a thing, and not those that are negative. When we say, there is nothing wanting to such-and-such a creature or thing that a man hath made, we mean that it hath all that belongs necessarily to it. We speak not of such things as may be added for compliments or ornaments or the like, such as are those things usually wherein wicked men excel the godly. Even so it is when we say that a godly man wanteth nothing. For though in regard of unnecessary goods he be "as having nothing," yet in regard of others he is as if he possessed all things. He wants nothing that is necessary either for his glorifying of God (being able to do that best in and by his afflictions), or for God's glorifying of him, and making him happy,

having God himself for his portion and supply of his wants, who is abundantly sufficient at all times, for all persons, in all conditions. Zachary Bogan.

Verse 1. "I shall not want." To be raised above the fear of want by committing ourselves to the care of the Good Shepherd, or by placing our confidence in worldly property, are two distinct and very opposite things. The confidence in the former case, appears to the natural man to be hard and difficult, if not unreasonable and impossible: in the latter it appears to be natural, easy, and consistent. It requires, however, no lengthened argument to prove that he who relies on the promise of God for the supply of his temporal wants, possesses an infinitely greater security than the individual who confides in his accumulated wealth. The ablest financiers admit that there must be appended to their most choice investments, this felt or expressed proviso—"So far as human affairs can be secure." . . . Since then no absolute security against want can be found on earth, it necessarily follows, that he who trusts in God is the most wise and prudent man. Who dare deny that the promise of the living God is an absolute security? John Stevenson.

Verse 1. "I shall not want." The sheep of Christ may change their pasture, but they shall never want a pasture. "Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?" Matthew 6:25. If he grant unto us great things, shall we distrust him for small things? He who has given us heavenly beings, will also give us earthly blessings. The great Husbandman never overstocked his own commons. William Secker.

Verse 1. "I shall not want." Ever since I heard of your illness, and the Lord's mercy in sustaining and restoring, I have been intending to write, to bless the Lord with my very dear sister, and ask for some words to strengthen my faith, in detail of your cup having run over in the hour of need. Is it not, indeed, the bleating of Messiah's sheep, "I shall not want"? "shall not want," because the Lord is our Shepherd! Our Shepherd the All-sufficient! nothing can unite itself to him; nothing mingle with him; nothing add to his satisfying nature; nothing diminish from his fulness. There is a peace and fulness of expression in this little sentence, known only to the sheep. The remainder of the Psalm is a drawing out of this, "I shall not want." In the unfolding we find repose, refreshment, restoring mercies, guidance, peace in death, triumph, an overflowing of blessings; future confidence, eternal security in life or death, spiritual or temporal, prosperity or adversity, for time or eternity. May we not say, "The Lord is my Shepherd?" for we stand on the sure foundation of the twenty-third Psalm. How can we want, when united to him! we have a right to use all his riches. Our wealth is his riches and glory. With him nothing can be withheld. Eternal life is ours, with the promise that all shall be added; all he knows we want. Our Shepherd has learned the wants of his sheep by experience, for he was himself "led as a sheep to the slaughter." Does not this expression, dictated by the Spirit, imply a promise, and a full promise, when connected with his own words, "I know my sheep," by what painful discipline he was instructed in this knowledge, subjected himself to the wants of every sheep, every lamb of his fold, that he might be able to be touched with a feeling of their infirmities? The timid sheep has nothing to fear; fear not want, fear not affliction. fear not pain; "fear not;" according to

your want shall be your supply, "The Lord is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I trust in him." Theodosia A. Howard, Viscountess Powerscourt (1830) in "Letters," etc., edited by Robert Daly, D.D., 1861.

Verse 1. "I shall not want." One of the poor members of the flock of Christ was reduced to circumstances of the greatest poverty in his old age, and yet he never murmured. "You must be badly off," said a kind-hearted neighbour to him one day as they met upon the road, "you must be badly off; and I don't know how an old man like you can maintain yourself and your wife; yet you are always cheerful!" "Oh no!" he replied, "we are not badly off, I have a rich Father, and he does not suffer me to want." "What! your father not dead yet? he must be very old indeed!" "Oh!" said he, "my Father never dies, and he always takes care of me!" This aged Christian was a daily pensioner on the providence of his God. His struggles and his poverty were known to all; but his own declaration was, that he never wanted what was absolutely necessary. The days of his greatest straits were the days of his most signal and timely deliverances. When old age benumbed the hand of his industry, the Lord extended to him the hand of charity. And often has he gone forth from his scanty breakfast, not knowing from what earthly source his next meal was to be obtained. But yet with David he could rely on his Shepherd's care, and say, "I shall not want;" and as certainly as he trusted in God, so surely, in some unexpected manner was his necessity supplied. John Stevenson.

Verse 1. In the tenth chapter of John's gospel, you will find six marks of Christ sheep: 1. They know their Shepherd; 2. They know his voice; 3. They hear him calling them each by name; 4. They love him; 5. They trust him; 6. They follow him. In "The Shepherd's King," by the Authoress of "The Folded Lamb" {Mrs. Rogers.}, 1856.

Verses 1-4. Come down to the river; there is something going forward worth seeing. Yon shepherd is about to lead his flock across; and as our Lord says of the good shepherd—you observe that he goes before, and the sheep follow. �ot all in the same manner, however. Some enter boldly, and come straight across. These are the loved ones of the flock, who keep hard by the footsteps of the shepherd, whether sauntering through green meadows by the still waters, feeding upon the mountains, or resting at noon, beneath the shadow of great rocks. And now others enter, but in doubt and alarm. Far from their guide, they miss the ford, and are carried down the river, some more, some less; and yet, one by one, they all struggle over and make good their landing. �otice those little lambs. They refuse to enter, and must be driven into the stream by the shepherd's dog, mentioned by Job in his "parable." Poor things! how they leap, and plunge, and bleat in terror! That weak one yonder will be swept quite away, and perish in the sea. But no; the shepherd himself leaps into the stream, lifts it into his bosom, and bears it trembling to the shore. All safely over, how happy they appear! The lambs frisk and gambol about in high spirits, while the older ones gather round their faithful guide, and look up to him in subdued but expressive thankfulness. �ow, can you watch such a scene, and not think of that Shepherd who leadeth Joseph like a flock; and of another river, which all his sheep must cross? He, too, goes before, and, as in the case of this flock, they

who keep near him "fear no evil." They hear his sweet voice, saying, "When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee." Isaiah 43:2. With eye fastened on him, they scarcely see the stream, or feel its cold and threatening waves. W. M. Thomson.

6B. SPURGEO�, "First, then, we say There Is A Certain Confession �ecessary Before A Man Can Join In These Words; we must feel that there is something in us which is akin to the sheep; we must, acknowledge that, in some measure, we exactly resemble it, or else we cannot call God our Shepherd.

I think the first, apprehension we shall have, if the Lord has brought us into, this condition, is this, — we shall be, conscious of our own folly; we shall feel how unwise we always are. A sheep is one of the most unwise of creatures. It. will go anywhere except, in the right direction; it will leave a fat pasture to wander into a barren one; it will find out many ways, but not the right way; it would wander through a wood, and find its way through ravines into the wolf’s jaws, but never by its wariness turn away from the wolf; it could wander near his den, but it would not instinctively turn aside from the place of danger; it, knoweth how to go. astray, but, it, knoweth not how to come home again. Left to itself, it, would not know in what pasture to feed in summer, or whither to, retire in winter.

Have we ever been brought to feel that, in matters of providence, as well as in things of grace, we are truly and entirely foolish? Me-thinks, no. man can trust, providence, till he distrusts himself; and no one can say, “The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want,” until he has given up every idle notion that he can control himself, or manage his own interests. Alas! we are, most of us wise, above that which is written, and we are too vain to acknowledge the wisdom of God. In our self-esteem, we fancy our reason can rule: our purposes, and we never doubt our own power to accomplish our own intentions, and then, by a little maneuvering, we think to extricate ourselves from our difficulties. Could we steer in such a direction as we have planned, we entertain not a doubt that we should avoid at once the Scylla and the Charybdis, and have fair sailing all our life long. O beloved, surely it, needs but little teaching in the school of grace to make out that, we are fools. True wisdom is sure to set folly in a strong light.

I have heard of a young man who went to college; and when he had been there a year, his father said to him, “Do you know more than when you went?” “Oh, yes!” said he, “I do.” Then he went the second year, and was asked the same question, “Do you know more than when you went?” “Oh, no!” said he, “I know a great deal less.” “Well,” said the father, “you are getting on.” Then he went the third year, and was asked, “What do you know now?” “Oh!” said he, “I don’t think I know anything.” “That is right,” said the father; “you have now learnt to profit, since you say you know nothing.” He who, is convinced that he knows nothing as he ought to know, gives up steering his ship, and lets God put. his hand on the rudder. He lays aside his own wisdom, and cries, “O God, my little wisdom is cast at thy feet. Such as it is, I surrender it to thee. I am prepared to renounce it, for it hath caused me, many an ill, and many a tear of regret, that I should have followed my own devices,

but, henceforth I will delight in thy statutes. As the, eyes of servants look unto the hand of their masters, and as the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress, so shall mine eyes wait upon the Lord my God. I will not trust in horses or in chariots; but the name of the God of Jacob shall be my refuge. Too long, alas! here I sought my own pleasure, and labored to do everything for my own gratification. �ow would I ask, O Lord, thy help, that I may seek first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness, and leave all the rest to thee.” Do you, O my friends, feel persuaded that you are foolish? Have, you been brought to confess the sheepishness of your nature? Or are you flattering your hearts with the: fond conceit that you are wise? If so, you are indeed fools. But if brought to see yourself like Agur when he said, “I am more brutish than any man, and have not the understanding of a man,” then even Solomon might pronounce thee wise. And if thou art thus brought to confess, “I am a silly sheep,” I hope thou wilt be able to say: “The Lord is my Shepherd, I cannot have any other, I want none other; he is enough for me.”

“Well now,” some, may say, “what is this truth worth?” Beloved, if we could change this truth for a world of gold, we would not; we had rather live; on this truth than live, on the finest fortune in creation; we reckon that, this is an inheritance that makes us rich indeed: “The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want..” Give me ten thousand pounds, and one, reverse, of fortune may scatter it all away; but let me have a spiritual hold of this divine assurance, “The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want,” then I am set up for life. I cannot, break with such stock as this in hand; I never can be a bankrupt, for I hold this security: “The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want.” Do not give me ready money now; give me, a cheque-book, and let, me draw what I like. That is what God does with the believer. He does not immediately transfer his inheritance to him, but lets him draw what he needs out of the riches of his fullness in Christ Jesus. The Lord is his Shepherd; he shall not want. What a glorious inheritance! Walk up, and down it, Christian; lie down upon it, it will do for thy pillow; it will be soft as down for thee to lie upon: “The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want,” Climb up that creaking staircase to the top of thy house, lie down on thy hard mattress, wrap thyself round with a blanket, look out for the winter when hard times are coming, and say not, “What shall I do?” but just hum over to thyself these words, “The, Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want.” That will be like the hush of lullaby to your poor soul, and you will soon sink to slumber. Go, thou business man, to thy counting-house again, after this little hour of recreation in God’s house, and again cast up those wearisome books. Thou art saying, “How about business? These prices may be my ruin. What shall I do?” When. thou hast cast up thine accounts, put this down against all thy fears, and see what a balance it, will leave, “The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want.” There is another man. He does not, lack anything, but still he feels that some great loss may injure him considerably. Go and write this down in thy cash-book. If thou hast. made out thy cash-account truly, put this down: “The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want.” Put this down for something better than £.s.d., something better than gold and silver: “The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want.” He who disregards this truth, knows nothing about its preciousness, but he who apprehends it, says, “Ah, yes! it is true, “The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want.’” He will find this

promise like China wind of which the ancients said that it was flavored to the lip of him that tasted it; so this truth shall taste sweet to thee if thy spiritual palate is pure, yet it shall be worth not.hint to thee but mere froth if thy taste, is not healthy.

7. Dr. Erwin W. Lutzer, "If people would repeat Psalm 23 seven times before they go to sleep each night, we would rarely see an emotional breakdown," said Charles Alien, a thoughtful Christian psychiatrist. He considers Psalm 23 to be God's psychiatry. If we knew that God cared for us like a shepherd cares for his sheep, we would find rest for our weary souls!

Few words are better loved than the simple phrase, "The Lord is my shepherd." The imagery helps us understand the relationship between the Creator and His creatures; The Care-giver and the needy recipient.

This shepherd not only owns His sheep, but knows them. He knows their different characteristics. He knows their parents and grandparents. He knows their sisters, brothers and cousins. He knows all about the cold nights and the hot days when pesky insects embedded themselves in their wool. He understands their joys their sorrows, their gladness and loneliness. This shepherd makes the sheep His number one responsibility.

He also knows the terrain. He has calculated the number of miles the sheep have traveled; He knows how many sheep begin on a particular journey, how many of them will try to get themselves lost and even how many will die along the way.

He sees beyond the hills to the water holes. He discerns the difference between healthy and poisonous grass. He knows the scratches and sores of His sheep. He fathoms their fears and their deepest longings.

Every sheep matters. We read of Jehovah, "Like a shepherd He will tend His flock. In His arms He will gather the lambs. And carry them in His bosom; He will gently lead the nursing ewes" (Isaiah 40:11). David knew that a sheep's lot in life depended largely on its shepherd. Some shepherds were gentle, kind and brave; others were selfish and careless.

The Good Shepherd is a responsible shepherd. He lives to please the owner of the sheep, but also takes delight in each individual sheep because He loves them. He knows they are incapable of finding their own food and water. The shepherd is the guide and map; the leader and supplier.

�o domesticated animal is as helpless as sheep. But don't tell them that! Shepherds tell us that most sheep think that they are quite capable of living on their own. They are stubborn, manipulative and determined to find their own pasture and water. �o matter how many years the shepherd has cared for them, they still act as though he might do them wrong. That's why sheep need strong leadership and discipline.

8. MP�Home.net, "When God was preparing a nation of people to bear his name, the image of the shepherd was already applicable and was recorded in scripture. �umbers 27:15-17 "And Moses spake unto the LORD, saying, Let the LORD, the God of the spirits of all flesh, set a man over the congregation, which may go out before them, and which may go in before them, and which may lead them out, and which may bring them in; that the congregation of the LORD be not as sheep which have no shepherd." Moses made this request since he was going to rest with his fathers without entering the Promised Land, and Joshua was then appointed by the Lord to lead Israel into the land. It is interesting to note that both the Hebrew name translated as Joshua in English in the Old Testament; and the Greek taken from the Hebrew, translated as Jesus in English in the �ew Testament, mean Jehovah is salvation. The writer of Hebrews gave us another reference regarding the great shepherd who guarantees the absolute peace and safety of our souls that we might follow his leading while we are in the world, until he gathers us to himself. Hebrews 13:20-21 "�ow the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is wellpleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen." If we are thinking clearly with the mind of faith, there is no significant want for us in the world, if we have the assurance of eternity. Mark 8:36-37 "For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" Therefore, we trust our great shepherd to meet our needs.

9. Bob Deffinbaugh, "As a young boy I was troubled by the language of this verse and thought the expression, “I shall not want,” meant that David didn’t want the shepherd. �ow I understand that David meant that since he had the Lord as his shepherd, he had no other want; he was lacking nothing. The significance of this statement can hardly be overemphasized. All through the ages Satan has attempted to portray God as a begrudging giver who only provides when He must. Satan desires to deceive those who trust in God, and wants them to believe they are lacking and deprived of the good things in life. This is the picture Satan tried to paint in suggesting that God had withheld the fruit of every tree of the garden from Adam and Eve (Gen. 3:1). God is also portrayed as a begrudging giver in the temptation of our Lord (Matt. 4:1-11) and in the warning of Paul concerning the doctrine of demons (1 Tim. 4:1-4).

The mentality behind David’s words is completely opposed to the Madison Avenue propaganda where we are constantly being told that we have many needs, all of which can be met by buying some new (or old) product. We need “sex appeal” so we must buy a new toothpaste, a new kind of mouthwash and a new brand of soap. We need self-confidence and a better self-image, therefore we must wear stylish clothing determined by the garment industry. Our whole mode of thinking is “want-centered.” David tells us that to have God as our shepherd is indeed to have everything we want. He who is all-knowing, all-powerful, and all-caring, is enough;

He is sufficient. With Him we need nothing else (cf. Ps. 73:25-26).

Israel had found God to be a faithful provider of their needs during their years in the wilderness: “For the Lord your God has blessed you in all that you have done; He has known your wanderings through this great wilderness. These forty years the Lord your God has been with you; you have not lacked a thing” (Deut. 2:7).

The Israelites also had God’s assurance that they would lack nothing when they possessed the land of Canaan:

For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, flowing forth in valleys and hills; a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive oil and honey; a land where you shall eat food without scarcity, in which you shall not lack anything; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills you can dig copper (Deut. 8:7-9).

We must be very careful here, however, that we do not go too far. We should not understand David to mean that with God as his shepherd he had everything one could possibly desire or possess; this would be as wrong as to think that Israel never did without anything while in the wilderness (cf. Deut. 2:7, above). In Deuteronomy 8 Moses told the Israelites that God “let them be hungry” to test them and to teach them (vv. 2-3). The clear implication of David’s statement in Psalm 23:1 is that as one of God’s sheep he will lack nothing which is necessary for his best interest. Verses 4 and 5 confirm this as well. As David wrote elsewhere: The young lions do lack and suffer hunger; but they who seek the Lord shall not be in want of any good thing (Ps. 34:10, emphasis mine; cf. also Ps. 84:11).

In verses 2-4 David describes those things for which he, as God’s sheep, will never lack. It is necessary to give a word of caution as we approach these verses filled with poetic imagery and therefore susceptible to abuse. David is describing God’s relationship to him in terms of a kindly shepherd’s relationship to one of his sheep. It is to be expected that he will speak of God’s care in sheep-like terms. We must be careful, however, not to restrict David’s meaning only to a literal, non-spiritual sense. Conversely, we must not let the imagery be carried too far so that we begin to see too much. There is a very delicate balance required when we attempt to interpret this kind of poetic imagery.

10. EDWARD MARKQUART, "The Lord is my shepherd. “I shall not want.” I shall not be “in want.” An Old Testament scholar by the name of Delitsch said that this proved that King David was an old man when he wrote this psalm; that he was old man; that he was no longer wanting anything. As a young man, King David would have wanted our modern equivalent to cars, boats, houses, computers; he would have wanted all the latest junk of his time in history. That’s the way it is, isn’t it? You get a house and you fill it up with junk and then more junk. How many of you have enough room in your storage area in your house? How many of you have enough room in your cupboards? Enough space in your closets? In space in your

garages? You spend the primary portion of your life stuffing yourself, your closets, your cupboards, your garages with things. Then you reach an apex to your life and then move to another house, a smaller house and you sell half of your junk. They call these events “garage sales” but they are really “garbage sales” and junk sales and you are glad to unload your junk to get rid of your stuff. You later make another move into a smaller apartment. And perhaps towards the end of your life, you make another move into one room. Your kids then perhaps sell off your stuff when you are no longer around to watch the garage sell; they sell your stuff and then give all the rest away or take the leftovers to the garbage dump. By the end of your life, you don’t have very much stuff at all. The only thing that you have left is the hospital gown that you have on, and then you die.

And the wealth that you have around you are not material things but the wealth of love from your husband or wife, kids, grandkids, friends, loved ones who are standing gathered around your death bed. You have finally learned that God’s wealth is the wealth of love of people around you … This is what you eventually learn from life: the happiness of life does not come from material things but from human relationships. Happiness does not come from the accumulation of pile of things but happiness comes from the depth of relationships. The psalmist says it well: “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want … more material things.” We all learn that lesson, eventually."

11. The Lord Is My Shepherd;

I Shall �ot Want

I shall not want rest.He maketh me to lie down in green pastures.

I shall not want refreshment.He leadeth me beside the still waters.

I shall not want forgiveness.He restoreth my soul.

I shall not want guidance.He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake.

I shall not want companionship.Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for Thou art with me.

I shall not want comfort.Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me.

I shall not want food.

Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies.

I shall not want joy.Thou anointest my head with oil.

I shall not want anything.My cup runneth over.

I shall not want anything in this life.Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.

I shall not want anything in eternity.And I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.

AUTHOR U�K�OW�

12. BibleFocus.net, "Sheep In the Prophets

At the time of Ahab, king of Israel, Ahab inqured whether he should go into battle for Ramothgilead against the Syrians. He first asked all of his own prophets, who said that he shoule go into battle, because he would win. But Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, who was allied at the time, suggested,

1 Kings 22:7: And Jehoshaphat said, Is there not here a prophet of the LORD besides, that we might enquire of him? 8. And the king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat, There is yet one man, Micaiah the son of Imlah, by whom we may enquire of the LORD: but I hate him; for he doth not prophesy good concerning me, but evil. And Jehoshaphat said, Let not the king say so.

When Micaiah came to the king, he said,

1 Kings 22:17: And he said, I saw all Israel scattered upon the hills, as sheep that have not a shepherd: and the LORD said, These have no master: let them return every man to his house in peace.

So under the rule of Ahab, these people were lost. In the wilderness, Moses had a concern that the people of Israel would become lost in this way,

�umbers 27:15: And Moses spake unto the LORD, saying, 16 Let the LORD, the God of the spirits of all flesh, set a man over the congregation, 17 Which may go out before them, and which may go in before them, and which may lead them out, and which may bring them in; that the congregation of the LORD be not as sheep which have no shepherd. 18 And the LORD said unto Moses, Take thee Joshua the son of �un, a man in whom is the spirit, and lay thine hand upon him;

In this case, God provided a shepherd in the form of Joshua the son of �un. Just as

he was to supply the second Joshua, the good shepherd. This good shepherd, Jesus, also spoke of the people as being sheep without a shepherd.

Matthew 9:35: And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people. 36. But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd.

These were a people who were lost --- not in the sense of not knowing physically where they were, but spiritually lost due to a lack of positive leadership. Jesus had compassion on them as he knew what their circumstances were. Jesus was, of course able to supply the needed leadership, as we see in Mark,

Mark 6:32: And they departed into a desert place by ship privately. 33. And the people saw them departing, and many knew him, and ran afoot thither out of all cities, and outwent them, and came together unto him. 34. And Jesus, when he came out, saw much people, and was moved with compassion toward them, because they were as sheep not having a shepherd: and he began to teach them many things.

Here Jesus wanted to get away from the crowds and be with his disciples privately, but the people saw where they had gone and followed after them. They had heard the teachings of Jesus and seen his works and miracles and wanted to see more. It was in this situation that Jesus again saw them as being sheep without a shepherd. His response was to teach them and herd them in the right direction.

In his first epistle, Peter used the same language to describe the transition when people took up faith in Jesus.

1 Peter 2:11: Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul; ... 25. For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls.

Again, in their days of ignorance, they were as sheep without a shepherd, but having taken on the faith in Jesus, they now had a shepherd and gardian.

During the last supper, Jesus spoke of a time when his own disciples would be like scattered sheep. (also Mark 14:27)

Matthew 26:29: But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom. 30. And when they had sung an hymn, they went out into the mount of Olives. 31. Then saith Jesus unto them, All ye shall be offended because of me this night: for it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad.

This quote was from Zechariah,

Zechariah 13:6: And one shall say unto him, What are these wounds in thine hands? Then he shall answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends. 7. Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow, saith the LORD of hosts: smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered: and I will turn mine hand upon the little ones.

Jesus knew that it would be a difficult time for his disciples after his death. Up until that time he had been their visible leader, and a shepherd to them --- leading them to the green pastures and still water. But afterward, that leadership would be gone and they would be scattered as the sheep without a shepherd.

Ezekiel 34

The prophet Ezekiel was also critical of the performance of the shepherds of Israel, just as Micaiah had been,

Eze 34:1: And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, 2. Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD unto the shepherds; Woe be to the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves! should not the shepherds feed the flocks?

The shepherds of Israel were the leaders of the people. Here Ezekiel is passing on a warning to these leaders, the kings, priests, advisors and so on. Instead of feeding the flocks, they were feeding themselves. Instead of taking the proper care of the common people, they were spending their efforts on themselves. However, Ezekiel goes on to say that they will pay the price,

Ezekiel 34:10: Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against the shepherds; and I will require my flock at their hand, and cause them to cease from feeding the flock; neither shall the shepherds feed themselves any more; for I will deliver my flock from their mouth, that they may not be meat for them.

While for now they would get away with their irresponsibility, the time would come when they will be punished. The prophet goes on to say that the sheep also have a better future,

Eze 34:11: For thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I, even I, will both search my sheep, and seek them out. 12. As a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered; so will I seek out my sheep, and will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day. 13. And I will bring them out from the people, and gather them from the countries, and will bring them to their own land, and feed them upon the mountains of Israel by the rivers, and in all the inhabited places of the country.

Under the irresponsible shepherds, the people were scattered as sheep without a shepherd, but the time will come when the sheep are gathered back together in their own land.

Amos 3:12: Thus saith the LORD; As the shepherd taketh out of the mouth of the lion two legs, or a piece of an ear; so shall the children of Israel be taken out that dwell in Samaria in the corner of a bed, and in Damascus in a couch.

Ezekiel then goes on to differentiate between parts of the flock

Eze 34:17: And as for you, O my flock, thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I judge between cattle and cattle, between the rams and the he goats. 18. Seemeth it a small thing unto you to have eaten up the good pasture, but ye must tread down with your feet the residue of your pastures? and to have drunk of the deep waters, but ye must foul the residue with your feet? 19. And as for my flock, they eat that which ye have trodden with your feet; and they drink that which ye have fouled with your feet. 20. Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD unto them; Behold, I, even I, will judge between the fat cattle and between the lean cattle.

So not only were the rulers at fault, but the common people were a mixture also. After having enjoyed the good pasture, they destroyed it for others, and drunk of the water while fouling it for the others. The prophet laments that the rest of the flock have to eat and drink of these contaminated resources. This is not about abuse of power by the leaders, it is about inconsiderate and harmful influences by the common people. It is anything that can cause your brother to stumble, and God states that he will judge between the fat and the lean. The chapter goes on to say how in the future, there will be a good shepherd,

Ezekiel 34:23: And I will set up one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, even my servant David; he shall feed them, and he shall be their shepherd.

The Good Shepherd

The most notable parable concerning sheep and shepherds was the one told by Jesus about the Good Shepherd.

John 10:1: Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. 2. But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. 3. To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out. 4. And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice. 5. And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers. 6. This parable spake Jesus unto them: but they understood not what things they were which he spake unto them.

This parable contrasts the shepherd with a robber. Theft is now, and always was a problem and at the time of Jesus, shepherds had to guard against robbers stealing their sheep. As protection they would build secured sheepfolds, and keep watch with

the rod and sling. One thing the shepherd did have in his favour was that the sheep would know his voice.

At the time, flocks were smaller, and the shepherd had a closer relationship with his sheep. As an example, when a number of flocks were lying at a well, a shepherd could summon his own sheep through his call, and thus separate out his own sheep. A stranger could try to emulate the call, but it was difficult to fool the sheep, as they knew their master's voice. Jesus then goes on to explain the parable,

John 10: 7 : Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep. 8. All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers: but the sheep did not hear them. 9. I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture. 10. The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.

Jesus then went on to contrast himself with the false prophets, in the analogy of the good shepherd and the hireling.

John 10:11: I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. 12. But he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth: and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep. 13. The hireling fleeth, because he is an hireling, and careth not for the sheep. 14. I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine. 15. As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep. 16. And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.

The Old Testament kings of Israel, who had left the people as sheep without a shepherd, were examples of these hirelings. They did not have the commitment to their flock that the Good Shepherd would. Instead they, and we, should act the way spoken of by Peter,

1 Peter 5:1: The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed: 2. Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; 3. �either as being lords over God's heritage, but being ensamples to the flock. 4. And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away.

It is through this chief shepherd that we have our hope,

Hebrews 13:20: �ow the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, 21. Make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you

that which is wellpleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

13. J. R. MILLER, "'The Lord is my shepherd." Little words are sometimes very important. Suppose you read it thus, " The Lord is a shepherd ; " would it mean just the same to you ? The name shepherd car ries in itself all its wondrous revealing of love, tenderness, care, safety, providence, as a picture of God ; but what comfort is all this to you, so long as you cannot say, " The Lord is my shep herd " ? Some poor children, passing a beautiful home, with its wealth and luxury, may admire it, and say, " What a lovely home ! " But how much more it means to the children who dwell inside, who say, as they enjoy the good things in the house, "This is our home!" It makes a great difference to me whether a good man is a worthy friend, or is my friend ; whether God is a Father, or is my Father; whether Jesus is a wonderful Saviour, or is my Saviour ; whether the Lord is a Shepherd, or is my Shepherd.

It was not the exclusive privilege of David to say, il The Lord is my shepherd." It is our privi lege too. Religion is an individual matter. Each one comes to Christ for himself, and it is a per sonal relation which is established between Christ and each believing soul. Every one has all of Christ for his own, just as truly as if he were the only believer. Each one can say, " The Lord is my shepherd. He maketh me to lie down in green pas tures. He leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul." If we can say this little word my with our heart, as we go over this psalm, claiming all of God for our own, then have we learned the great lesson which binds us to God and God to us. This is the faith that saves.

We must notice here, too, the grounds of Da vid's confidence. He was very rich in his old age, when he wrote this psalm ; but he does not say, " I have much goods laid up, vast sums of gold, and therefore I shall not want." He was a great king and a mighty conqueror. �ation after nation had submitted to him, and now the whole Eastern

country was at his feet, with its power and wealth ; but he does not say, " I am king of vast realms ; many peoples own my sway ; the resources of great countries are at my disposal, and therefore I shall not want." His confidence was in some thing securer than money or power. "The Lord is my shepherd, and therefore I shall not want." To have God is better than to have all the world without God. "The world passeth away," "but the word of God abideth forever." When we can say, " God is mine," we have all the wealth of the universe for ours ; for ' the earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof," and what is God's is ours. " All things are yours, and ye are Christ's." Blessed are all who can say, " The Lord is my shepherd." They can sing then with confidence, " Therefore I shall not want."

14. RAY STEDMA�, "It struck me as I was studying this psalm that there are really only two options in life. If the Lord is my shepherd, then I shall not want; but if I am in want, then it is obvious that the Lord is not my shepherd. It is that simple. If emptiness, loneliness, despair, and frustration exist in our lives, then the Lord is not our shepherd. Or if anyone or anything else is shepherding us, we are never satisfied. If our vocation shepherds us, then there is restlessness and feverish activity and frustration. If education is our shepherd, then we are constantly being disillusioned. If another person is our shepherd, we are always disappointed, and ultimately we are left empty.

It occurs to me that if Jehovah is to be our shepherd, then we have to begin by recognizing that we are sheep. I don't like that analogy, frankly, because I don't like sheep. I come by my dislike honestly. I used to raise sheep. In high school I was in the 4-H Club, and I had a herd of sheep and goats. �ow goats I can abide, because they may be obnoxious, but at least they're smart. Sheep are, beyond question, the most stupid animals on the face of the earth. They are dumb and they are dirty and they are timid and defenseless and helpless. Mine were always getting lost and hurt and snakebitten. They literally do not know enough to come in out of the rain. Sheep are miserable creatures.

And then to have God tell me that I am one! That hurts my feelings. But if I am really honest with myself, I know it is true. I know that I lack wisdom and strength. I'm inclined to be self-destructive. Isaiah said it best: We all, like sheep, have gone astray; each of us has turned to his own way (Isaiah 53:6). I know my tendency toward self-indulgent individualism, going my own way and doing my own thing. That's me. I'm a sheep. And if Jesus Christ is to be my shepherd, I have to admit that I need one. It is difficult, but that is where we must start. Once we admit that need, we discover the truth of what David is saying. We shall not want.

Lord, though I am a sheep who is prone to wander, come and be my shepherd today. Bring me to that place where I can say, The Lord is my shepherd I shall not be in want

15. JOH� CALVI�, "Jehovah is my shepherd. Although God, by his benefits, gently allures us to himself, as it were by a taste of his fatherly sweetness, yet there is nothing into which we more easily fall than into a forgetfulness of him, when we are in the enjoyment of peace and comfort. Yea, prosperity not only so intoxicates many, as to carry them beyond all bounds in their mirth, but it also engenders insolence, which makes them proudly rise up and break forth against God. Accordingly, there is scarcely a hundredth part of those who enjoy in abundance the good things of God, who keep themselves in his fear, and live in the exercise of humility and temperance, which would be so becoming. 531 For this reason, we ought the more carefully to mark the example which is here set before us by David, who, elevated to the dignity of sovereign power, surrounded with the splendor of riches and honors, possessed of the greatest abundance of temporal good things, and in the midst of princely pleasures, not only testifies that he is mindful of God, but calling to remembrance the benefits which God had conferred upon him, 532 makes them ladders by which he may ascend nearer to Him. By this means he not only bridles the wantonness of his flesh, but also excites himself with the greater earnestness to gratitude, and the other exercises of godliness, as appears from the concluding sentence of the psalm, where he says, “I shall dwell in the house of Jehovah for a length of days.” In like manner, in the 18th psalm, which was composed at a period of his life when he was applauded on every side, by calling himself the servant of God, he showed the humility and simplicity of heart to which he had attained, and, at the same time, openly testified his gratitude, by applying himself to the celebration of the praises of God.Under the similitude of a shepherd, he commends the care which God, in his providence, had exercised towards him. His language implies that God had no less care of him than a shepherd has of the sheep who are committed to his charge. God, in the Scripture, frequently takes to himself the name, and puts on the character of a shepherd, and this is no mean token of his tender love towards us. As this is a lowly and homely manner of speaking, He who does not disdain to stoop so low for our sake, must bear a singularly strong affection towards us. It is therefore wonderful, that when he invites us to himself with such gentleness and familiarity, we are not drawn or allured to him, that we may rest in safety and peace under his guardianship. But it should be observed, that God is a shepherd only to those who, touched with a sense of their own weakness and poverty, feel their need of his protection, and who willingly abide in his sheepfold, and surrender themselves to be governed by him. David, who excelled both in power and riches, nevertheless frankly confessed himself to be a poor sheep, that he might have God for his shepherd. Who is there, then, amongst us, who would exempt himself from this necessity, seeing our own weakness sufficiently shows that we are more than miserable if we do not live under the protection of this shepherd? We ought to bear in mind, that our happiness consists in this, that his hand is stretched forth to

govern us, that we live under his shadow, and that his providence keeps watch and ward over our welfare. Although, therefore, we have abundance of all temporal good things, yet let us be assured that we cannot be truly happy unless God vouchsafe to reckon us among the number of his flock. Besides, we then only attribute to God the office of a Shepherd with due and rightful honor, when we are persuaded that his providence alone is sufficient to supply all our necessities. 533 As those who enjoy the greatest abundance of outward good things are empty and famished if God is not their shepherd; so it is beyond all doubt that those whom he has taken under his charge shall not want a full abundance of all good things. David, therefore, declares that he is not afraid of wanting any thing, because God is his Shepherd.

16. PASTOR BILL LOBBS, "Fact: Only when you can say "The Lord is my Shepherd" can you say, "I shall not want."

Jehovah (Yah-weh) was a name so revered by the ancient Jews that it was never spoken - only written. In writing Psalm 23, David took the sacred name of Jehovah and linked it with the word Rohi (My Shepherd).

There are seven times when the name Jehovah is linked with another word in the Scriptures. Each of these names revealed some aspect of the nature and character of God -who He is and what He wants to be or do in our lives.1. Psalm 23:1 - Jehovah Rohi - The Lord is my Shepherd.2. Genesis 22:13-14 - Jehovah Jireh - The Lord will provide.3. Exodus 15:26 - Jehovah Rapha - The Lord that healeth.4. Judges 6:24 - Jehovah Shalom - The Lord our peace.5. Jeremiah 23:6 - Jehovah Tsidkenu - The Lord our righteousness.6. Ezekial 48:35 - Jehovah Shammah - The Lord ever present.7. Exodus 17:8-15 - Jehovah �issi - The Lord our banner.

Look at the wonderful way these names fit Psalm 23.1. Jehovah Rohi - The Lord is my Shepherd.2. Jehovah Jirah - (The Lord will provide" - "I shall not want."3. Jehovah Rapha - (The Lord that healeth) - "He restoreth my soul."4. Jehovah Shalom - (The Lord our peace) - "He leadeth me in paths of righteousness."5. Jehovah Tsidkenu - (The Lord our righteousness) - "He leadeth me in paths of righteousness."6. Jehovah Shammah - (The Lord ever present) - "I will fear no evil for Thou art with me."7. Jehovah �issi - (The Lord our banner) - "Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of my enemies."

Just think of all we have when we say "the Lord is my Shepherd."1. Green pastures speak of provision.2. Still waters speak of peace.

3. The restoring of my soul speaks of pardon.4. Leading in the paths of righteousness speaks of providence.5. His being with us in dark valleys speaks of presence.6. His rod and staff speaks of preservation.7. The table in the presence of my enemies speaks of protection.8. The anointing of our head with oil and the cup overflowing speaks of plenty.9. Dwelling in the house of the Lord forever speaks of paradise.

�ote: David had not only a theology of God: He had a testimony of God.

"The Lord is my Shepherd "(his theology) "I shall not want" (his testimony)

Fact: If the Lord is our Shepherd - He will provide for us and we will not want.

We shall not want for health, for "with his stripes we are healed, Isa.53:5. And Jesus Himself took our infirmities, and bore our sickness, Matt. 8:17. We shall not want for prosperity, for "my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus", Phil 4:19. We shall not want for security, for God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, of love, and of a sound mind, 2 Tim 1:7. We shall not want for power, for "ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you" ,Acts 1:8. We shall not want for peace, for "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee: because he trusteth in Thee.",Isa. 26:3. We shall not want for joy, for "the joy of the Lord is our (my) strength", �eh. 8:10. We shall not want for ability, for "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.", Phil. 4:13. We shall not want for blessings, because we are "blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, Eph. 1:3.

Fact: These promises are valid in your life only if Jesus is made vital in your life.

What kind of Shepherd is Jesus?

He is the Good Shepherd (John 10:11). As such He died to pay the penalty for our sin 2. He is the Great Shepherd (Hebrews 13:20-21).As such He rose to save us from the power of sin. He is the Chief Shepherd (1 Peter 5:4). As such He is coming again to save us from the presence of sin. He is the Savior Shepherd that came to save the lost (Luke 19:10), "For the Son of man came to seek and save that which was lost." He is like the Concerned Shepherd of Luke 15 who goes seeking for the lost sheep until he finds it. "And when he hath found it, he laid it upon his shoulders,

rejoicing...and when he cometh home, he calls together his friends and neighbors saying unto them; "Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost" (Luke 15:4-6). He is the Shepherd who is touched by our infirmities (Hebrews 4:15). He is the Shepherd who comforts us in all our tribulation (2 Cor.1:4). He is the good Shepherd who knows His sheep by name (John 10:14,27). He is the Shepherd who can weep over His sheep (John 11:35).

17. When I think of shepherds, I think of one man in particular I know who used to keep sheep here in Rupert a few years back. Some of them he gave names to, and some of them he didn't, but he knew then equally well either way. If one of them got lost, he didn't have a moment's peace till he found it again. If one of them got sick or hurt, he would move Heaven and earth to get it well again. He would feed them out of a bottle when they were new-born lambs if for some reason the mother wasn't around or wouldn't 'own' them, as he put it. He always called them in at the end of the day so the wild dogs wouldn't get them. I've seen him wade through snow up to his knees with a bale of hay in each hand to feed them on bitter cold winter evenings, shaking it out and putting it in the manger. I've stood with him in their shed with a forty watt bulb hanging down from the low ceiling to light up their timid, greedy, foolish, half holy faces as they pushed and butted each other to get at it because if God is like a shepherd, there are more than just a few ways, needless to say, that people like you and me are like sheep. Being timid, greedy, foolish, and half holy is only part of it.

Like sheep we get hungry, and hungry for more than just food. We get thirsty for more than just drink. Our souls get hungry and thirsty; in fact it is often that sense of inner emptiness that makes us know we have souls in the first place. There is nothing that the world has to give us, there is nothing that we have to give to each other even, that ever quite fills them. But once in a while that inner emptiness is filled even so. That is part of what the psalm means by saying that God is like a shepherd, I think. It means that, like a shepherd, he feeds us. He feeds that part of us which is hungriest and most in need of feeding.

-- Frederick Buechner, Listening to Your Life, Harper, San Francisco, 1992.

18. LURA LA�GE�BACK has an interesting way of Bible study. She puts a special emphasis on each verse, and this kind of focus brings out the many different aspects of the verse. The following is her example on this first verse.

1) The----------With this word emphasized it means that He is THE Lord. There is no One but Him. It does not say "many" or "one of". It says THE.

2) Lord---------This word means that He is Lord, the creator. He is the Ruler of all. And He is Who He says He is.

3) Is------------Here we notice that the word IS means that it is present tense. It is not something that happened in the past, but is right now.

4) My----------Ah, now this word makes it very personal. He is MY Shepherd. He is personal to me. That means that this verse is promised to ME! Hallelujah!

5) Shepherd---This word is power packed because it means that He is all that a shepherd would be to his sheep. A shepherd is a protector, a provider of food, shelter, and care that all stay close and are not lost. He is everything to the sheep and is usually the only individual that they see for long periods of time. A relationship forms between shepherd and sheep. They come to depend on him for everything and he provides it for them because he cares what happens to them. They are valuable to him.

6) I-------------One word can mean so much. This one means that this verse is very personal, not to be taken lightly. It belongs to ME. Praise God!

7) Shall--------�ow here we have a word that means it is not in the past. It is not only now but also in the future. We also have a surety that it WILL happen because the word "shall" is a definite statement. It means "guaranteed".

8) �ot----------This one means that �EVER will I have a need that is not taken care of, as long as I accept the promise of the Lord that is in this verse.

9) Want--------The word does not mean that I can go asking the Lord for just anything and He will provide it but it does mean that needs are met. It also means that, as with any loving Father, He will give you things that you desire. But the main thing about this word is that if you accept this promise, you will never have need of anything that the Lord does not provide.

When I started to see these things, it was a real eye opener for me. �OW that verse means something personally. I can see that as long as I understand and take hold of this promise, I will have Someone to guide me through everything. He will be with me during all problems but, even when there is no difficulty, the Lord is with me. He is my comfort and my Hiding Place, my Rest. With Him in my life, I have no needs that will go unanswered. Most important of all, He is there for me when He asks me to do things, to walk with me every step of the way. What an AWESOME God we serve.

19. JAMES STALKER, "�ot long ago, on opening a new book a translation from the Dutch on the Lord's Parables, I was struck with the way in which the subject was divided. First were dis-

cussed the parables taken from agriculture, of which there were said to be seven ; then those taken from the work of the vinedresser, of which there were six ; then those taken from the work of the shepherd ; then those from the industry of the fisherman ; and so on.

It brought home to me more distinctly than I had ever observed before, how the common life of Palestine was all swept, for purposes of illustration, into the teaching of Christ with what an observant and sympa-thetic eye He had looked upon the common occupations of men, and how suggestive they had been to Him of spiritual analogies.

I suppose, the four occupations to which I have referred were the most common in Palestine. There was, first, agriculture : this was the basis of existence, and in it the body of the people were employed. Then there was the occupation of the vinedresser : every sunny hillside was covered with vine-yards, and at the time of the vintage thewhole land was filled with the sonars of those who gathered and those who trod the grapes. Then there was the occupation of the shep-herd : the hills which were not suitable for the cultivation of the vine were clothed with flocks ; and every village had its droves of great and small cattle, which were led out to the pastures every evening. Then there was the labour of the fisherman, which Jesus could not possibly omit, because it was so conspicuous in the part of the country in which the principal scene of His ministry lay. It was not only, however, nor was it first by Him that these features of common life in the Holy Land were beautifully described and used as vehicles for conveying spiritual truth. In both the poetical and prophetical parts of the Old Testament we find the same practice in full operation. How often, for example, in the Psalms and the Prophets, are the people of God compared to a vine, of which God is the husbandman ; and every

single step in the history of the vineyard, from the time it is cleared of stones and fenced in from the surrounding waste on to the point where the wine is in the cup and at the owner's lips, is made use of to illustrate some aspect or other of divine truth. Still more common, if possible, is the use for the same purpose made of the shepherd's calling. As early as the age of the patriarchs, God is called the Shepherd of Israel ; and in a hundred different forms subsequently this thought recurs, every phase and incident of the life of the shepherd and the life-history of the sheep being turned to account, as in the unspeakably beautiful words of Isaiah, " He shall feed His flock like a shepherd ; He shall gather the lambs with His arm and carry them in His bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young."

Here, then, we see a distinct and prevalent habit of the religious mind. The inspired teachers perceived in the common occupations of daily life innumerable hints and sugges-tions of heavenly truths, and they taught those who received their teaching to brood upon these analogies as they engaged in their ordinary occupations.

Our shepherds go out in the morn-ing with nothing but plaid and staff ; but in the East, even at the present day, the shep-herd goes afield armed to the teeth with gun, sword, or other weapons ; and it is no very unusual incident for a shepherd actually to sacrifice his life for his flock.

Of course all shepherds are not alike faithful or affectionate ; but we can easily believe that David was an ideal shepherd. We remember how he slew the lion and the bear by which his flock had been attacked ; and, even if we were unacquainted with these incidents, we could imagine how his generous heart would have gone out to the

creatures under his charge, and how his courage would have prompted him to sacri-fice himself for their protection. We may be certain of this, too, that the intensity of David's fidelity became to him an inter-preter of God's faithfulness to those over whose welfare He had pledged Himself to watch. In the same way, it is the man who is himself the most affectionate and loyal father who best knows what is meant by the fatherhood of God. And in general, we may lay down the rule that it is the man who loves his occupation and is doing his daily work with all his might who will best per-ceive the divine lessons it is fitted to teach.

I SHALL �OT WA�T, JAMES STALKER, "

This is the cheerful philosophy of Jesus Himself : " Consider the lilies of the field how they grow : they toil not neither do they spin ; and yet I say unto you that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall He not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith ? Behold the fowls of the air : for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns ; yet your Heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they ? '

Can we say, then, that poverty never can overtake the godly ? I once heard the late Mr. Spurgeon, in his own church, read a psalm in which this verse occurs : " I have been young and now am old, yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, or his seed begging bread." After reading the verse, he paused and remarked, " David, being a king, may never have seen this spectacle ; but I, being a minister and better acquainted with poor people, have seen it often." That was a very bold statement.

What do these exceptional cases prove ?

Do they prove that sometimes God's promise fails ? If we look to Jesus, we shall understand the mystery. Though He spoke so cheerfully of God's good provi-dence, yet He had to say Himself, " Foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests ; but the Son of man hath not where to lay His head"; and He died forsaken and outcast. Still, through all, He kept His eye fixed on God and never doubted that out of the darkest misfortune He would cause to be born a higher good. �or was He disappointed ; for out of His bitter shame has come His exaltation, and out of His loss and suffering the salvation of the world. So out of the mysteries of God's providence will there be born glorious sur-prises for His other children also. His resources are not exhausted in this life : even after death He can still justify Him-self. If God causes any of His saints to want one thing, it is only that He may give a better.

Deep in unfathomable mines

Of never-failing skill He treasures up His bright designs

And works His sovereign will.

Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take, The clouds ye so much dread

Are big with mercy and will break In blessing on your head.

2 He makes me lie down in green pastures,he leads me beside quiet waters,

1. This beautiful scene of lush green grass and quiet waters is a verbal work of art. It is a place where any of us would love to sit and enjoy the beauty of nature. It would be a place of therapy for the weary and anxious. This setting is designed for the comfort and peace of the sheep, but it is equally beneficial for humans. This verse calls attention to the beauty that God has provided in the world for the benefit of his sheep, or his people. Unfortunately, we often miss it because we are too busy to stop and smell the roses, and appreciate the beauty that is all around us. Every beautiful scene in this awesome creation is God's gift to increase our happiness. If we fail to benefit it is not because of God's lack of provision, but our own lack of vision.

From the play Our Town --Emily, a young mother who has died, has come back to earth for one day to spend time with her friends and family, who don't know she's there. Emily: I can't. I can't go on. It goes so fast. We don't have time to look at one another. I didn't realize. So all that was going on and we never noticed. Take me back--up the hill--to my grave. But first, wait! One more look. Good-by; good-by, world; good-by, Grovers Corners. . . Mama and papa. Good-by to clocks ticking. . . and Mama's sunflowers. And food and coffee. And new-ironed dresses and hot baths. . . and sleeping and waking up. Oh, earth, you're too wonderful for anybody to realize you. (She looks toward the stage manager and asks abruptly through her tears) Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it?--every, every minute? Stage Manager: �o. (Pause) The saints and poets, maybe--they do some. Emily: I'm ready to go back. Thornton Wilder

This verse makes it clear that the shepherd loves the sheep, for he provides the best for them for comfort and enjoyment. We need desperately to know we are loved by our Shepherd. There are few things more miserable than that of living without love. You can everything, but if you lack love you have nothing. This is demonstrated by what we know of a very famous and successful person. "A freelance reporter for the �ew York Times was interviewing Marilyn Monroe years ago. He knew about her past of going to one foster home after another. The reporter asked Marilyn, "Did you ever feel loved by and of the families with whom you live?’She got teary-eyed as she told about the only time she felt loved. She said, "Once, when I was seven years old, the woman I was living with was putting on make-up and I was watching her. She was in a happy mood and she reached over and patted my cheeks . . . for that brief moment I felt loved." Thank God every day for a loving Shepherd.

Thank God also for a heavenly Father who loves you and accepts you where you are. He wants you to grow and become more than you are always, but he does not love you less because you are not all you could be. Sheep are dumb creatures, but they are loved by the Shepherd, and so it is with us. Too many fathers make the mistake of failing to express their love for every child at every level of their achievements. "Keith Hernandez is one of baseball's top players. He is a lifetime .300 hitter who has won numerous Golden Glove awards for excellence in fielding.

He's won a batting championship for having the highest average, the Most Valuable Player award in his league, and even the World Series. Yet with all his accomplishments, he has missed out on something crucially important to him -- his father's acceptance and recognition that what he has accomplished is valuable. Listen to what he had to say in a very candid interview about his relationship with his father: "One day Keith asked his father, 'Dad, I have a lifetime 300 batting average. What more do you want?' His father replied, 'But someday you're going to look back and say, "I could have done more."'"

Gary Smalley & John Trent, Ph.D., The Gift of Honor, p. 116.

1B. Barnes, “He maketh me to lie down in green pastures -Margin, “Pastures of tender grass.” The Hebrew word rendered “pastures” means usually “dwellings,” or “habitations.” It is applied here properly to “pastures,” as places where flocks and herds

lie down for repose. The word rendered in the margin “tender grass” - 'deshe דׁשא - refers to the first shoots of vegetation from the earth - young herbage - tender grass - as clothing the meadows, and as delicate food for cattle, Job_6:5. It differs from ripe grass

ready for mowing, which is expressed by a different word - châtsı�yr. The idea is that חצירof calmness and repose, as suggested by the image of flocks “lying down on the grass.” But this is not the only idea. It is that of flocks that lie down on the grass “fully fed” or “satisfied,” their wants being completely supplied. The exact point of contemplation in the mind of the poet, I apprehend, is that of a flock in young and luxuriant grass, surrounded by abundance, and, having satisfied their wants, lying down amidst this luxuriance with calm contentment. It is not merely a flock enjoying repose; it is a flock whose wants are supplied, lying down in the midst of abundance. Applied to the psalmist himself, or to the people of God generally, the idea is, that the wants of the soul are met and satisfied, and that, in the full enjoyment of this, there is the conviction of abundance - the repose of the soul at present satisfied, and feeling that in such abundance want will always be unknown.

2. Clarke, “He maketh me to lie down in green pastures - �binoth בנאות�דשא

deshe, not green pastures, but cottages of turf or sods, such as the shepherds had in open champaign countries; places in which themselves could repose safely; and pens thus constructed where the flock might be safe all the night. They were enclosures, and enclosures where they had grass or provender to eat.

Beside the still waters - Deep waters, that the strongest heat could not exhale; not by a rippling current, which argues a shallow stream. Or perhaps he may here refer to the waters of Siloam, or Shiloah, that go sof tly, Isa_8:6, compared with the strong current of the Euphrates. Thou hast brought us from the land of our captivity, from beyond this mighty and turbulent river, to our own country streams, wells, and fountains, where we enjoy peace, tranquillity, and rest.

The old Psalter gives this a beautiful turn: On the water of rehetyng forth he me broght. On the water of grace er we broght forth, that makes to recover our strengthe that we lost in syn. And reheteis (strengthens) us to do gude workes. My saule he turned,

that es, of a synful wreche, he made it ryghtwis, and waxyng of luf in mekeness. First he turnes our sautes til hym; and then he ledes and fedes it. Ten graces he telles in this psalme, the qwilk God gyfs til his lufers, (i.e., them that love him).

3. Gill, “ Or "pastures of tender grass" (t); this is one part of the shepherd's work, and which is performed by Christ, Eze_34:14; by these "green pastures" may be meant the covenant of grace, its blessings and promises, where there is delicious feeding; likewise the fulness of grace in Christ, from whence grace for grace is received; also the flesh and blood, righteousness and sacrifice, of Christ, which faith is led unto and lives upon, and is refreshed and invigorated by; to which may be added the doctrines of the Gospel, with which Christ's under-shepherds feed his lambs and sheep, there being in them milk for babes and meat for strong men; and likewise the ordinances of the Gospel, the goodness and fatness of the Lord's house, the feast of fat things, and breasts of consolation: here Christ's sheep are made to "lie down", denoting their satiety and fulness; they having in these green pastures what is satisfying and replenishing; as also their rest and safety, these being sure dwellings and quiet resting places, even in the noon of temptation and persecution; see Son_1:7;

he leadeth me beside the still waters, or "waters of rest and quietness" (u); not to rapid torrents, which by reason of the noise they make, and the swiftness of their motion, the sheep are frightened, and not able to drink of them; but to still waters, pure and clear, and motionless, or that go softly, like the waters of Shiloah, Isa_8:6; and the "leading" to them is in a gentle way, easily, as they are able to bear it; so Jacob led his flock, Gen_33:14; and Christ leads his, Isa_40:11; by these "still waters" may be designed the everlasting love of God, which is like a river, the streams whereof make glad the hearts of his people; these are the waters of the sanctuary, which rise to the ankles, knees, and loins, and are as a broad river to swim in; the pure river of water of life Christ leads his sheep to, and gives them to drink freely of: also communion with God, which the saints pant after, as the hart pants after the water brooks, and Christ gives access unto; moreover he himself is the fountain of gardens, and well of living waters, and streams from Lebanon; and the graces of his Spirit are also as rivers of living water, all which he makes his people partakers of; to which may be added, that the Scriptures, and the truths of the Gospel, are like still, quiet, and refreshing waters to them, and are the waters to which those that are athirst are invited to come, Isa_55:1; and in the immortal state Christ will still be a shepherd, and will feed his people, and lead them to fountains of living water, where they shall solace themselves for ever, and shall know no more sorrow and sighing, Rev_7:17.

4. Henry, “From his performing the office of a good shepherd to him he infers that he needs not fear any evil in the greatest dangers and difficulties he could be in, Psa_23:2-4. He experiences the benefit of God's presence with him and care of him now, and therefore expects the benefit of them when he most needs it. See here,

1. The comforts of a living saint. God is his shepherd and his God - a God all-sufficient to all intents and purposes. David found him so, and so have we. See the happiness of the saints as the sheep of God's pasture. (1.) They are well placed, well laid: He maketh me to lie down in green pastures. We have the supports and comforts of this life from God's good hand, our daily bread from him as our Father. The greatest abundance is but a dry pasture to a wicked man, who relishes that only in it which pleases the senses; but to a

godly man, who tastes the goodness of God in all his enjoyments, and by faith relishes that, though he has but little of the world, it is a green pasture, Psa_37:16; Pro_15:16, Pro_15:17. God's ordinances are the green pastures in which food is provided for all believers; the word of life is the nourishment of the new man. It is milk for babes, pasture for sheep, never barren, never eaten bare, never parched, but always a green pasture for faith to feed in. God makes his saints to lie down; he gives them quiet and contentment in their own minds, what ever their lot is; their souls dwell at ease in him, and that makes every pasture green. Are we blessed with the green pastures of the ordinances? Let us not think it enough to pass through them, but let us lie down in them, abide in them; this is my rest for ever. It is by a constancy of the means of grace that the soul is fed. (2.) They are well guided, well led. The shepherd of Israel guides Joseph like a flock; and every believer is under the same guidance: He leadeth me beside the still waters. Those that feed on God's goodness must follow his direction; he leads them by his providence, by his word, by his Spirit, disposes of their affairs for the best, according to his counsel, disposes their affections and actions according to his command, directs their eye, their way, and their heart, into his love. The still waters by which he leads them yield them, not only a pleasant prospect, but many a cooling draught, many a reviving cordial, when they are thirsty and weary. God provides for his people not only food and rest, but refreshment also and pleasure. The consolations of God, the joys of the Holy Ghost, are these still waters, by which the saints are led, streams which flow from the fountain of living waters and make glad the city of our God. God leads his people, not to the standing waters which corrupt and gather filth, not to the troubled sea, nor to the rapid rolling floods, but to the silent purling waters; for the still but running waters agree best with those spirits that flow out towards God and yet do it silently.

5. Jamison, “green pastures— or, “pastures of tender grass,” are mentioned, not in respect to food, but as places of cool and refreshing rest.

the still waters— are, literally, “waters of “stillness,” whose quiet flow invites to repose. They are contrasted with boisterous streams on the one hand, and stagnant, offensive pools on the other.

6. SPURGEO�, “The Christian life has two elements in it, the contemplative and the active, and both of these are richly provided for. First, the contemplative. "He maketh me to lie down in green pastures." What are these "green pastures" but the Scriptures of truth—always fresh, always rich, and never exhausted? There is no fear of biting the bare ground where the grass is long enough for the flock to lie down in it. Sweet and full are the doctrines of the gospel; fit food for souls, as tender grass is natural nutriment for sheep. When by faith we are enabled to find rest in the promises, we are like the sheep that lie down in the midst of the pasture; we find at the same moment both provender and peace, rest and refreshment, serenity and satisfaction. But observe: "He maketh me to lie down." It is the Lord who graciously enables us to perceive the preciousness of his truth, and to feed upon it. How grateful ought we to be for the power to appropriate the promises! There are some distracted souls who would give worlds if they could but do this. They know the blessedness of it, but they cannot say that this blessedness is theirs. They know the "green pastures," but they are not made to "lie down" in them. Those believers who have for years enjoyed a "full assurance of faith" should greatly bless their

gracious God.The second part of a vigorous Christian's life consists in gracious activity. We not only think, but we act. We are not always lying down to feed, but are journeying onward toward perfection; hence we read, "he leadeth me beside the still waters." What are these "still waters" but the influences and graces of his blessed Spirit? His Spirit attends us in various operations, like waters—in the plural—to cleanse, to refresh, to fertilise, to cherish. They are "still waters," for the Holy Ghost loves peace, and sounds no trumpet of ostentation in his operations. He may flow into our soul, but not into our neighbour's, and therefore our neighbour may not perceive the divine presence; and though the blessed Spirit may be pouring his floods into one heart, yet he that sitteth next to the favoured one may know nothing of it.

"In sacred silence of the mindMy heaven, and there my God I find."

Still waters run deep. �othing more noisy than an empty drum. That silence is golden indeed in which the Holy Spirit meets with the souls of his saints. �ot to raging waves of strife, but to peaceful streams of holy love does the Spirit of God conduct the chosen sheep. He is a dove, not an eagle; the dew, not the hurricane. Our Lord leads us beside these "still waters;" we could not go there of ourselves, we need his guidance, therefore it is said, "he leadeth me." He does not drive us. Moses drives us by the law, but Jesus leads us by his example, and the gentle drawing of his love.

7. TREASURY OF DAVID BY SPURGEO�, “ Verse 2. "He leadeth me." Our guiding must be mild and gentle, else it is not duxisti, but traxisti—drawing and driving, and no leading. Leni spiritu non durf manu—rather by an inward sweet influence to be led, than by and outward extreme violence to be forced forward . . . Touching what kind of cattle, to very good purpose, Jacob, a skilful shepherd, answereth Esau (who would have had Jacob and his flocks have kept company with him in his hunting pace), �ay, not so, sir, said Jacob, it is a tender cattle that is under my hands, and must be softly driven, as they may endure: if one "should over drive them but one day," they would all die or be laid up for many days after. Genesis 33:13. Lancelot Andrewes.

Verse 2. "He leadeth me," etc. In ordinary circumstances the shepherd does not feed his flock, except by leading and guiding them where they may gather for themselves; but there are times when it is otherwise. Late in autumn, when the pastures are dried up, and in winter, in places covered with snow, he must furnish them food or they die. In the vast oak woods along the eastern sides of Lebanon, between Baalbek and the cedars, there are there gathered innumerable flocks, and the shepherds are all day long in the bushy trees, cutting down the branches, upon whose green leaves and tender twigs the sheep and goats are entirely supported. The same is true in all mountain districts, and large forests are preserved on purpose. W. M. Thomson.

Verse 2. "Lie down"—"leadeth." Sitting Mary and stirring Martha are emblems of contemplation and action, and as they dwell in one house, so must these in one

heart. �athanael Hardy.

Verse 2. This short but touching epitaph is frequently seen in the catacombs at Rome, "In Christo, in pace"—(In Christ, in peace). Realise the constant presence of the Shepherd of peace. "HE maketh me to lie down!" "HE leadeth me." J. R. Macduff, D.D.

Verse 2 (last clause). "Easily leadeth," or "comfortably guideth me:" it noteth a soft and gentle leading, with sustaining of infirmity. H. Ainsworth.

Verse 2. "Green pastures." Here are many pastures, and every pasture rich so that it can never be eaten bare; here are many streams, and every stream so deep and wide that it can never be drawn dry. The sheep have been eating in these pastures ever since Christ had a church on earth, and yet they are as full of grass as ever. The sheep have been drinking at these streams ever since Adam, and yet they are brim full to this very day, and they will so continue till the sheep are above the use of them in heaven! Ralph Robinson, 1656.

Verse 2. "Green pastures . . . beside the still waters." From the top of the mound (of Arban on the Khabour) the eye ranged over a level country bright with flowers, and spotted with black tents, and innumerable flocks of sheep and camels. During our stay at Arban, the color of these great plains was undergoing a continual change. After being for some days of a golden yellow, a new family of flowers would spring up, and it would turn almost in a night to a bright scarlet, which would again as suddenly give way to the deepest blue. Then the meadows would be mottled with various hues, or would put on the emerald green of the most luxuriant of pastures. The glowing descriptions I had so frequently received from the Bedouins of the beauty and fertility of the banks of the Khabour were more than realised. The Arabs boast that its meadows bear three distinct crops of grass during the year, and the wandering tribes look upon its wooded banks and constant greensward as a paradise during the summer months, where man can enjoy a cool shade, and beast can find fresh and tender herbs, whilst all around is yellow, parched, and sapless. Austin H. Layard, 1853.

Verse 2. With guidance to "green pastures," the psalmist has, with good reason, associated guardianship beside "still waters:" for as we can only appropriate the word through the Spirit, so we shall ordinarily receive the Spirit through the Word; not indeed only by hearing it, not only by reading it, not only by reflecting upon it. The Spirit of God, who is a most free agent, and who is himself the source of liberty, will come into the heart of the believer when he will, and how he will, and as he will. But the effect of his coming will ever be the realisation of some promise, the recognition of some principle, the attainment of some grace, the understanding of some mystery, which is already in the word, and which we shall thus find, with a deeper impression, and with a fuller development, brought home with power to the heart. Thomas Dale, M.A., in "The Good Shepherd," 1847.

Verse 2. "Still waters;" which are opposed to great rivers, which both affright the

sheep with their noise, and expose them to the danger of being carried away by their swift and violent streams, whilst they are drinking at them. Matthew Poole.

Verse 2. "Still waters;" Hebrew, "Waters of rests," ex quibus diligunt oves bibere, saith Kimchi, such as sheep love to drink of, because void of danger, and yielding a refreshing air. Popish clergymen are called the "inhabitants of the sea," Revelation 12:12, because they set abroach gross, troubled, brackish, and sourish doctrine, which rather bringeth barrenness to their hearers, and gnaweth the entrails than quencheth their thirst, or cooleth their heat. The doctrine of the gospel, like the waters of Siloe (Isaiah 8:8), run gently, but taste pleasantly. John Trapp.

Verse 2. "He maketh me to lie down in green pastures," etc. �ot only he hath "green pastures" to lead me into, which shows his ability, but he leads me into them, which shows his goodness. He leads me not into pastures that are withered and dry, that would distaste me before I taste them; but he leads me into "green pastures," as well to please my eye with the verdure as my stomach with the herbage; and inviting me, as it were, to eat by setting out the meat in the best colour. A meat though never so good, yet if it look not handsomely, it dulls the appetite; but when besides the goodness, it hath also a good look, this gives the appetite another edge, and makes a joy before enjoying. But yet the goodness is not altogether in the greenness. Alas! green is but a colour, and colours are but deceitful things; they might be green leaves, or they might be green flags or rushes; and what good were to me in such a greenness? �o, my soul; the goodness is in being "green pastures," for now they perform as much as they promise; and as in being green they were a comfort to me as soon as I saw them, so in being green "pastures" they are a refreshing to me now as soon as I taste them. As they are pleasant to look on, so they are wholesome to feed on: as they are sweet to be tasted, so they are easy to be digested; that I am now, methinks, in a kind of paradise and seem not to want anything, unless perhaps a little water with which now and then to wash my mouth, at most to take sometimes a sip: for though sheep be not great drinkers, and though their pastures being green, and full of sap, make drink the less needful; yet some drink they must have besides. And now see the great goodness of this Shepherd, and what just cause there is to depend upon his providence; for he lets not his sheep want this neither, but "he leadeth them besides still waters," not waters that roar and make a noise, enough to fright a fearful sheep, but waters "still" and quiet; that though they drink but little, yet they may drink that little without fear. And may I not justly say now, "The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want?" And yet perhaps there will be want for all this; for is it enough that he lead them into green pastures and beside still waters? May he not lead them in, and presently take them out again before their bellies be half full; and so instead of making them happy, make them more miserable? set them in a longing with the sight, and then frustrate them of their expectation? �o, my soul; the measure of this Shepherd's goodness is more than so. He not only leadeth them into green pastures, but "he makes them to lie down" in them—he leads them not in to post over their meat as if they were to eat a passover, and to take it in transita, as dogs drink �ylus; but, "he makes them to lie down in green pastures," that they may eat their fill and feed at leisure; and when they have done, "lie down" and take

their ease, that their after-reckoning may be as pleasing as their repast. Sir Richard Baker.

8. Dr. Erwin W. Lutzer, ""He maketh me to lie down in green pastures. " Philip Keller says it is difficult to get sheep to lie down unless they are free of all fear. They can be so easily disturbed that even a stray rabbit bounding from behind a bush can cause a flock to stampede. When one sheep jumps, the others follow without even investigating the commotion.

Sheep have virtually no defense strategy. All they can do is run when danger comes. And because they are not fast runners, a stray dog can kill hundreds of sheep in a single night. They are in greater danger moment by moment than they even realize.

�othing so quiets a sheep as the presence of the shepherd. As long as they hear his voice they can eat to their hearts content and then lie down and rest. The shepherd communicates peace by the tone of his commands and the surety of his past record.

They must also be free from irritations. All kinds of bugs, flies, ticks and other assorted insects torment sheep. When surrounded by such pests, it is virtually impossible for the sheep to lie down and rest. They are forced to stamp their feet, shake their heads and rush off to some bush to find a refuge. The shepherd uses repellents and oils to deliver the sheep from these irritations. Every sheep enjoys having his head "anointed with oil. "

My friend, our Good Shepherd is aware of what bugs us. And the blessed Holy Spirit is given to us to enable us to be free from the distractions that come our way. Our circumstances do not change, but we are no longer driven to despair by the relentless power of events that are beyond our control.

The sheep will not lie down unless they have resolved the conflict between themselves. In every animal society an order of dominance or status is established within the group. In a pen full of chickens it is called "the pecking order." Among sheep it is called, "The butting order."

According to Keller, usually an arrogant, cunning and domineering old ewe will be the boss of any flock. She maintains her position of prestige by butting and driving other ewes away from the best grazing grounds. The other sheep succeed her in precise order, maintaining their exact position in the flock by using the same tactics of butting those who are below them in the "butting order."

This causes friction and the sheep cannot lie down and be content. They must always stand and defend their rights. Just picture what happens: The old ewe finds a contented sheep, marches up to it with an arched neck, tilled head and a proud gait, saying in effect, "Out of my way!" If the other sheep does not respond, the ewe butts the contented sheep mercilessly.

The shepherd must intervene and put a stop to their foolish rivalries. The shepherd interferes for the benefit of the weak sheep, but in the end all sheep benefit from the peace and rest the Shepherd brings.

Interestingly, the less aggressive sheep is usually the most contented. The sheep that did not feel the need to defend its territory often avoids the conflicts that others experienced.

�o wonder the Bible likens us to sheep! We fight to become "top sheep." We butt, quarrel, and compete to get ahead! We stand up for our rights and want people to stay clear of our territory. But in the presence of the Good Shepherd, we forget "who is who" and we bow before Him, recognizing Him to be Lord, our own quarrels evaporate. When our eyes are on Him, they are no longer on one another. The shepherd has come.

To be contented, the sheep must be free from hunger. There are reasons why David wrote, "He maketh me to lie down in green pastures. " These pastures are the product of hard work. The shepherd clears the rough, rocky soil. He tears out bushes, roots and stumps. He plows the soil, seeds it, and irrigates. If the sheep are to enjoy green pastures amid the brown, barren hills, the shepherd has much work to do.

When grass is scarce, the sheep are always on the move, searching for another clump here or there. Such sheep never thrive; they are discontented and are of no use to their owners. A Good Shepherd will provide deep grass so that the flock can fill up quickly, then retire to rest and ruminate.

When God portrayed the Promised Land as "a land flowing with milk and honey" this was nothing less than the Good Shepherd preparing for the arrival of His sheep.

He works to clear away the rocks of unbelief; he tears out the stumps of bitterness; he takes away the bushes of self-will. Then he sows the seeds of the Word of God. His work is watered by the Holy Spirit. Thus he makes a place for us; we call it contentment.

Sheep will not lie down peacefully unless they have water. Only the Shepherd knows where the best drinking places are. And it is to these watering holes that he leads his flock. Without adequate water, there is weakness and dehydration. When the sheep are thirsty, they set out to find water on their own. They will drink at any polluted pot-hole, where they might pick up internal parasites or disease germs.

In fact, even as the shepherd is leading them to a clear mountain stream, some stubborn sheep will stop to drink from small, dirty muddy pools beside the trail. If they come to a rushing stream the shepherd will use stones to build a quiet area, so that they drink beside "still waters."

When a shepherd buys his sheep, come what may, they are his. He knows that they

cannot take care of themselves. He takes a knife, puts the ear of the sheep on a wooden block and notches it. The shepherd too, feels the pain. �ow even at a distance it is possible to know to whom the sheep belongs.

But out of that mutual suffering comes an indelible life-long mark of ownership that is never erased. The shepherd would never deny the ownership of the sheep, no matter what. The cross of Christ marks us as His for all time.

If the Lord is our Shepherd, we really need nothing else. Yes, we need jobs, we need food, we need other friends - but we don't need these as badly as we need the Good Shepherd. Some day we will be deprived of all things we think we now need; then we will be left alone with our shepherd.

It is not necessary for us to know the terrain; the sheep were not expected to know the map of Judea. They did not have to know where they would be grazing tomorrow. Their responsibility was to stay close to the shepherd. Can you say, "The Lord is my shepherd?" Then you can continue, "I shall not want."

9. MP�Home.net, "Pastures of tender and nourishing green grass are an aromatic delight, and a supply of health and growth for a flock of sheep. The metaphor portrays the comfort of being at rest in the midst of plenty, not restlessly seeking to fulfill our need. Even before this psalm was written, the LORD made a promise to Moses about his provision of rest for Israel, and Moses understood that Israel was set apart only by God's grace. Exodus 33:14-16 "And he said, My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest. And he said unto him, If thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence. For wherein shall it be known here that I and thy people have found grace in thy sight? is it not in that thou goest with us? so shall we be separated, I and thy people, from all the people that are upon the face of the earth." But they did not remain separated or set apart once they were in the land, so throughout the period of the judges, they had rest in his grace only during cycles of time when they returned to serving the Lord. David's reign as king finally made way for a period of great prosperity, peace, and national unity during the forty year reign of his son Solomon, whose name given by the Lord means "peace." That period was followed by centuries of two kingdoms divided in Israel, and most of the rulers in both kingdoms had divided loyalty to their God. Isaiah's prophecy came in the last century for the southern kingdom, while the northern kingdom fell first to captivity. Isaiah 48:17-18 "Thus saith the LORD, thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; I am the LORD thy God which teacheth thee to profit, which leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest go. O that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments! then had thy peace been as a river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea:" God's desire was, and is, that we obey. But, the southern kingdom fell to captivity as had the northern kingdom, and even the temple was destroyed. Ezekiel spoke while still in the land of the captivity, of God's promises being ultimately fulfilled because God's plan cannot be thwarted in any way. Ezekiel 34:15-16 "I will feed my flock, and I will cause them to lie down, saith the Lord GOD. I will seek that which was

lost, and bring again that which was driven away, and will bind up that which was broken, and will strengthen that which was sick: but I will destroy the fat and the strong; I will feed them with judgment." The peace that God the Lord continually offered was only for those who would accept it by faith, followed by obedience to his word, and that is still the case in our day.

When Christ appeared, he made an open offer of rest to Jew and gentile alike, because all carry a burden of sin. Matthew 11:28 "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." And when we accept his rest, all our deepest needs will be met. Philippians 4:19 "But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus." We can be confident when we accept by faith the Lord's promise of rest because it was settled for us by our almighty God before the foundation of the world. Hebrews 4:1-3 "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. For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it. For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world." This rest is reserved with absolute surety by grace through faith, so we must continue in the work of God's kingdom while we remain in the world, demonstrating our faith by our work for him. Hebrews 4:11 "Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief."

10. EDWARD MARKQUART, "Stillness doesn’t have many “takers” today. What is wrong with you if you are being still? Stillness is a waste of time. Can’t do anything when you are still.

A philosopher once said: “We are so busy dusty plastic flowers that we don’t have time to smell the roses.” We don’t have time to cultivate the roses and watch them grow. Especially the younger generation.

Therefore God, and this is the first thing that the good shepherd does, will make you to lie down and be quiet. God will lead you beside the still waters. God said, “Be still and know that I am God.” That is why God wants us to be still: so that we know that God is God. Thereby, God restores our inner soul.

In this stillness, we feed in the green pastures; we eat and absorb the food for the soul, the Scriptures, the holy words of God. In this stillness, we drink the water, the water of God’s Spirit.

11. ALEXA�DER MACLARE�, "First, then, consider that picture of the divine Shepherd and His leading of His flock.It occupies the first four verses of the psalm. There is a double progress of thought in it. It rises, from memories of the past, and experiences of the present care of God,

to hope for the future. ‘The Lord is my Shepherd’—‘I will fear no evil.’ Then besides this progress from what was and is, to what will be, there is another string, so to speak, on which the gems are threaded. The various methods of God’s leading of His flock, or rather, we should say, the various regions into which He leads them, are described in order. These are Rest, Work, Sorrow—and this series is so combined with the order of time already adverted to, as that the past and the present are considered as the regions of rest and of work, while the future is anticipated as having in it the valley of the shadow of death.

First, God leads His sheep into rest. ‘He maketh me to lie down in green pastures, He leadeth me beside the still waters.’ It is the hot noontide, and the desert lies baking in the awful glare, and every stone on the hills of Judaea burns the foot that touches it. But in that panting, breathless hour, here is a little green glen, with a quiet brooklet, and moist lush herb-age all along its course, and great stones that fling a black shadow over the dewy grass at their base; and there would the shepherd lead his flock, while the sunbeams, like swords,’ are piercing everything beyond that hidden covert. Sweet silence broods there, The sheep feed and drink, and couch in cool lairs till he calls them forth again. So God leads His children.The psalm puts the rest and refreshment first, as being the most marked characteristic of God’s dealings. After all, it is so. The years are years of unbroken continuity of outward blessings. The reign of afflictions is ordinarily measured by days. ‘Weeping endures for a night.’ It is a rainy climate where half the days have rain in them; and that is an unusually troubled life of which it can with any truth be affirmed that there has been as much darkness as sunshine in it.But it is not mainly of outward blessings that the Psalmist is thinking. They are precious chiefly as emblems of the better spiritual gifts; and it is not an accommodation of his words, but is the appreciation of their truest spirit, when we look upon them, as the instinct of devout hearts has ever done, as expressing both God’s gift of temporal mercies, and His gift of spiritual good, of which higher gift all the lower are meant to be significant and symbolic. Thus regarded, the image describes the sweet rest of the soul in communion with God, in whom alone the hungry heart finds food that satisfies, and from whom alone the thirsty soul drinks draughts deep and limpid enough.

12. STEVE� COLE, "Yet, as Phillip Keller points out (pp. 56-57), sometimes stubborn sheep will not wait for the clear, pure water that the shepherdis leading them to. They stop to drink from the polluted potholesalong the trail, contaminated with the manure and urine of previous flocks. It satisfies their thirst for the moment, but it will eventually riddle them with parasites and disease. It’s the price they payfor instant gratification and not following the shepherd to clear water.

Some Christians are like those sheep. They don’t want to waitupon the Lord to fulfill their inner longings. They want a quick fix,instant happiness, so they go for the polluted potholes of theworld. They shrug and say, “What can it hurt?” But they don’t realize that the

consequences of sin are often delayed. Seeds sown tothe flesh take a while to sprout. Suddenly the person finds himselfin deep trouble and then blames God for his problems! Don’t bedeceived! Whatever you sow, you will reap!

13. JOH� CALVI�, "He maketh me to lie down in pastures of grass. With respect to the words, it is in the Hebrew, pastures, or fields of grass, for grassy and rich grounds. Some, instead of translating the word נאות, neoth, which we have rendered pastures, render it shepherds’ cots or lodges. If this translation is considered preferable, the meaning of the Psalmist will be, that sheep-cots were prepared in rich pasture grounds, under which he might be protected from the heat of the sun. If even in cold countries the immoderate heat which sometimes occurs is troublesome to a flock of sheep, how could they bear the heat of the summer in Judea, a warm region, without sheepfolds? The verb רבף, rabats, to lie down, or repose, seems to have a reference to the same thing. David has used the phrase, the quiet waters, to express gently flowing waters; for rapid streams are inconvenient for sheep to drink in, and are also for the most part hurtful. In this verse, and in the verses following, he explains the last clause of the first verse, I shall not want. He relates how abundantly God had provided for all his necessities, and he does this without departing from the comparison which he employed at the commencement. The amount of what is stated is, that the heavenly Shepherd had omitted nothing which might contribute to make him live happily under his care. He, therefore, compares the great abundance of all things requisite for the purposes of the present life which he enjoyed, to meadows richly covered with grass, and to gently flowing streams of water; or he compares the benefit or advantage of such things to sheep-cots; for it would not have been enough to have been fed and satisfied in rich pasture, had there not also been provided waters to drink, and the shadow of the sheep-cot to cool and refresh him.

14. PASTOR BILL, ""He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: ...". Sheep graze from about 3:30 in the morning until about 10:00. They then lie down for three or four hours to rest. It is almost impossible to make sheep lie down while they are hungry. They will mill around and nibble on bits of grass until they have eaten sufficiently. Only when their stomachs are full will they find a quiet place and lie down.Sheep lying down in green pastures is a picture of contentment and satisfaction.

"He leadeth me beside the still waters". Sheep will not drink from swiftly running water for a good reason: they are poor swimmers. If their wool coat became soaked with water the weight will pull the sheep under water. Instinctively sheep know this, so they will not go near swiftly running water.

Sheep resting beside the still waters is a picture of peace and rest. The phrase "still waters" means waters of rest. This picture reminds us of Jesus who said, "Come unto me all you that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest" (Matthew

11:28).

Sheep need a time of serene quietness to ruminate - to chew their cud. When the sheep does this he is meditating on what he has eaten just as we meditate from the Word of God that we have eaten. We need to learn to cultivate the art of quietness. See Isaiah 30:15 and Psalm 46:10a.

Conclusion: Verse 2 of Psalm 23 is a testimony of the satisfaction that comes as a result of the "provision" and "peace" that comes from our sheep/shepherd relationship with God.

15. JAMES STALKER, "The imperial singer begins with prosperity, of which he gives this picture taken from the pastoral life : " He maketh me lie down in green pastures ; He leadeth me beside the still waters." This is, as someone has said, the most complete picture of happiness that ever was or can be drawn.

But why does he begin with this ? Why does he describe the experience of pro-sperity before that of adversity ? Someone has answered, Because it is the commoner state. The lot of God's people is, on the whole, one of happiness. Seasons of suffer-ing there are, indeed ; and they are vividly remembered just as an obstruction in a river makes a great show and causes a great noise ; but the life of the Christian is for the most part like a tranquil stream, which flows deep and does not invite attention.

Lord Bacon has the aphorism that, while prosperity was the promise of the Old Testa-ment, adversity is the blessing of the �ew. But is this true ? There are doubtless many weighty words of the �ew Testament which speak of the cross which Christians must bear and the persecutions they may have to suffer : " Whosoever doth not bear his cross and come after Me, cannot be My disciple'' ; "Marvel not if the world hateth you ; ye know that it hated Me before it hated you/' Such words abound among the sayings of our Lord and His apostles. But they do not stand alone ; and, when quoted

alone, they convey a misleading impression. What said the Master Himself? "Verily, I say unto you, there is no man who hath left house, or brethren or sisters, or father or mother, or wife or children, for My sake and the gospel's, but he shall receive a hundredfold more in this time, houses, and brethren and sisters, and mothers and chil-dren, and lands, with persecutions ; and in the world to come eternal life." Similarly an apostle declares : " Godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life which now is and of that which is to come." The �ew Testament is not a sadder book than the Old ; on the contrary, it is far more sunny and melodious ; and this is not only because the misery of the present life is to be compensated by the felicity of the life to come, but this life itself is a happy one.

It is almost choosing at random from a wide field of selection, when I mention as another of the enjoyments of the interior life delight in the Word of God. I mention this because the words of our text have often been applied to it. When enjoying revealed truth, Christians often speak of themselves as lying down in green pastures and being led beside still waters. Thus one says, "What are these green pastures but the Scriptures of truth always fresh, always rich, and never exhausted ? Sweet and full are the doctrines of the gospel, fit food for souls, as tender grass is nutriment for sheep. When by faith we are enabled to find rest in the promises, we are like the sheep that lie down in the midst of pastures ; we find at the same moment both provender and peace, rest and refreshment, serenity and satisfaction." There are those who read the Bible and enjoy it for its literary qualities alone ; and, indeed, by its profundity of thought and beauty of diction, it is placed at the head of all literature. But the delight of a spiritual mind in it is deeper : the Bible is one of the principal means through which it maintains its connexion and intercourse with

the divine heart which it loves."

3 he refreshes my soul.He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake.

1. Barnes, “He leadeth me beside the still waters -Margin, “waters of quietness.” Not stagnant waters, but waters not tempestuous and stormy; waters so calm, gentle, and still, as to suggest the idea of repose, and such as prompt to repose. As applied to the people of God, this denotes the calmness - the peace - the repose of the soul, when salvation flows as in a gently running stream; when there is no apprehension of want; when the heart is at; peace with God.

He restoreth my soul - literally, “He causes my life to return.” DeWette, “He quickens me,” or causes me to live. The word soul” here means life, or spirit, and not the soul in the strict sense in which the term is now used. It refers to the spirit when exhausted, weary, or sad; and the meaning is, that God quickens or vivifies the spirit when thus exhausted. The reference is not to the soul as wandering or backsliding from God, but to the life or spirit as exhausted, wearied, troubled, anxious, worn down with care and toil. the heart, thus exhausted, He re-animates. He brings back its vigor. He encourages it; excites it to new effort; fills it with new joy.

He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness - In right paths, or right ways. He conducts me in the straight path that leads to Himself; He does not permit me to wander in ways that would lead to ruin. In reference to His people it is true:

(a) that He leads them in the path by which they become righteous, or by which they are “justified” before him; and

(b) that He leads them in the way of “uprightness” and “truth.” He guides them in the way to heaven; His constant care is evinced that they “may” walk in that path.

For his name’s sake - For His own sake; or, that His name may be honored. It is not primarily on their account; it is not solely that they may be saved. It is that He may be honored:

(a) in their being saved at all;

(b) in the manner in which it is done;

(c) in the influence of their whole life, under His guidance, as making known His own character and perfections.

Compare Isa_43:25; Isa_48:9; Isa_66:5; Jer_14:7. The feeling expressed in this verse is that of confidence in God; an assurance that he would always lead his people in the path in which they should go. Compare Psa_25:9. This he will always do if people will follow the directions of His word, the teachings of His Spirit, and the guidance of His providence. No one who submits to Him in this way will ever go astray!

2. Clarke, “He restoreth my soul - Brings back my life from destruction; and converts my soul from sin, that it may not eternally perish. Or, after it has backslidden from him, heals its backslidings, and restores it to his favor. See the old paraphrase on this clause in the preceding note.

In the paths of righteousness - bemageley�tsedek, “in the circuits” or במעגלי�צדק“orbits of righteousness.” In many places of Scripture man appears to be represented under the notion of a secondary planet moving round its primary; or as a planet revolving round the sun, from whom it receives its power of revolving, with all its light and heat. Thus man stands in reference to the Sun of righteousness; by his power alone is he enabled to walk uprightly; by his light he is enlightened; and by his heat he is vivified, and enabled to bring forth good fruit. When he keeps in his proper orbit, having the light of the glory of God reflected from the face of Jesus Christ, he is enabled to enlighten and strengthen others. He that is enlightened may enlighten; he that is fed may feed.

For his name’s sake - To display the glory of his grace, and not on account of any merit in me. God’s motives of conduct towards the children of men are derived from the perfections and goodness of his own nature.

3. Gill, “Either when backslidden, and brings it back again when led or driven away, and heals its backslidings; or rather, when fainting, swooning, and ready to die away, he fetches it back again, relieves, refreshes, and comforts with the discoveries of his love, with the promises of his word, and with the consolations of his Spirit, and such like reviving cordials; see Gill on Psa_19:7;

he leadeth, he in the paths of righteousness; in the plain paths of truth and holiness, in which men, though fools, shall not err; in right ones, though they sometimes seem rough and rugged to Christ's sheep, yet are not crooked; there is no turning to the right hand or the left; they lead straight on to the city of habitation; and they are righteous ones, as paths of duty are, and all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord be; moreover, Christ leads his by faith, to walk on in him and in his righteousness, looking through it, and on account of it, for eternal life; see Pro_8:20; and all this he does

for his name's sake; for his own glory and the praise of his grace, and not for any merits or deserts in men.

4. Henry, “The divine guidance they are under is stripped of its metaphor (Psa_23:3): He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness, in the way of my duty; in that he instructs me by his word and directs me by conscience and providence. Theses are the paths in which all the saints desire to be led and kept, and never to turn aside out of them. And those only are led by the still waters of comfort that walk in the paths of righteousness. The way of duty is the truly pleasant way. It is the work of righteousness that is peace. In these paths we cannot walk unless God both lead us into them and lead us in them. (3.) They are well helped when any thing ails them: He restoreth my soul. [1.] “He restores me when I wander.” No creature will lose itself sooner than a sheep, so apt is it to go astray, and then so unapt to find the way back. The best saints are sensible of their proneness to go astray like lost sheep (Psa_119:176); they miss their way, and turn aside

into by-paths; but when God shows them their error, gives them repentance, and brings them back to their duty again, he restores the soul; and, if he did not do so, they would wander endlessly and be undone. When, after one sin, David's heart smote him, and, after another, Nathan was sent to tell him, Thou art the man, God restored his soul. Though God may suffer his people to fall into sin, he will not suffer them to lie still in it. [2.] “He recovers me when I am sick, and revives me when I am faint, and so restores the soul which was ready to depart.” He is the Lord our God that heals us, Exo_15:26. Many a time we should have fainted unless we had believed; and it was the good shepherd that kept us from fainting.

5. Jamison, “To restore the soul is to revive or quicken it (Psa_19:7), or relieve it (Lam_1:11, Lam_1:19).

paths of righteousness— those of safety, as directed by God, and pleasing to Him.

for his name’s sake— or, regard for His perfections, pledged for His people’s welfare.

6. SPURGEO�, ""He restoreth my soul." When the soul grows sorrowful he revives it; when it is sinful he sanctifies it; when it is weak he strengthens it. "He" does it. His ministers could not do it if he did not. His Word would not avail by itself. "He restoreth my soul." Are any of us low in grace? Do we feel that our spirituality is at its lowest ebb? He who turns the ebb into the flood can soon restore our soul. Pray to him, then, for the blessing—"Restore thou me, thou Shepherd of my soul!""He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake." The Christian delights to be obedient, but it is the obedience of love, to which he is constrained by the example of his Master. "He leadeth me." The Christian is not obedient to some commandments and neglectful of others; he does not pick and choose, but yields to all. Observe, that the plural is used—"the paths of righteousness." Whatever God may give us to do we would do it, led by his love. Some Christians overlook the blessing of sanctification, and yet to a thoroughly renewed heart this is one of the sweetest gifts of the covenant. If we could be saved from wrath, and yet remain unregenerate, impenitent sinners, we should not be saved as we desire, for we mainly and chiefly pant to be saved from sin and led in the way of holiness. All this is done out of pure free grace; "for his name's sake." It is to the honour of our great Shepherd that we should be a holy people, walking in the narrow way of righteousness. If we be so led and guided we must not fail to adore our heavenly Shepherd's care.

Our text, in the second place, reminds us of OUR FREQUE�T SI�. “He restores my soul”—He often does it. He is doing it now. �ow, the Lord would not do what is unnecessary and, therefore, this shows me that I often wander from Him, or else I would not need to be brought back. Beloved, I grieve to say that with man’s professions of godliness, suspended communion is the chronic state of things. I must confess my inability to comprehend the Christian life of many who are called Christians. It is not for us to judge their real condition before God, nor will we attempt to do so, but we cannot help observing the inconsistency of their acts. They have believed in Christ, let us hope. Let us hope, also, that their faith produces enough good works to prove itself to be a living faith. But, for all that, their religion is cold, joyless, passionless. There are thousands of Christian people whose religion seems to lie entirely in attending religious services on Sunday, and occasionally, perhaps, coming out on a weekday to a lecture. They observe private devotions of a very stereotyped order and keep a Bible somewhere or other, and this is about it. To them prayer is a formality, praise is forgotten, the reading of the Bible is a drudgery, meditation a mere memory and their whole Christianity more like a mummy than a thing of life. With them the complaint that they are out of communion with Jesus is superseded by the question, “Were they ever in it?”I am afraid we have in this Church and in all Churches, scores and hundreds of members whose highest emotions in

reference to love to the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ reaches no higher than the inquiry—“Do I love the Lord or not? Am I His, or am I not?” Conscious enjoyment of the love of Jesus and familiar communion with Him they know nothing of, and indeed, they look upon such things as the luxuries of a high class of saints, very pleasant to read of in biographies, but not matters of daily possession. They heartily admire the good people who can attain to such eminent positions, but to dwell there, themselves, has never occurred to them as at all possible. Beloved, this is a sad state of things! It is a condition of life in which I tremble for you, because you are starved in the midst of plenty, you are willfully pinching yourselves with penury while infinite wealth is all around you.

There is a bleak side and a sunny side to every hill. Those who are careless in their fellowship will know the worst side of things. The bright-eyed dweller in the sunny south is a very different man from the Eskimo who drive their dogs among the ice fields and hide away through long months of winter in which the sun never sends forth a glimmer to cheer the earth. Who cares to be one of the Eskimos of Christianity, or the Laps and Fins of the Church? Yet, alas, these abound on all sides! We have to confess that others of us, in whom this departure from Christ is not chronic, are, nevertheless, subject to acute attacks of declension—and there are seasons when it is, indeed, well for us that He restores our souls. How soon are we turned out of the way! How little a thing may mar our joyful fellowship with Christ! Have you been in worldly company in the evening? Did you marvel that you could not enjoy communion at evening prayer? Have you become fond of your possessions, or have you been eager to increase them? Then your idols have grieved your Lord. Have you been unreconciled to your losses and fretted against God for His dark Providences? “If you walk contrary to Me,” He says, “I will walk contrary to you.” When our proud spirits chafe and fret against our heavenly Father, we cannot expect smiles and caresses from Him. We may easily lose fellowship with Christ by pride and self-esteem—if He indulges us with happy hours of sacred joy, we are very apt to think that we are somebody—and straightway we hold our heads very high. And whenever that happens we are very likely to fall into the mire and be there until our own garments abhor us and we cry for help like the sinners we are. Christ delights to meet us on terms of Grace. He is to be fullness and we emptiness! He the mighty Helper and we the fainting sinner. He the Savior and we the lost ones. While we say that we are rich and increased in goods, He knows that we are false and He leaves us. But when we see that He has the gold and the white raiment, and we the nakedness and the beggary, then are we arrived at terms which befit both Him and us. Vain is it to boast, for we have no beauty! His are the eyes which are as a flame of fire. His the countenance goodly as Lebanon, excellent as the cedars. His the crown of light and the mantle of glory. Unto Him must all honor be ascribed. Those who honor Him, He will honor. Humility sits at Jesus’ feet and that is the chosen place of loving fellowship. We may lose the Presence of Christ by forgetfulness of duty, or of His Truth. We may, on the other hand, lose it by evil thoughts and absorption in fleeting cares. We may lose the company of Christ by inconsistent actions or by idle conversations. “Oh,” some of you say, “is that so? Will Jesus be gone from us so soon?” It is even so. Those who know Him best have found out that He is like His Father and there is a trait in His Father’s Character which is very conspicuous in the Son. It is written, “The Lord your God is a jealous God,” and Jesus is a jealous Lover. He will not cast away His people—He is faithful to the worst of them—but if we do not walk with Him in holiness He will withdraw Himself from us for a while. Can two walk together unless they are agreed? If we grieve Him He will make us grieve. Cold, unloving, irreverent walking will soon cause the beams of the Sun of Righteousness to glance no more upon us. Blessed be the name of our Beloved, He comes back before long, and He says, “For a small moment have I forsaken you, but with great mercy will I gather you.” But even the small moments of His forsaking are all too long! A little of His absence is painful for a true spirit to bear.

The Psalmist puts it in the present tense, as if the Lord were in the habit of doing so, and were even at this moment in the act of restoring his soul. Truly I must confess that I wander and He restores me. Child of God, as numerous as your sins have been, so numerous have His restorations been! After a hundred times erring, you might have provoked Him to say—“He is given unto his idols, let him alone; My Spirit shall no longer strive with him.” But no, He turns His hands again upon you and once more leads you in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake. The mother forgets not her suckling, though it is often fretful and peevish. She still has compassion upon the son of her womb—and even thus it is with Jesus. We are too deeply engraved on the palms of His hands to be, at last, left to die. We have cost Him too dearly for Him to relinquish us. Having restored our soul a hundred times, He still restores it. It is the way of Him—it is the habit of His love. The text lovingly insinuates that He is ready to restore us now. He is at His old work again. Even now, “He restores my soul.”

7. TREASURY OF DAVID BY SPURGEO�, “ Verse 3. "He restoreth my soul," etc. The subjects experimentally treated in this verse are, first, the believer's liability to fall, or deviate even within the fold of the church, else wherefore should he need to be "restored?" �ext, the promptitude of the Good Shepherd to interpose for his rescue. "He restoreth my soul." Then Christ's subsequent care to "lead him in the paths of righteousness;" and lastly, the reason assigned wherefore he will do this—resolving all into the spontaneousness, the supremacy, the omnipotence of grace. He will do all "for his own name's sake." Thomas Dale.

Verse 3. "He restoreth my soul." The same hand which first rescued us from ruin, reclaims us from all our subsequent aberrations. Chastisement itself is blended with tenderness; and the voice which speaks reproof, saying, "They have perverted their way, and they have forsaken the Lord their God," utters the kindest invitation, "Return, ye backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings." �or is the voice unheard, and the call unanswered or unfelt. "Behold, we come unto thee; for thou art the Lord our God." Jeremiah 3:22. "When thou saidst, Seek my face; my heart said unto thee, Thy face, Lord, will I seek." J. Thornton's "Shepherd of Israel," 1826.

Verse 3. "He restoreth my soul." He restores it to its original purity, that was now grown foul and black with sin; for also, what good were it to have "green" pastures and a black soul! He "restores" it to its natural temper in affections, that was grown distempered with violence of passions; for alas! what good were it to have "still" waters and turbulent spirits! He "restores" it indeed to life, that was grown before in a manner quite dead; and who could "restore my soul" to life, but he only that is the Good Shepherd and gave his life for his sheep? Sir Richard Baker.

Verse 3. "He shall convert my soul;" turn me not only from sin and ignorance, but from every false confidence, and every deceitful refuge. "He shall bring me forth in paths of righteousness;" in those paths of imputed righteousness which are always adorned with the trees of holiness, are always watered with the fountains of consolation, and always terminate in everlasting rest. Some, perhaps, may ask, why I give this sense to the passage? Why may it not signify the paths of duty, and the way of our own obedience? Because such effects are here mentioned as never have resulted, and never can result, from any duties of our own. These are not "green pastures," but a parched and blasted heath. These are not "still waters," but a troubled and disorderly stream. �either can these speak peace or administer comfort when we pass through the valley and shadow of death. To yield these blessings, is the exalted office of Christ, and the sole prerogative of his obedience. James Hervey.

Verse 3. "He restoreth my soul:" Hebrew. "He bringeth it back;" either, 1. From its errors or wandering; or, 2. Into the body, out of which it was even departing and fainting away. He reviveth or comforteth me. Matthew Poole.

Verse 3. "Paths of righteousness." Alas! O Lord, these "paths of righteousness," have a long time so little been frequented, that the prints of a path are almost clean worn out; that it is a hard matter now, but to find where the paths lie, and if we can find them, yet they are so narrow and so full of ruts, that without special assistance it is an impossible thing not to fall or go astray. Even so angels, and those no mean ones, were not able to go right in these "paths of righteousness," but for want of leading, went away and perished. O, therefore, thou the Great Shepherd of my soul, as thou art pleased of thy grace to lead me into them, so vouchsafe with thy grace to lead me in them; for though in themselves they be "paths of righteousness," yet to me they will be but paths of error if thou vouchsafe not, as well to lead me in them,

as into them. Sir Richard Baker.

Verse 3. "Paths." In the wilderness and in the desert there are no raised paths, the paths being merely tracks; and sometimes there are six or eight paths running unevenly along side each other. �o doubt this is what is figuratively referred to in Psalm 23:3, "He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness," all leading to one point. John Gadsby.

Verse 3. "For his name's sake." Seeing he hath taken upon him the name of a "Good Shepherd," he will discharge his part, whatever his sheep be. It is not their being bad sheep that can make him leave being a "Good Shepherd," but he will be "good," and maintain the credit of "his name" in spite of all their badness; and though no benefit come to them of it, yet there shall glory accrue to him by it, and "his name" shall nevertheless be magnified and extolled. Sir Richard Baker.

8. Octavius Winslow, "David, the king of Israel, would, from his early occupation as a shepherd, be thoroughly conversant with the roaming instincts of his flock- its natural proneness to wander, and its utter inability, by any self-faculty, either of memory or skill- to retrace its steps back to the fold. His own spiritual history- as a sheep of Christ's flock- would supply Him with a striking and melancholy illustration of this fact in natural history. If ever there were a sad wanderer from the sacred fold- or one who, when restored, more sincerely deplored his backsliding- frankly confessed his sins- and deeply felt his inability by any self-effort to return to God– it was David.

What a confirmation of this fact is his close of the hundred and nineteenth Psalm- "I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek Your servant!" Conscious of his departure, he was as deeply conscious that God alone could restore him. The points suggested by this verse for our present meditation are- the wandering sheep- the Restoring Shepherd-the path of righteousness in which He led him; in other words, the departure- the restoration- the walk. "He restores my soul"- a subdued, yet joyous note of our Song- penitence and praise sweetly blended!

THE DEPARTURE-Soul-restoration clearly and logically implies soul-departure. We speak not now of the life of the unregenerate. Alas! the life of an unconverted individual is one entire, unbroken, unrestored departure from God! What hue sufficiently dark can portray the life of an unrenewed man? He may be upright and honorable as a man of the world- faithful in all the relations of life- admired for his private, and honored for his public

character and career. His morality, stainless- his virtue, unquestioned-his liberality, generous- his philanthropy, distinguished- his religion, admired; and yet, destitute of the converting grace of God- a stranger to the great change of the new birth- an unbeliever in the Lord Jesus Christ, his life is but a blank- a negation of all that is evangelically good- and with a 'righteousness not exceeding the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees,' dying in this condition, he can in no way enter into the kingdom of heaven. Reader! marvel not that you must be born again!

But, our present view of the departure of the soul from God must be confined to the sheep of Christ's flock- accepting David's case as an instructive and impressive illustration. We are now to consider backsliding, not before, but after grace; not previous to, but succeeding, conversion; the wandering, not of a rebel, but of a child! And yet fidelity compels us to remark that this condition, though not finally fatal, is of an inexpressibly aggravated character. The soul-departures of the believer are from a God we have known- from a Savior we have loved- from pastures in which we have roamed with delight. We have tasted that the Lord was gracious- have heard His voice, and have fed at the Shepherd's hand- have walked in the footsteps of the flock- and have rested where they lie down at noon on the banks of God's river of love- and yet, we wandered! Is there a character of sin more aggravated, a turpitude of guilt more deep, than this? But our view of this sad state must assume a more limited range. Passing by the overt acts of backsliding Christians- which, like David's, beginning at the house-top, from the house-top are proclaimed- we direct our thoughts to the hidden declensions of the soul- the veiled backslidings of the heart, unseen by others, scarcely suspected by themselves, and therefore all the more insidious and fatal, and demanding yet more vigilance and prayer.

The word of God speaks of "the backslider in heart." It is there that all departure from God begins. The human heart is the most subtle and treacherous thing in the world; it is described as "deceitful above all things." The wind is unpredictable- the sea is treacherous- the serpent is subtle- but the heart of man is more fickle, and treacherous, and subtle than all! Thus, there may be growing in the soul-deeply veiled from every eye- a declension of faith, an alienation of love- a decay of grace- a restraining of prayer- a weakening of the power of spiritual

life, while the believer may remain almost entirely unconscious that the 'grey hairs'- the unmistakable evidences of spiritual relapse and attenuated strength- are whitening and thickening upon him. Oh how should this fact lead to a close searching of heart- to honest probings of conscience- lest the sin, that lies at the door ready to avail itself of the slightest opening should enter, and, obtaining a momentary ascendancy, should dishonor God- wound the Shepherd- and bring deep and long distress into the soul!

All this declension, too- and this is one of its most startling aspects- may be advancing without any visible or marked disturbance of the external rites and duties of religion! These may be uninterrupted in their beautiful and hallowed continuity- the sanctuary attended- the sacrament observed- the district visited- the class instructed- the stereotyped forms of devotion rigidly honored- while the insidious process of spiritual decay may be silently and unsuspectedly, yet most surely and fatally, advancing in the soul. Oh it is here we have need to be whole nights on our watchtower- not so much guarding against an external and foreign invasion- as against the treacherous and never-slumbering foe of our own house. We may 'hold the fort' gallantly and successfully against a besieging foe, while the betraying enemy within may be undermining the very foundation of our faith, the evidences of our grace, and the stability of our hope!- and all this sickliness of spiritual life- chilled affection- distant walk from Christ- deadened devotion, and worldly-mindedness, exist in close alliance with religious observances, flaming zeal, and charitable gifts- its unhappy subject the 'observed of all observers,' and the admired of all admirers, in the Christian world- living, and yet dead!

�ot the least evidence of the decay of spiritual life in the soul may be the carriage and spirit of the believer under the afflictive dealings of God. In the very height of your hidden declension you may be overtaken by some heavy dispensation of providence. The chastening hand of God is heavy upon you. He has frustrated some earthly plan- has withered some cherished flower- has disappointed some fond hope- has touched your health- has given wings to wealth- or taken from you all that lent to life its sweetest charm. And what is the effect? Alas! alas! your heart rises in rebellion against the God who has smitten! You deem His discipline harsh- His heart unsympathizing- His government arbitrary-you refuse to be comforted, and you do you think do well to be angry-

and so you kick against God! What an evidence do you now afford- in thus flying in the face of your Heavenly Father, instead of falling down humbly and submissively at His feet- of the real and secret declension of the life of God in your soul!

THE RESTORATIO�-But let us change our theme. Are we assuming too much in supposing that the Holy Spirit has interposed His power to arrest your wandering-to reveal to you your declension- and has awakened the cry in your heart- "Oh that it were with me as in days that are past, when the candle of the Lord shone round about me!"? If this be so, then chant to the plaintive note of the sweet songster- "He RESTORES my soul."

WHO is the Restorer, but the Shepherd, whose the sheep are, and from whom they have wandered! There is but one Being who would or could go in quest of the stray sheep- traversing the bleak mountains and the lonely valleys, and the dark, stormy night, until He finds it, bringing it back upon His shoulder rejoicing. Christ alone knows the existence and extent of our heart-declensions- our soul-backslidings. With His hand upon the pulse- His eye upon the heart- acquainted with every fluctuating thought and emotion of the soul- who so fitted as He to seek and restore the wanderer from His fold? Oh what a throb of gratitude should beat in our hearts at the thought that Jesus knows us altogether-all our infirmities, and all our graces- all our declensions, and all our revivings- when the pulse of love beats faintly-or when, in the sincerity of our hearts, we can appeal to His Omniscience, and exclaim- "You know that I love You!" "I know my sheep."

And what an evidence of the restoring grace of Jesus, and of David's restoration, do we possess in the fifty-first Psalm! Oh, it is a Psalm which should be read and pondered every day of the Christian's life! for there is no Psalm which so fully embodies and expresses the experience of the man of God as it. It is a portion upon which a child of God can lay his dying head, and depart peacefully. This was the experience of one distinguished for his gifts, eminent for his usefulness, and honored above many in the Church of God. When the time of his departure had come, and his life and labors passed in solemn review as from a dying bed, the only portion of God's word that seemed the most appropriately and fully to embody and express the humble feelings and prayerful utterances of his mind, and to impart comfort and peace to

his departing spirit in the near prospect of eternity, was this penitential Psalm of David, so expressive of the feelings of a contrite soul- the acknowledgment of sin- the washing of the blood- restored joy- and renewed consecration to God.

Dear Shepherd, draw me to your fold; I am cold, cold!I've wandered in forbidden paths, Far from your fold.I left the "pastures" fresh and "green," Where rest your sheep;The sweet "still waters" of your love, For mountains steep.I'm weary, and my soul does yearn For your embraceOh, bear me from this mountain pass, This dreary place!You only can "restore my soul." Oh, hear my cry!�or let me in this wilderness, Forgotten die.Dear Shepherd, draw me near to you; I am cold, cold!And me in your warm arms of love, I pray, enfold.

THE LEADI�G-"He leads me in paths of righteousness for His name's sake." The Shepherd that restores, leads the soul into higher and more advanced stages of grace, experience, and holiness; and thus by a sanctified result of arrested declension and more quickened life, the restored soul walks in a new and hitherto untrodden path of righteousness, joy, and peace in the Holy Spirit. Wanderer from the fold! return! The Shepherd calls you- seeks you- invites you, implores you to return. He waits to be gracious. Listen to His heart-melting words- "Return, backsliding Israel, says the Lord; and I will not cause my anger to fall upon you: for I am merciful, says the Lord, and I will not keep my anger forever. Only acknowledge your iniquity." "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

Restored! -wander no more from the Shepherd and the flock, lest a worse thing come unto you! Knowing the cause of your declension- the temptation which led to your departure- be prayerful, be vigilant. "Remember therefore, from where you are fallen, and repent, and do the first works." Was it unguardedness? unwatchfulness? -be vigilant, be sober. Was it undevoutness? -give yourself more constantly and earnestly to prayer. Was it the influence of the world? -come out from it, and touch not the unclean thing. Or, was it the power of some easy-besetting sin which overcame you? -lay it down beneath the cross, and with your eye of faith upon the Crucified One, exclaim, "By Your agony and bloody sweat, by Your cross and passion, I will henceforth die to sin, and live to You!" Thus, whatever the cause of your departure from God- your wandering from the fold of Jesus- the power of sin, the influence of the world- the idolatry of the creature- the love of self- lay it at Jesus' feet, and exclaim–"Is there a thing beneath the sunThat strives with You my heart to share?Take it away, and reign alone,The Lord of every motion there."

Oh bend your ear to the loving, entreating voice of the Shepherd-retrace your steps- return to the fold- once more feed and lie down with the flock- and saints below and angels above will be summoned to unite in the celebration of your recovery- "Rejoice with Me; for I have found my sheep that was lost."

"Return unto your rest, my soul,Return unto your rest!Too long these wandering feet have strayedIn paths, of God unblest;The tempting gate stood open wide,The way was broad and fair,While breath of flowers and song of birdsFilled all the sunlit air.

"The flowerets faded before the noon,The bird-song died away;And, lowering over the tangled path,The skies seem ashen gray.

Oh, weary, lonely, frighted soul,By toil and storm distressed;One only refuge waits for thee,Return unto your rest!

"�o chiding words of stern rebukeOr anger wait for thee;Your erring steps have grieved your Lord,But pardon still is free.Poor, trembling soul, 'look up and live!'Obey such love's behest;From downward paths of woe and sin,Return unto your rest!

"The child upon its mother's heartForgets the weary day;So love divine shall fold you close,And soothe each grief away.Come, burdened soul, your wanderings over,Your follies all confessed,With hastening feet that rove no moreReturn unto your rest!"

9. Dr. Erwin W. Lutzer, "David says of the Good Shepherd, "He Restoreth My Soul. " That word restore means to "bring back to one's former position." It is God's way of bringing us back to where we belong.

Some sheep need to be turned around. Sheep have a habit of getting themselves lost. Often a sheep becomes interested in one clump of grass-then another and then another. Soon it is far from the flock and the shepherd.

Sometimes sheep follow paths that are made by thieves, wanting to lure them away. Sometimes they follow wind-swept paths that lead nowhere. The sheep need to be brought back to the fold.

Robert Robinson, who once stayed close to the shepherd, became a wandering sheep. He lived in moral and spiritual rebellion. In his travels he met a Christian woman who encouraged him with the words of a new hymn she had just learned: Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing Tune My Heart To Sing Thy Praise Streams of mercy, never ceasing Call for songs of loudest Praise

Robinson wept when he heard those words, and had to admit that he had authored those words many years earlier. God used his own song as a means of restoration.

David said in Psalm 119, "Before I was afflicted I went astray, But now I keep Thy word" (v 67). Four verses later he added, "It is good for me that I was afflicted, That I may learn Thy statutes" (v 71). If a sheep develops a habit of going astray, the shepherd will break its leg, make a splint and then carry the cripple close to his heart. The sheep must wait for the shepherd to carry it across the streams and the rough terrain. After the leg has healed, the lesson has been learned.

Does that sound cruel? Perhaps, but the sheep's broken leg is really the result of the shepherd's broken heart. The shepherd knows that the sheep must learn to stay close to him for his own good. The hurt is intended to help.

Some sheep have to be turned around; others have to be turned upright. Here's what happens: A heavy sheep will lie down comfortably in some little hollow or depression in the ground. The animal might roll on its side to stretch out and relax. Suddenly the center of gravity in the body shifts so that it turns on its back and its feet no longer touch the ground. In a panic

the sheep paws frantically, but this only makes things worse. It rolls over even farther. �ow, it is impossible for it to stand on its feet.

The blood circulation is affected and in hot weather the sheep can die in a few hours. In cool weather the sheep might live for several days. All that the animal can do is lash about in frightened frustration. Only the shepherd can role the animal back on its side, help it get up, and over a period of time help the sheep regain the use of its legs and muscles. This is a tender moment of bonding between the shepherd and his sheep. On the one hand the sheep are utterly helpless; while on the other hand here is the shepherd, quick and ready to help.

When David said, "why art thou cast down 0 my soul and why art Thou disquieted within me?" He was probably thinking of the sheep that is cast down, the one who can't get up on his own. The one who has given up all hope of regaining his strength again. He is invited to look to God for hope and restoration.

Surely those who have slipped and fallen morally need such a restoration. David, the author of this psalm knew what such a fall was like. He committed adultery and then murder to cover it up. He lived with this for more than a year and then finally prayed, "Restore unto me the joy of Thy Salvation. " Though Uriah would remain dead and Bathsheba's purity could not be regained, David was restored to His chief Shepherd.

Some people slip and fall, and others are pushed. Yes, there are those who are victims of other people's anger and abuse. We read, "He heals the broken hearted, and binds up their wounds" (Psalml47:3). The shepherd knows how to help the sheep to heal.

After the sheep is restored, he is led in "paths of righteousness." The shepherd hopes that the sheep has learned its lesson; yet at the same time, the Shepherd knows that the same sheep might have to be restored again. The patience of the shepherd is a remarkable testimony to his commitment to the sheep.

Sheep are notorious creatures of habit. If left to themselves, they will follow the same trails until they become ruts. They will turn hills into desert wastes; pollute the ground until it is corrupt with disease and parasites. The shepherd keeps the sheep on the move; they cannot be left on the same ground too long. There must be a deliberate planned rotation from one grazing ground to another in line with the principles of sound management. The shepherd knows where the flock will thrive and where the feeding is poor. Whenever the gate is opened to a fresh pasture, even the old ewes kick up their heels and leap with delight.

The shepherd leads us in the best paths, not necessarily the easiest ones. The greatest challenge the shepherd will face is to overcome the natural inclination of the sheep to follow one another rather than follow the shepherd. Or, worse, they will insist on the right to self-determination, choosing their own way regardless of the consequences. If they persist in grazing on old polluted ground, it will be to their detriment. If only they trusted the Shepherd, knowing that He leads with the broadest possible perspective.

Whenever the shepherd opens the way to new pasture land, there is a sense of excitement in the flock. They know that they have been led their for their own good and nourishment.

The Good Shepherd will never lead us except where He himself has been. Are we expected to endure rejection? He was rejected by His peers. His friends, and indeed, for a moment, God Himself. Does He want us to face poverty? He has done that too. And then death, not a natural death, but a violent death, based on false accusations -that's what He endured. "When He putteth forth His own Sheep He goeth before them. " Yes, He does not push us; He does not drive us, but says, "Come to follow where I have already been."

Paths that are a surprise to the sheep are never a surprise to the shepherd. Life is easier when we remember that the shepherd never forsakes his sheep. Through sickness and despair, in valleys and deserts, the Shepherd is there.

Once again, the shepherd must overcome the natural resistance and stubbornness of the sheep. They would each prefer their own paths. "All we like sheep have gone astray we have turned everyone to his own way and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. "

If sheep are allowed to go their own way, grazing on polluted ground, they will end up thin and weary on a ruined land. Broken homes, broken hearts, derelict lives and twisted personalities remind us of the high cost of self-determination.

If we stay close to the shepherd, we will know that all events in life are under His watchful eye. We must give up our "butting rights" and seek to simply do as the shepherd commands. We move to fresh ground through each act of obedience.

When the shepherd comes back at night to count the sheep, he may count each one, calling each by name. When he discovers that one is still out in the wild he leaves the flock in the care of a trusted servant and trudges over the route that he and the flock traveled that day. He calls out to the sheep in the darkness.

If we are "cast down" he sees us on our backs beating the air, and He restores us back to the fold. Remember that the reputation of the shepherd is at stake. He leads us in righteous paths, "for His name's sake." We have been purchased at high cost; the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit will not abandon us. This shepherd will never be accused of being unable to care for those entrusted to Him.

Finally, the shepherd always seeks the sheep; sheep never seek the shepherd. Sheep will get lost, but they cannot get themselves found until the shepherd has sought them out.

You've heard people say, "I found the Lord back in 1990." We know what they mean, but actually they were not looking for Christ; Christ came looking for them, "no man can come to me except the Spirit draw him, " Christ repeatedly reminded us.

Today I can assure you in the words of Sinclair Ferguson that there is more grace in God's heart than there is sin in our past. There is enough grace to cover the sin of breaking any one of God's commandments. Today the shepherd is searching for you.

If you find Him prompting you to return rejoin the flock, or to get closer to Him, be obedient. �ot only does the shepherd appreciate it, but it is best for the sheep.

10. MP�Home.net, "If I have many troubles in my life, may I learn from Job about the way God is faithful to restore those who in faith, confess sin and accept God's salvation. Job 33:27-30 "He looketh upon men, and if any say, I have sinned, and perverted that which was right, and it profited me not; He will deliver his soul from going into the pit, and his life shall see the light. Lo, all these things worketh God oftentimes with man, To bring back {restore} his soul from the pit, to be enlightened with the light of the living." There is no personal tempest in this life, that can disturb the rest we have reserved for us in eternity as revealed by the light from God. Psalms 116:7-8 "Return {be restored} unto thy rest, O my soul; for the LORD hath dealt bountifully with thee. For thou hast delivered my soul from death, mine eyes from tears, and my feet from falling." Psalms 16:11 "Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore." Revelation 22:14 "Blessed are they that do his commandments, that

they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city." Our confidence in our salvation from the penalty of sin should be further bolstered because it is not based on our worthiness, but it is all for his glory, to preserve the honor of his holy name. 1 Samuel 12:22 "For the LORD will not forsake his people for his great name's sake: because it hath pleased the LORD to make you his people." The incomparable benefit we receive is grace for us and glory for the name of the LORD. Psalms 31:3 "For thou art my rock and my fortress; therefore for thy name's sake lead me, and guide me." Psalms 79:9 "Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of thy name: and deliver us, and purge away our sins, for thy name's sake." Psalms 115:1 "�ot unto us, O LORD, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy, and for thy truth's sake." Psalms 143:11 "Quicken me, O LORD, for thy name's sake: for thy righteousness' sake bring my soul out of trouble." 1 John 2:12 "I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name's sake."

11. GREG HERRICK, "The end of verse 3 gives the reason why God was such a faithful Shepherd to David and still is for us today. He does it for His own name’s sake. That is, it is for the sake of the glory and reputation of His own name and honor. What kind of reputation would a shepherd in Palestine earn if everyone knew he was careless and irresponsible with his own sheep? Let me ask you another question, what kind of reputation would God earn for Himself if He were careless with those who belong in His charge? God’s name is on the line in your life. He wants to show the world that He is faithful to provide for all your needs and guide you in righteous paths, in a holy life."

And David goes on to say that as we go through life God guides us, as a good shepherd, along paths of righteousness. For the sheep, of course, this means right or true paths; paths that are certain to lead to the places of rest and provision talked about in verse 2. But for David, God desired to lead him down paths of uprightness during his kingship and enable him to win great battles in his commission to possess the land promised to the nation. God desires to lead us into greater and greater righteousness in our lives as well. We should be concerned about this. Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 4:7 that God has not called us for the purpose of impurity, but in sanctification or holiness and that God's intention is to sanctify us entirely (5:23). Therefore we must keep a short account with God. For some of us this is why we do not have the confidence before God that we ought to have. We want to know that God is our Shepherd, but we tolerate sin in our lives. It goes unconfessed for long periods of time. We must confess our sins and permit God, as our faithful shepherd to deal with us. John says that when we confess our sins, God is faithful to forgive and cleanse. But notice why He leads and guides us.

12. Bob Deffinbaugh, "The first line of verse 3, “He restores my soul,” continues this same thought of the rest which God provides for his sheep. Taken in its most literal and restricted sense, this expression conveys David’s thought that God “renews and sustains my life.”84 As David’s shepherd, God provides him with rest and restoration. He does this by supplying him with the necessary provisions of food

and water, which sheep require. Rest is certainly related to the required physical provisions of food and water, but rest is also related to restoration. In order to be refreshed and renewed in spirit, rest is a prerequisite.

Psalm 23 cannot be fully appreciated apart from the word of God spoken to Israel through the prophet Ezekiel. Against the backdrop of the false shepherds who had abused and oppressed God’s flock, God promised to return to His people as their shepherd and to give them rest:

For thus says the Lord God, “Behold, I Myself will search for My sheep and seek them out. 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. And I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries and bring them to their own land; and I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the streams, and in all the inhabited places of the land. I will feed them in a good pasture, and their grazing ground will be on the mountain heights of Israel. There they will lie down in good grazing ground, and they will feed in rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. I will feed My flock and I will lead them to rest,” declares the Lord God (Ezek. 34:11-15).

It appears that there is a spiritual meaning implied in Psalm 23:2-3a85 which presses beyond the literal meaning of physical nourishment and rest. This is strongly suggested by David’s use of the same expression “to restore the soul” in Psalm 19: “The law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple” (Ps. 19:7).

While a shepherd provides his sheep with food, rest, and restoration, God provides His sheep with His Word, which is the principle means of giving spiritual nourishment, rest, and restoration.

The second and third lines of verse 3 remind us that as a shepherd leads his flock, so God guides His people: “He guides me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.”

Guidance is recognized as one of the principle tasks of the shepherd. He leads his sheep to places of nourishment and rest (v. 2), but he also leads them in the proper paths. Often it is necessary for the shepherd to lead his flock great distances to find both pasture and water. Some paths are dangerous and should be avoided. The good shepherd leads his sheep in the right paths.

God’s guidance in the life of a believer is more than just a matter of leading us in the “right path”; it involves His leading us in “paths of righteousness.”87 What a wonderful word of comfort for those who seem to think that God’s will is some kind of mystery, known only to the few who are so fortunate to find it. One of the assurances the psalmist is confident he will never lack is the leading of God in his life. Let us learn from David that we can be confident of God’s leading in our lives when the Lord is our Shepherd, for the shepherd always leads his flock.

13. JOH� PIPER, "First, we must not think that this is something so automatic we don't need to pray for it. Look at David's prayer in Psalm 25:4, 5, "Make me know thy ways, O Lord; teach me thy paths, lead me in thy truth and teach me, for thou art the God of my salvation, for thee I wait all the day long." In Psalm 23 God has answered this prayer—God has led him in paths of righteousness.

But how does God do this? In my experience I have never seen a visible manifestation of God going before me at a fork in the road. �or have I ever heard an audible voice that was clearly God's telling me which decisions to make. But I think David would answer the question, How does God lead? by saying, "He has revealed a lot about the paths of righteousness in his Word." Isn't this the point of Psalm 119:105: "Thy word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path," and verse 9: "How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to thy word." So one answer to the question, How does God lead me in paths of righteousness? is: He reveals what those paths are in his Word for us to read and obey.

But this answer is only half of what goes into God's leadership; by itself the Bible would not keep us on track. For two reasons: one is that not every decision we have to make is covered by a command in the Bible. Some paths are clearly wrong and some are clearly right, but many are not clear. We have hundreds of little and some big decisions like this every week. The other reason that the Bible alone is not adequate is that even when a specific path is commanded, it is not just the movement along that path that is important, but also the spirit in which we move, and the motivation that prompts us. A path of righteousness is a right path followed with the right attitude. But the Bible by itself will not change our attitude.

This is why David said God leads us in paths of righteousness and why Paul said in Romans 8:14, "All who are led by the Spirit of God are the sons of God." We must not only have revelation from outside, namely, the Bible; we must also have transformation from the inside by the Holy Spirit. The Word of God and the Spirit of God together provide the leadership we need. Paul said in Romans 12:2: "Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind that you may know and approve what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect."

In order to walk in paths of righteousness we must become new. Otherwise we may try to follow righteousness but will only become hollow formalists—people who try to go through the external motions of righteousness but lack the joy and love and peace that energize and guide the saints. The Word and the Spirit team up to transform the mind, and in that way God leads us in paths of righteousness. He gradually shapes our thinking and molds our emotions, so that when there is no explicit command in the Bible to guide us, we weigh all the considerations with the wisdom and the love of God and are drawn to the path of righteousness. So I have learned to do like David: meditate on God's word day and night and pray continually for the innerving work of the Holy Spirit in my heart and mind."

13B. J. R. MILLER, "" He chose this path for thee, Though well he knew sharp thorns would pierce thy feet, Knew how the brambles would obstruct the way, Knew all the hidden dangers thou wouldst meet, Knew how thy faith would falter day by day ; And still the whisper echoed, 'Yes, I see This path is best for thee.'

He chose this path for thee ; What needst thou more ? This sweeter truth to know, That all along these strange, bewildering ways, O'er rocky steeps and where dark rivers flow, His loving arms will bear thee all the days. A few steps more, and thou thyself shalt see This path is best for thee."

14. ALEXA�DER MACLARE�, "This rest and refreshment has for its consequence the restoration of the soul, which includes in it both the invigoration of the natural life by the outward sort of these blessings, and the quickening and restoration of the spiritual life by the inward feeding upon God and repose in Him.The soul thus restored is then led on another stage; ‘He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake,’—that is to say, God guides us into work."

It is not well that our chief object should be to enjoy the consolations of religion; it is better to seek first to do the duties enjoined by religion. Our first question should be, not, How may I enjoy God? but, How may I glorify Him? ‘A single eye to His glory’ means that even our comfort and joy in religious exercises shall be subordinated, and (if need were) postponed, to the doing of His will. While, on the one hand, there is no more certain means of enjoying Him than that of humbly seeking to walk in the ways of His commandments, on the other hand, there is nothing more evanescent in its nature than a mere emotion, even though it be that of joy in God, unless it be turned into a spring of action for God. Such emotions, like photographs, vanish from the heart unless they be fixed. Work for God is the way to fix them. Joy in God is the strength of work for God, but work for God is the perpetuation of joy in God.

Here is the figurative expression of the great evangelical principle, that works of righteousness must follow, not precede, the restoration of the soul. We are justified not by works, but for works, or, as the Apostle puts it in a passage which sounds like an echo of this psalm, we are ‘created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.’ The basis of obedience is the sense of salvation. We work not for the assurance of acceptance and forgiveness, but

from it. First the restored soul, then the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake who has restored me, and restored me that I may be like Him."

15. JOH� CALVI�, " He restoreth my soul As it is the duty of a good shepherd to cherish his sheep, and when they are diseased or weak to nurse and support them, David declares that this was the manner in which he was treated by God. The restoring of the soul, as we have translated it, or the conversion of the soul, as it is, literally rendered, is of the same import as to make anew, or to recover, as has been already stated in the 19th psalm, at the seventh verse. By the paths of righteousness, he means easy and plain paths. 534 As he still continues his metaphor, it would be out of place to understand this as referring to the direction of the Holy Spirit. He has stated a little before that God liberally supplies him with all that is requisite for the maintenance of the present life, and now he adds, that he is defended by him from all trouble. The amount of what is said is, that God is in no respect wanting to his people, seeing he sustains them by his power, invigorates and quickens them, and averts from them whatever is hurtful, that they may walk at ease in plain and straight paths. That, however, he may not ascribe any thing to his own worth or merit, David represents the goodness of God as the cause of so great liberality, declaring that God bestows all these things upon him for his own name’s sake. And certainly his choosing us to be his sheep, and his performing towards us all the offices of a shepherd, is a blessing which proceeds entirely from his free and sovereign goodness, as we shall see in the sixty-fifth psalm.

16. Jim Stephenson, "Like the faithful shepherd in Luke 15, he goes out searching for and finding the lost sheep to bring it home.

We sheep don’t always know what’s around the bend. It may be something that causes great grief and grave concern. Storms may arise in life threatening to destroy us. God isn’t “safe” in the sense that he doesn’t guarantee us an easy road. But He is always good and his love and mercy will doggedly pursue us all the way home.

When through fiery trials thy pathway shall,My grace all sufficient shall be thy supply:The flame shall not hurt thee; I only desireThy dross to consume and thy gold to refine.

The soul that on Jesus hath leaned for reposeI will not, I will not, desert to his foes;That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake,I'll never, no never, no never, forsake!"

(John Rippon, 1751-1836)

The film Wit is based on the 1999 Pulitzer Prize winning play about a single

woman's battle with terminal cancer. �o longer able to continue her work as an English professor, Vivian Bearing (Emma Thompson) deals with experimental cancer treatments and the humiliation that she is no longer in control of her life.The scene begins in a hospital bed where Vivian, bald and wearing a hospital gown, lies slightly crouched to the side. Her face rests on the arm of her visitor, E. M. Ashford, an elderly woman who had been Vivian's college English teacher. E. M. reaches into her handbag and takes out a children's book titled The Runaway Bunny.Play the ClipVivian makes quiet, moaning sounds for a few seconds and then is silent for most of the scene. E. M. opens the book and reads: The Runaway Bunny by Margaret Wise Brown. Pictures by Clement Herd. Copyright 1942. First Harper-Trophy edition 1972." (There is a brief close-up of Vivian looking at the pages with a tear on her face. E. M. turns the page.)Once there was a little bunny who wanted to run away. So he said to his mother, "I'm running away.""If you run away," said the mother, "I will run after you. For you are my little bunny.""If you run after me," said the little bunny, "I will become a fish in a trout stream and I will swim away from you.""If you become a fish in a trout stream," said his mother, "I will become a fisherman and I will fish for you."E. M. turns the page and says, "Oh, look at that. A little allegory of the soul. Wherever it hides, God will find it." She shows Vivian the picture of the mother rabbit fishing in a stream—a carrot dangles from the end of the fishing pole. She continues reading."If you become a fisherman," said the little bunny, "I will be a bird and fly away from you.""If you become a bird and fly away from me," said the mother, "I will be a tree that you can come home to.""Shucks," said the little bunny. "I might just as well stay where I am and be your little bunny." And so he did."Have a carrot," said the mother bunny.E. M. closes the book and looks down to Vivian, who is now asleep.

Citation: "Wit," (2001) from HBO Films; written by Emma Thompson and Mike �ichols, directed by Mike �ichols, based on the Pulitzer Prize winning play by Margaret Edson;

You may be a runaway sheep this morning. If you belong to the Shepherd, you can run but you cannot hide. He will find you and bring you back. He may be calling you now. Can you hear his voice? The sheep know his voice (10:4).

If you are not a “sheep” (a believer and follower of Jesus), the Bible says you are a “goat” (Matthew 25:31-33). But the Shepherd’s Assistant (the Holy Spirit) has the ability to transform you into a sheep.

How? He convicts you of your offenses (sin) against a holy God and the terrible eternal consequence that results. But that’s not all. He convinces you that Jesus is the only solution for your problem (because he lived a perfect life and died a sacrificial death as substitute for all who would believe.) If you are convicted and convinced, then trust him. Receive him as your own Savior and Master. He won’t refuse anyone who sincerely comes to him. You can pray something like:

Lord Jesus Christ, I admit that I am weaker and more sinful than I ever believed, but through you, I am more loved and accepted than I ever dared hope. I thank you for paying my debt, bearing my punishment and offering forgiveness. I turn from my sins and receive you as Savior."

17. DAVID ROPER, "It is God who restores the inner man through his word. As we feed upon the word of God we see the Lord Jesus there. We draw upon him and our inner man is satisfied. Jesus uses the same figure in John 6:

"Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of man will give to you; for on him has God the Father set his seal." Then they said to him, "What must we do to be doing the works of God?" Jesus answered them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent." So they said to him, "Then what sign do you do, that we may see, and believe you? What work do you perform? Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'" Jesus then said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven; my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven, and gives life to the world." They said to him, "Lord, give us this bread always."

Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; he who comes to me shall not hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst." {John 6:27-35 RSV}

The Word of God does this for us. It brings us, first, to the person of Christ. "Beyond the sacred page," the hymn says, "we see thee, Lord." We see him, and we eat and drink of him, and we discover him to be the resource that we need. As Paul says, "Though the outward man perishes, the inward man is renewed day by day," {cf, 2 Cor 4:15 KJV}. Our souls are restored. How? As we feed upon him. As we come to know him, believe what he says, and act on his word, we discover that the inner man is fed.

18. WADE COX, ""He restoreth my soul"One might wonder why, with Christ as our shepherd, it would be necessary for the shepherd to restore our life or soul. Well, the concept here is of a sheep that has wandered off and gone astray or otherwise got itself into trouble and which is in need of rescuing by the shepherd. In the Middle East there are perils for sheep on all sides. It seems that sheep never seem to learn to avoid them. The shepherd must

be ever on the watch. Sometimes, there can be private fields, and on occasion gardens and vineyards, in sheep country. If a sheep strays into them and is caught there, it is forfeited to the owner of the land.

So the phrase He restoreth my soul has one meaning in that Christ will bring us back and rescue us from fatal and forbidden places. As one hymn puts it, he "restores me when wandering."

However, sometimes a sheep can become cast or cast down. This is an old English shepherd's term for a sheep which has turned over on its back and cannot get up again by itself. It usually lies there on its back, its legs flailing wildly in the air as it struggles to right itself and stand up. Often this happens to the fat or well-fleeced sheep. It might find a hollow or depression to lie in and stretch out. However, because of its weight or fleece, the centre of gravity suddenly shifts and the sheep rolls a bit on its back until its feet no longer touch the ground. At this, it may panic and begin to frantically paw at the air, which often only makes matters worse. It rolls even further and it becomes impossible for it to regain its feet. As the sheep lies there struggling, gases begin to build up in its rumen and this expands and ends up cutting off circulation to other parts of the body, especially the legs. In hot, sunny weather a cast sheep can die in hours. In cool rainy weather, it might last several days. As such, a cast sheep becomes easy prey for various predators.

What is interesting is that this process can also typify the Christian. In another Psalm, David wrote:Psalm 42:11 Why art thou cast down, 0 my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope thou in God for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God. (KJV)

How might we become cast down? Well, like a sheep, we might look for a soft and easy spot in which to lie – a place of comfort where there is no hardship, no need for endurance or self-discipline – a place where we can think, “I've made it." Then we do not see the imperative of further change and growth and overcoming. Paul warned us against this and was alert to this mentality in his own life.1Corinthians 10:11 �ow these things happened to them as a warning, but they were written down for our instruction, upon whom the end of the ages has come. (RSV)

Philippians 3:11-12 That if possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. �ot that I have already obtained this or am already perfect; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. (RSV)

He restoreth my soul points out a vital aspect of the nature of Christ, our Good Shepherd. He goes in search of us if we have strayed or gotten ourselves into trouble or somehow become cast down. Many people have the idea that when a son or daughter of God falls or wanders off, when he or she is helpless, and frustrated and in a spiritual dilemma, God becomes disgusted and fed up with him or her. This is simply not so.

Shepherds of Palestine were careful to check over their flocks every day. If one went missing, then the shepherd would realise this and go to search for them. This behaviour typifies Christ's reactions as our shepherd.Luke 15:2-7 And the Pharisees and the scribes murmured, saying, 'This man receives sinners and eats with them." So he told them this parable: "What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost, until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbours, saying to them, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost. 'Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance. (RSV)

It is interesting that Christ refers to this process of the shepherd finding the one lost sheep and carrying it home as a process of repentance. Often it is. When we stray it requires Christ not only to seek us out, but also to lead us to repentance and thus bring us home. If a shepherd found that a sheep had been cast down because of its long fleece (which typifies an attitude of self-sufficiency) upon bringing it home the fleece would be shorn away quick smart. Again this typifies the repentance process which is often needed to bring us back into the fold.

However, the good news is that Christ cares so much about each one of us individually, that he is willing to seek us out and restore us to himself and God. For this we can greatly rejoice."

19. Major Allen Satterlee, “We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way” (53:6a). Many times the sheep’s stubborn nature gets in the way of finding new pasture. That is why shepherds use sheep dogs—to nip at their heels and force them to go where the shepherd leads. Sometimes, for our own good, we must be forced to leave our old ways to find the nourishment we need to feed our souls.

Our Good Shepherd leads us along the right paths. He expects us to keep moving, not to settle in. There is no permanent residency for the child of God. The reason behind this movement: “for His name’s sake.” Edward Harland has written,

O for a humbler walk with God!Lord, bend this stubborn heart of mine;Subdue each rising, rebel thoughtAnd all my will conform to Thine.

O for a nearer walk with God!Lord, turn my wandering heart to Thee;Help me to live by faith in HimWho lived and died and rose for me.

—Salvation Army Song Book #445

20. JAMES STALKER, RESTORATIO� "There are some animals, such as the dog, which, though lost, have a remarkable faculty of finding their way home. The sheep is, however, I should think, deficient in this kind of intelligence : if lost, it has no in-stinct for finding itself again. Here also, it may be said, the analogy holds. When man lost God, he would never of his own accord have come home. God had to come after him.

But none of the righteous ever knew

How deep were the waters crossed, Or how dark was the night that the Lord passed through. Ere He found the sheep that was lost. Out in the desert He heard its cry, Sick and helpless and ready to die.

Lord, whence are those blood drops all the way

That mark out the mountain track ? They were shed for one who had gone astray, Ere the Shepherd could bring him back.

Lord, whence are Thy hands so rent and torn? They were pierced tonight by many a thorn.

STALKER CO�TI�UES, "

"He restoreth my soul," says the sacred singer. But this implies that the soul is in need of restoration. The picture is that of a sheep which, through heat and fatigue, has fainted away, or is on the point of breathing out its life ; but the good shepherd, by administering a restorative in the nick of time, brings back the departing breath. Here we have a totally different picture from that of verse 2. There the sheep was in green pastures ; all was sunshine and

happiness ; life was enjoyable and abundant. But here life is at the lowest ebb ; and the sheep has fainted away.

There are such contrasts in experience. Life has its sunshine, but it has also its shadow. There are days of prosperity, when the tides swell the channel of life from bank to bank ; but there are also times of adversity, when the pulse of life is low and hope has almost died out of the heart.

This is the case even in the Christian life. On the whole, it is a life of joy it is the happiest of all lives yet it has its seasons of faintness and despair, when the cordials and restoratives of the Good Shepherd are required.

What are the reasons for these fainting times ?

First of all, a Christian is exposed, like other men, to the misfortunes and calamities of the human lot. There is a passage of Scripture which says that God maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth His rain on the just and unjust : there are certain common blessings in which all participate, whatever be their character. But the converse is also true, that there are common misfortunes from which none escape, be their character what it may. The light-ning strikes the roof of sinner and saint indiscriminately ; a bad harvest destroys the crops of good and bad alike ; bad times blight the business of the honest as well as of the dishonest ; illness and death are incident to all the children of men. At many points, indeed, godliness will supply alleviations of even such common calamities : when an epidemic is raging, the steady man's chances of recovery are much greater than those of him who has wasted his constitution by dissipation ; and, in times when trade fails, the industrious and saving have generally something to fall back on, whereas the reckless,

who live from hand to mouth, are thrown on the rocks at once. Still there is in this world a mysterious body of evil from which none can altogether escape. " Man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upwards," and, the more complicated life becomes, through the crowding of population, the more is the individual exposed to suffering for which he is not directly responsible.

Further, however, Christians are exposed to suffering through the very fact that they are Christians. Christ had to warn His first followers that they would be hated of all men for His sake. "Yea, the time cometh," He said, " when whosoever killeth you will think he doeth God service." In many ages this has been literally fulfilled, as is proved by the religious persecutions of ancient and modern times. �or has the offence of the cross ever ceased. Public persecution has, indeed, ceased, but private persecution still continues ; and it is sometimes harder to bear. The natural heart is still unchanged ; and it resents the disturbance to its self-com-placency caused by the presence and the criticism of the followers of Jesus. In the archives of the Church we have our books of martyrs, and these are by no means all written yet ; but the unwritten persecutions are infinitely vaster in their proportions, and they form one of the causes from which the flock of God faints.

There are, however, deeper causes still. The Christian life has its own special pains and secret crosses. A Christian is a man who has seen an ideal : Christ is his ideal, and the life of Christ is the model with which he is always comparing his own. This breeds a divine discontent ; he despises himself ; he is often in despair because he has fallen beneath what he ought to be. Perhaps he has been on the heights of communion, inspiration and holiness ; but the tides of the Spirit recede, the heart grows cold, indiffer-ence comes on, iniquity prevails against him.

Even a St. Paul had to cry out in bitterness of spirit, " Oh, wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death ? "

To mention but one other cause of the fainting-fits of the soul : Christians have on their shoulders and on their hearts the public cause of Christ, and, when it is in difficulties or is threatened with failure, they have to bear the burden and the shame. Sometimes it seems as if at the back of Christianity there were no almighty force ; the world is too strong for it ; ancient forms of wrong cannot be over-come ; and wickedness, enthroned in high places, is scornful and insolent. In such cases the ungodly are always ready to exult and ask, " Where is your God now gone ? ' The Christian may feel in his own heart that his prayers are not being answered ; perhaps someone near and dear to him is under the power of a vice from which even religion seems unable to deliver him ; and the heart faints with the strain of unceasing shame.

As soon as the cry of distress is heard from afar, see how the shepherd hastens over flood and scaur, leaving the ninety-and-nine to look after themselves. Of a mother's children, which is the one that receives most assiduity? Isit not the one that is in danger ? When a child is laid down with fever or has had an accident, the mother's thoughts are never for a moment out of the room ; the love in her heart increases with the danger, till it becomes painful in its intensity, and she takes no rest till the life is restored. Such human experi-ences make us acquainted with the heart of God ; for the sparks of affection in our composition have been kindled from the fire of love in His nature. �ever is He so near, never is His compassion so melting, as when we need Him most. And, when this is realised, the storm within us is changed into a calm. Any grief is bearable if we are able to say, My Shepherd knows.

He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness."

Here the poet is holding fast by his metaphor ; because it is a fact that in times of peril and fear the sheep of a flock follow close to the shepherd, and keep in a straight path wherever he may lead them. At other times they can expatiate over the fields and may easily wander ; but terror makes them keep their eye on the shepherd and follow him without turning to the right hand or the left.

4 Even though I walk through the darkest valley,[a]I will fear no evil, for you are with me;your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

1. This verse is a favorite at funerals because it expresses a confidence and an assurance at the time of death. There is no need to fear anywhere the Shepherd leads, for he is always there with you to comfort. John Donne expressed the confidence the believer can have when he wrote, "Death be not proud, though some have called thee Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so, For those whom thou think'st thou dost overthrow, Die not, poor death, nor yet canst thou kill me."

"Death stands above me, whispering low I know not what into my ear; Of his strange language all I know Is, there is not a word of fear." Walter Savage Landor

The problem comes when we have some bad or tragic experience in the dark valley, and all believer sheep have such at some point in their lives. This is when we begin to doubt the love of the Shepherd, and even complain and get angry at Him for not protecting us from this pain and suffering. Barbara Mandrell in Get To The Hearttells of her accident in which she was injured and another was killed.

"I was still in rough shape the next day, and I went to see the �aval Chaplain to talk

about my accident and Sher being killed. When I saw the Chaplain, I asked, “Why did God let me loose control of that car and crash?” The Chaplain was a naval officer, and he gave it to me straight. He said, “It wasn’t God’s fault. He didn’t do it. You were the one who didn’t change your tires. You were the one who had bald tires on the car. You were the one who made it happen.” And I asked, “Why did God let Sher get killed?” And he said, “You let Sher out, and a human being was driving too fast. You can’t blame God for that. We all have the ability to make choices. We are all going down the road. We all choose left to right. God is omnipotent. He knows what road we are going to choose, but He lets us choose. He doesn’t do bad things.” When the Chaplain told me that, it gave me such peace. It brought me back to reality, brought me to my senses. I was heart broken, blaming my Heavenly Father, but then I found out that I had messed up. Instead of blaming God, I should ask Him to help me be better in my actions. I also don’t believe God looks down and says, “Zap! I’m going to give that person cancer,” or, “Zap! I’m going to give that person a heart attack.” That’s the way it is. There are these things, germs, diseases, accidents, in this life.”

The point is, sheep can still make dumb choices that lead to injury and even death inspite of the Shepherds love and care. There is a whole realm of freedom for both man and beasts, and in this realm, which is necessary for them to be real, and not mere robots, bad things can and do happen to loved and cherished sheep, and people. So often Christians get discouraged with God for not deliving them from all of the trials of this life. It is risky to be alive, but there can still be peace in the midst of the war of this world when we stay close to the Shepherd. So often believers lose their faith to some degree and wonder off from the Shepherd like a dumb sheep. This only makes things worse, and they lose their peace, and are filled with anxiety and frustration. The only way to maintain peace in this world of warfare with all kinds of danger is to stay close to the Shepherd.

The peace of the Bible is about something that can be experienced even in the midst of a hectic and busy schedule. �ew Testament peace is not found by getting away from reality. People in the city want to get to the country, and country people think they can find peace in the big city. Escape is the way most people hope to find peace. But peace in the Bible means spiritual satisfaction and mental tranquility. It has to do with our relationship to God. Helmut Thielicke said that peace is, "�ot dull stagnation but is a soaring, stirring, happy thing." It is this because one knows that being with the Shepherd is the best thing life can offer to cope with any of the negatives that come our way.

Gen. David M. Shoup, "When H. B. Macartney, an Australian pastor, visited HudsonTaylor in China, he was amazed at the missionary's serenity inspite of his many burdens and his busy schedule. Macartneyfinally mustered up the courage to say, "You are occupied withmillions, I with tens. Your letters are pressingly important,

mine of comparatively little value. Yet I am worried anddistressed while you are always calm. Tell me, what makes thedifference?" Taylor replied, "I could not possibly get through thework I have to do without the peace of God which passes allunderstanding keeping my heart and mind." Macartney later wrote,"He was in God all the time, and God was in him. It was the trueabiding spoken of in John 15."

1B. Barnes, “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death -The meaning of this in the connection in which it occurs is this: “God will lead and guide me in the path of righteousness, even though that path lies through the darkest and most gloomy vale - through deep and dismal shades - in regions where there is no light, as if death had cast his dark and baleful shadow there. It is still a right path; it is a path of safety; and it will conduct me to bright regions beyond. In that dark and gloomy valley, though I could not guide myself, I will not be alarmed; I will not be afraid of wandering or of being lost; I will not fear any enemies there - for my Shepherd is there to guide me

still.” On the word here rendered “shadow of death” - tsalmâveth צלמות - see Job_3:5, note; and Isa_9:2, note. The word occurs besides only in the following places, in all of which it is rendered “shadow of death:” Job_10:21-22; Job_12:22; Job_16:16; Job_24:17 (twice); Job_28:3; Job_34:22; Job_38:17; Psa_44:19; Psa_107:10, Psa_107:14; Jer_2:6; Jer_13:16; Amo_5:8. The idea is that of death casting his gloomy shadow over that valley - the valley of the dead. Hence, the word is applicable to any path of gloom or sadness; any scene of trouble or sorrow; any dark and dangerous way. Thus understood, it is applicable not merely to death itself - though it embraces that - but to any or all the dark, the dangerous, and the gloomy paths which we tread in life: to ways of sadness, solitude, and sorrow. All along those paths God will be a safe and certain guide.

I will fear no evil - Dark, cheerless, dismal as it seems, I will dread nothing. The true friend of God has nothing to fear in that dark valley. His great Shepherd will accompany him there, and can lead him safely through, however dark it may appear. The true believer has nothing to fear in the most gloomy scenes of life; he has nothing to fear in the valley of death; he has nothing to fear in the grave; he has nothing to fear in the world beyond.

For thou art with me - Thou wilt be with me. Though invisible, thou wilt attend me. I shall not go alone; I shall not be alone. The psalmist felt assured that if God was with him he had nothing to dread there. God would be his companion, his comforter, his protector, his guide. How applicable is this to death! The dying man seems to go into the dark valley alone. His friends accompany him as far as they can, and then they must give him the parting hand. They cheer him with their voice until he becomes deaf to all sounds; they cheer him with their looks until his eye becomes dim, and he can see no more; they cheer him with the fond embrace until he becomes insensible to every expression of earthly affection, and then he seems to be alone. But the dying believer is not alone. His Saviour God is with him in that valley, and will never leave him. Upon His arm he can lean, and by His presence he will be comforted, until he emerges from the gloom into the bright world beyond. All that is needful to dissipate the terrors of the valley of death is to be able to say, “Thou art with me.”

Thy rod and thy staff - It may not be easy to mark the difference between these two words; but they would seem probably to refer, the latter to the “staff” which the shepherd used in walking, and the former to the “crook” which a shepherd used for

guiding his flock. The image is that of a shepherd in attendance on his flock, with a staff on which he leans with one hand; in the other hand the “crook” or rod which was the symbol of his office. Either of these also might be used to guard the flock, or to drive off the enemies of the flock. The “crook” is said (see Rosenmuller, in loc.) to have been used to seize the legs of the sheep or goats when they were disposed to run away, and thus to keep them with the flock. “The shepherd invariably carries a rod or staff with him when he goes forth to feed his flock. It is often bent or hooked at one end, which gave rise to the shepherd’s crook in the hand of the Christian bishop. With this staff he rules and guides the flock to their green pastures, and defends them from their enemies. With it also he corrects them when disobedient, and brings them back when wandering.” (The land and the book, vol. i., p. 305.)

They comfort me - The sight of them consoles me. They show that the Shepherd is there. As significant of his presence and his office, they impart confidence, showing that he will not leave me alone, and that he will defend me.

2. Clarke, “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death -The reference is still to the shepherd. Though I, as one of the flock, should walk through the most dismal valley, in the dead of the night, exposed to pitfalls, precipices, devouring beasts, etc., I should fear no evil under the guidance and protection of such a Shepherd. He knows all the passes, dangerous defiles, hidden pits, and abrupt precipices in the way; and he will guide me around, about, and through them. See the phrase shadow of death explained on Mat_4:16 (note). “Thof I ward well and imang tha, that nouther has knowyng of God, ne luf or in myddis of this lyf, that es schadow of ded; for it es blak for myrkenes of syn; and it ledes til dede and il men, imang qwam gude men wones: - I sal nout drede il, pryve nor apert; for thu ert with me in my hert, qwar I fele thu so, that eftir the schadow of dede, I be with the in thi vera lyf.” - Old Psalter.

For thou art with me - He who has his God for a companion need fear no danger; for he can neither mistake his way, nor be injured.

Thy rod and thy staff - shibtecha, thy scepter, rod, ensign of a tribe, staff of שבטך

office; for so שבט shebet signifies in Scripture. And thy staff, ומשענתך umishantecha, thy prop or support. The former may signify the shepherd’s crook; the latter, some sort of rest or support, similar to our camp stool, which the shepherds might carry with them as an occasional seat, when the earth was too wet to be sat on with safety. With the rod or crook the shepherd could defend his sheep, and with it lay hold of their horns or legs to pull them out of thickets, boys, pits, or waters. We are not to suppose that by the rod correction is meant: there is no idea of this kind either in the text, or in the original word; nor has it this meaning in any part of Scripture. Besides, correction and chastisement do not comfort; they are not, at least for the present, joyous, but grievous; nor can any person look forward to them with comfort. They abuse the text who

paraphrase rod correction, etc. The other term שען shaan signifies support, something to rest on, as a staff, crutch, stave, or the like. The Chaldee translates thus: “Even though I should walk in captivity, in the valley of the shadow of death, I will not fear evil. Seeing

thy Word (מימרך meymerach, thy personal Word) is my Assistant or Support; thy right

word and thy law console me.” Here we find that the Word, מימר meymar, is distinguished from any thing spoken, and even from the law itself. I cannot withhold the paraphrase of the old Psalter though it considers the rod as signifying correction: “Sothly I sal drede na nylle; for thy wande, that es thi lyght disciplyne, that chasties me as thi

son: and thi staf, that es thi stalworth help, that I lene me til, and haldes me uppe; thai have comforthed me; lerand (learning, teaching) me qwat I suld do; and haldand my thaught in the, that es my comforth.”

3. Gill, “Which designs not a state of spiritual darkness and ignorance, as sitting in the shadow of death sometimes does, since the psalmist cannot be supposed to be at this time or after in such a condition; see Isa_9:2; nor desertion or the hidings of God's face, which is sometimes the case of the people of God, and was the case of the psalmist at times; but now he expressly says the Lord was with him; but rather, since the grave is called the land of the shadow of death, and the distresses persons are usually in, under apprehensions of immediate death, are called the terrors of the shadow of death; see Job_10:21; the case supposed is, that should his soul draw nigh to the grave, and the sorrows of death compass him about, and he should be upon the brink and borders of eternity, he should be fearless of evil, and sing, "O death! where is thy sting? O grave! where is thy victory?" 1Co_15:55, though it seems best of all to interpret it of the most severe and terrible affliction or dark dispensation of Providence it could be thought he should ever come under, Psa_44:19. The Targum interprets it of captivity, and Jarchi and Kimchi of the wilderness of Ziph, in which David was when pursued by Saul; and the latter also, together with Ben Melech, of the grave, and of a place of danger and of distress, which is like unto the grave, that is, a place of darkness; and Aben Ezra of some grievous calamity, which God had decreed to bring into the world. Suidas (w) interprets this phrase of danger leading to death; afflictions attend the people of God in this life; there is a continued series of them, so that they may be said to walk in them; these are the way in which they walk heaven, and through which they enter the kingdom; for though they continue long, and one affliction comes after another, yet there will be an end at last; they will walk and wade through them, and come out of great tribulations; and in the midst of such dark dispensations, comparable to a dark and gloomy valley, covered with the shadow of death, the psalmist intimates what would be the inward disposition of his mind, and what his conduct and behaviour:

I will fear no evil; neither the evil one Satan, who is the wolf that comes to the flock to kill and to destroy, and the roaring lion that seeks whom he may devour, since the Lord was his shepherd, and on his side: nor evil men, who kill the body and can do no more, Psa_27:1; nor any evil thing, the worst calamity that could befall him, since everything of this kind is determined by God, and comes not without his knowledge and will, and works for good, and cannot separate from the love of Christ; see Psa_46:1;

for thou art with me; sheep are timorous creatures, and so are Christ's people; but when he the shepherd is them, to sympathize with them under all their afflictions, to revive and comfort them with the cordials of his love and promises of his grace, to bear them up and support them with his mighty arm of power, to teach and instruct them by every providence, and sanctify all unto them; their fears are driven away, and they pass through the dark valley, the deep waters, and fiery trials, with courage and cheerfulness; see Isa_41:10;

thy rod and thy staff they comfort me; not the rod of afflictions and chastisements, which is the sense of some Jewish (x) as well as Christian interpreters; though these are in love, and the saints have often much consolation under them; but these are designed by the valley of the shadow of death, and cannot have a place here, but rather the rod of

the word, called the rod of Christ's strength, and the staff of the promises and the provisions of God's house, the whole staff and stay of bread and water, which are sure unto the saints, and refresh and comfort them. The Targum interprets the rod and staff of the word and law of God; and those interpreters who explain the rod of afflictions, yet by the staff understand the law; and Jarchi expounds it, of the mercy of God in the remission of sin, in which the psalmist trusted: the allusion is to the shepherd's crook or staff, as in other places; see Mic_7:14; which was made use of for the telling and numbering of the sheep, Lev_27:32; and it is no small comfort to the sheep of Christ that they have passed under his rod, who has told them, and that they are all numbered by him; not only their persons, but the very hairs of their head; and that they are under his care and protection: the shepherd with his rod, staff, or crook, directs the sheep where to go, pushes forward those that are behind, and fetches back those that go astray; as well as drives away dogs, wolves, bears, &c. that would make a prey of the flock; and of such use is the word of God, attended with the power of Christ and his Spirit; it points out the path of faith, truth, and holiness, the saints should walk in; it urges and stirs up those that are negligent to the discharge of their duty, and is the means of reclaiming backsliders, and of preserving the flock from the ravenous wolves of false teachers: in a word, the presence, power, and protection of Christ, in and by is Gospel and ordinances, are what are here intended, and which are the comfort and safety of his people, in the worst of times and cases.

4. Henry, “See here the courage of a dying saint (Psa_23:4): “Having had such experience of God's goodness to me all my days, in six troubles and in seven, I will never distrust him, no, not in the last extremity; the rather because all he has done for me hitherto was not for any merit or desert of mine, but purely for his name's sake, in pursuance of his word, in performance of his promise, and for the glory of his own attributes and relations to his people. That name therefore shall still be my strong tower, and shall assure me that he who has led me, and fed me, all my life long, will not leave me at last.” Here is,

(1.) Imminent danger supposed: “Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, that is, though I am in peril of death, though in the midst of dangers, deep as a valley, dark as a shadow, and dreadful as death itself,” or rather, “though I am under the arrests of death, have received the sentence of death within myself, and have all the reason in the world to look upon myself as a dying man, yet I am easy.” Those that are sick, those that are old, have reason to look upon themselves as in the valley of the shadow of death. Here is one word indeed which sounds terrible; it is death, which we must all count upon; there is no discharge in that war. But, even in the supposition of the distress, there are four words which lessen the terror: - It is death indeed that is before us; but, [1.] It is but the shadow of death; there is no substantial evil in it; the shadow of a serpent will not sting nor the shadow of a sword kill. [2.] It is the valley of the shadow, deep indeed, and dark, and dirty; but the valleys are fruitful, and so is death itself fruitful of comforts to God's people. [3.] It is but a walk in this valley, a gentle pleasant walk. The wicked are chased out of the world, and their souls are required; but the saints take a walk to another world as cheerfully as they take their leave of this. [4.] It is a walk through it; they shall not be lost in this valley, but get safely to the mountain of spices on the other side of it.

(2.) This danger made light of, and triumphed over, upon good grounds. Death is a king of terrors, but not to the sheep of Christ; they tremble at it no more than sheep do that are appointed for the slaughter. “Even in the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil. None of these things move me.” Note, A child of God may meet the

messengers of death, and receive its summons with a holy security and serenity of mind. The sucking child may play upon the hole of this asp; and the weaned child, that, through grace, is weaned from this world, may put his hand upon this cockatrice's den, bidding a holy defiance to death, as Paul, O death! where is thy sting? And there is ground enough for this confidence, [1.] Because there is no evil in it to a child of God; death cannot separate us from the love of God, and therefore it can do us no real harm; it kills the body, but cannot touch the soul. Why should it be dreadful when there is nothing in it hurtful? [2.] Because the saints have God's gracious presence with them in their dying moments; he is then at their right hand, and therefore why should they be moved? The good shepherd will not only conduct, but convoy, his sheep through the valley, where they are in danger of being set upon by the beasts of prey, the ravening wolves; he will not only convoy them, but comfort then when they most need comfort. His presence shall comfort them: Thou art with me. His word and Spirit shall comfort them - his rod and staff, alluding to the shepherd's crook, or the rod under which the sheep passed when they were counted (Lev_27:32), or the staff with which the shepherds drove away the dogs that would scatter or worry the sheep. It is a comfort to the saints, when they come to die, that God takes cognizance of them (he knows those that are his), that he will rebuke the enemy, that he will guide them with his rod and sustain them with his staff. The gospel is called the rod of Christ's strength (Psa_110:2), and there is enough in that to comfort the saints when they come to die, and underneaththem are the everlasting arms.

5. Jamison, “In the darkest and most trying hour God is near.the valley of the shadow of death— is a ravine overhung by high precipitous

cliffs, filled with dense forests, and well calculated to inspire dread to the timid, and afford a covert to beasts of prey. While expressive of any great danger or cause of terror, it does not exclude the greatest of all, to which it is most popularly applied, and which its terms suggest.

thy rod and thy staff— are symbols of a shepherd’s office. By them he guides his sheep.

6. SPURGEO�, “This unspeakably delightful verse has been sung on many a dying bed, and has helped to make the dark valley bright times out of mind. Every word in it has a wealth of meaning. "Yea, though I walk," as if the believer did not quicken his pace when he came to die, but still calmly walked with God. To walk indicates the steady advance of a soul which knows its road, knows its end, resolves to follow the path, feels quite safe, and is therefore perfectly calm and composed. The dying saint is not in a flurry, he does not run as though he were alarmed, nor stand still as though he would go no further, he is not confounded nor ashamed, and therefore keeps to his old pace. Observe that it is not walking in the valley, but through the valley. We go through the dark tunnel of death and emerge into the light of immortality. We do not die, we do but sleep to wake in glory. Death is not the house but the porch, not the goal but the passage to it. The dying article is called a valley. The storm breaks on the mountain, but the valley is the place of quietude, and thus full often the last days of the Christian are the most peaceful of his whole career; the mountain is bleak and bare, but the valley is rich with golden sheaves, and many a saint has reaped more joy and knowledge when he came to die than he

ever knew while he lived. And, then, it is not "the valley of death," but "the valley of the shadow of death," for death in its substance has been removed, and only the shadow of it remains. Some one has said that when there is a shadow there must be light somewhere, and so there is. Death stands by the side of the highway in which we have to travel, and the light of heaven shining upon him throws a shadow across our path; let us then rejoice that there is a light beyond. �obody is afraid of a shadow, for a shadow cannot stop a man's pathway even for a moment. The shadow of a dog cannot bite; the shadow of a sword cannot kill; the shadow of death cannot destroy us. Let us not, therefore, be afraid. "I will fear no evil." He does not say there shall not be any evil; he had got beyond even that high assurance, and knew that Jesus had put all evil away; but "I will fear no evil;" as if even his fears, those shadows of evil, were gone for ever. The worst evils of life are those which do not exist except in our imagination. If we had no troubles but real troubles, we should not have a tenth part of our present sorrows. We feel a thousand deaths in fearing one, but the psalmist was cured of the disease of fearing. "I will fear no evil," not even the Evil One himself; I will not dread the last enemy, I will look upon him as a conquered foe, an enemy to be destroyed, "For thou art with me." This is the joy of the Christian! "Thou art with me." The little child out at sea in the storm is not frightened like all the other passengers on board the vessel, it sleeps in its mother's bosom; it is enough for it that its mother is with it; and it should be enough for the believer to know that Christ is with him. "Thou art with me; I have, in having thee, all that I can crave: I have perfect comfort and absolute security, for thou art with me." "Thy rod and thy staff," by which thou governest and rulest thy flock, the ensigns of thy sovereignty and of thy gracious care—"they comfort me." I will believe that thou reignest still. The rod of Jesse shall still be over me as the sovereign succour of my soul.Many persons profess to receive much comfort from the hope that they shall not die. Certainly there will be some who will be "alive and remain" at the coming of the Lord, but is there so very much of advantage in such an escape from death as to make it the object of Christian desire? A wise man might prefer of the two to die, for those who shall not die, but who "shall be caught up together with the Lord in the air," will be losers rather than gainers. They will lose that actual fellowship with Christ in the tomb which dying saints will have, and we are expressly told that they shall have no preference beyond those who are asleep. Let us be of Paul's mind when he said that "To die is gain," and think of "departing to be with Christ, which is far better." This twenty-third psalm is not worn out, and it is as sweet in a believer's ear now as it was in David's time, let novelty-hunters say what they will.

This verse is, no doubt, very applicable to the experience of when he comes to die but, for certain, that is not its only intent. It has an inexpressibly delightful application to the dying, but it is for the living, too! And at this time if, through any peculiar trials, your heart is cast down within you and you are walking through the death-shade, I pray you to repeat the words of the text and may the Lord help you to feel that they are true—“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.” The words are not in the future tense and, therefore, are not reserved for a distant moment. Do not postpone to the future that which you so greatly need in the present. Though I walk, even at this hour, through the dark valley, You, O Lord, are with me! Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. David was not dying—the Psalm is fall of happy, peaceful life. He is lying down in green pastures and following his Lord by still waters. And if a cloud has descended upon him and he feels himself like one threatened with death, he nevertheless expects goodness and mercy to follow him through all his days. The song is not to lie upon the shelf till our last day, but is to be sung upon our stringed instruments all the days of our lives! Therefore let us sing it at this

hallowed hour in the courts of the Lord’s House and in the midst of them that love Him. I. I call your attention, first, to THE PASS A�D ITS TERRORS—“the valley of the shadow of death.” Get the idea of a narrow ravine, something like the Gorge of Gondo or some other stern pass upon the higher Alps where the rocks seem piled to Heaven and the sunlight is seen above as through a narrow rift. Troubles are sometimes heaped on one another, pile on pile, and the road is a dreary pass through which the pilgrim, on his journey to Heaven, has to wend his way. Set before your mind’s eye a valley shut in with stupendous rocks that seem to meet overhead, a narrowing pass, dark as midnight itself. Through this valley, or rocky ravine, the heavenly footman has to follow the path appointed for him in the eternal purpose of the Infinite mind. Through such a dreary rift many a child of God is making his way at this moment—and to him I speak. Our first observation about it is that it is exceedingly gloomy. This is its chief characteristic. It is the valley of the shadow—the shadow of death. Death is terrible and the very shadow of it is cold and chill and freezes to the marrow. I have stood under rocks which have not merely cooled me, but have cast a horribly damp chill as though the embrace of death had been about me and its cold within me. One hastens to escape from such a deadly shade which has tended to strike you with fever. And such, it seems to me, is the shade cast by the wings of death when the man feels that he is under such trouble that he cannot live and would not even wish to do so if he could. The joy of life has been like the sun under an eclipse and in the chill, dark, damp shade of a terrible sorrow the man has cowered down and beneath the icy touch of doubt has shivered, has felt fevered and frightened and has been as one out of his mind. I speak to some young hearts here who, I hope, know nothing about this gloom. Do not wish to know it! Keep bright while you can. Sing while you may. Be larks and mount aloft and sing as you mount! But there are some of God’s people who are not much in the lark line—they are a great deal more like owls. They sit alone and keep silent. Or if they do open their mouths, it is to give forth a discontented hoot. Companions of dragons and very suitable companions, too, such mournful ones need all the gentle sympathy we can afford them. Even those who are bright and cheerful do, many of them, occasionally pass through the dreary glen where everything is doleful and their spirits sink below zero. I know what wise Brethren say, “You should not give way to feelings of depression.” Quite right—we should no more. But we do. And perhaps when your brain is as weary as ours, you will not bear yourselves more bravely than we do. “But desponding people are very much to be blamed.” I know they are, but they are also very much to be pitied and, perhaps, if those who blame quite so furiously could once know what depression is, they would think it cruel to scatter blame where comfort is needed. There are experiences of the children of God which are full of spiritual darkness and I am almost persuaded that those of God’s servants who have been most highly favored have, nevertheless, suffered more times of darkness than others. The Covenant is never known to Abraham so well as when a horror of great darkness comes over him and then he sees the shining lamp moving between the pieces of the sacrifice. A greater than Abraham was early led of the Spirit into the wilderness and yet, before He closed His life, He was sorrowful and very heavy in the Garden. In this heaviness, for which there is a necessity, Believers have a black foil which sets out the brightness of eternal love and faithfulness. Blessedbe God for mountains of joy and valleys of peace and gardens of delight! But there is a Valley of Death-Shade and most of us have traversed its tremendous glooms. It is surely true that a great number of God’s best servants have trod the deeps of the Valley of the Shadow and this ought to comfort some of you. The footsteps of the holy are in the Valley of Weeping. Saints have marched through the Via Dolorosa—do you not see their footprints? Above all others, mark one footstep! Do you not see it? Stoop down and fix your gaze upon it! Go on your knees and view it! If you watch it well, you will observe the print of a nail. As surely as this Word of God is true, your Lord has felt the chill of the death-shade. There is no gloom of spirit, apart from the sin of it, into which Jesus has not fallen! There is no trouble of soul, or turmoil of heart which is free from sin, which the Lord has not known. He says, “Reproach has broken My heart and I am full of heaviness.” The footprint of the Lord of Life is set in the rock forever, even in the Valley of the Shadow of Death! Shall we not cheerfully advance to the Cross and death of Jerusalem when Jesus goes before us? I shall close my remarks upon this Via Mala of terrors by showing that dark and gloomy as it is, it is not an unhallowed pathway. �o sin is necessarily connected with sorrow of heart, for Jesus Christ our Lord once said, “My soul is exceedingly sorrowful even unto death.” There was no sin in Him and, consequently, none in His deep depression! We have never known a joy or a sorrow altogether untainted with evil, but in grief, itself, there is no necessary cause of sin. A man may be as happy as all the birds inthe air and there may be no sin in his happiness. And a man may be exceedingly heavy and yet there may be no sin in the heaviness. I do not say that there is not sin in all our feelings, but still, the feelings in themselves need not be sinful. I would, therefore, try to cheer any Brothers and Sisters who are sad, for their sadness is not necessarily blameworthy. If their downcast spirit arises from unbelief, let them flog themselves and cry to God to be delivered from it. But if the soul is sighing, “Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him,” its being slain is not a fault. If the man cries, “My God, my soul is cast down within me; therefore will I remember You,” his soul’s being cast down within him is no sin. “If need be,” says the Apostle, “you are in heaviness through manifold temptations.” �ot only, “If need be you are in the temptations,” but, “you are in heaviness through them.” There is a necessity for the heartbreak, for it is in the heaviness of the spirit that the essence of the trial is found. Does not Solomon say, “The blueness of a wound cleans away evil”? If the blow is not such as to leave its bruise, there has been no chastening that will do us good. Heaviness of spirit is not, therefore, on every occasion, a matter for which we need condemn ourselves though it will be well, always, to turn a severe side to one’s self. However we may censure ourselves for heart sorrow, we must be careful not to condemn others—for the way of sorrow is not the way of sin, but a hallowed road sanctified by the praying of myriads of pilgrims now with God—pilgrims who, passing through the valley of Baca made it a well, the rain also filled the pools. Of such it is written, “they go from strength to strength; everyone of them in Zion appears before God.”

There is no hurry about the Psalmist, “Yea, though, I walk” he says—quietly, calmly, steadily. The pace of the experienced man of God is a walk. Young people fly—“they shall mount up with wings as eagles.” Growing men “run and are not weary.” But when a man of God becomes a father in the Church and is endowed with abounding strength, he walks and does not faint. Walking is the regulation pace for veteran soldiers of Christ—all the rest is for the raw recruits! So David, in effect, declares—I shall walk through the Valley of the Shadow of Death as quietly as I walk my garden in the

evening, or go down the street about my business. My affliction does not unfit me for duty. I am not flurried and worried about it. May God give you, my dear Brothers and Sisters, this calm faith. I pray that He may give it to me, for I greatly need it. I have often confessed my need of it and confessed it with shame and confusion of face, for I serve a blessed Master and I ought never to fear, nor allow pain of body to produce trembling of heart. O sacred Comforter, shed abroad in my heart the peace of God! The next point about the pilgrim’s progress is that he is secure in his expectancy. “Yea, though I walk through the valley.” There is a bright side to that word, “through.” He expects to come out of the dreary pass to a brighter country! Just as the train of his life enters into the dark tunnel of tribulation, he says within himself, “I shall come out on the other side. It may be very dark and I may go through the very bowels of the earth, but I am bound to come out on the other side.” So is it with every child of God. If his way to Heaven should lie over the bottom of the sea, hard by the roots of the mountains where the earth, with her bars, is about him, he will traverse the road in perfect safety. Jonah’s road to Heaven lay that way and a special conveyance was started for him—“The Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah.” I do not suppose there was ever any other fish of the sort. �aturalists cannot find such a whale, they say, nor need they look for it, for the Scripture says, “The Lord prepared a fish.” He knew how to make it to hold Jonah and the fish accommodated its passenger and brought him right to shore. Providence makes special preparation for every tried saint. If you are God’s servant and are called to a very peculiar trial, some singular Providence, the like of which you have never read of, shall certainly happen to you to illustrate in your case the Divine goodness and faithfulness! Oh, if we had more faith! Oh, if we had more faith, life would be happy, trials would be light! Brethren, is it not an easy thing to walk through a shadow? If you get up in the morning and saunter down the field and the spiders have spun their cobwebsacross the path in a thousand places, you brush them all away—and yet there is more strength in a cobweb than in a shadow! The Psalmist speaks without fear, for he regards his expected trials as walking through a shadow. Trials and troubles, if we have but faith, are mere shadows that cannot hinder us on our road to Heaven. Sometimes God so overrules afflictions that they even help us on to Glory! Therefore let us walk on and never be afraid. Let us be sure that if we walk in at one end of the hollow way of affliction, we shall walk out at the other. Who shall hinder us when God is with us? The main point about this pilgrim and his progress is that he is perfectly innocent of fear. He says, “I shall fear no evil.” It is beautiful to see a child at perfect peace amid dangers which alarm all those who are with him. I have read of a little boy who was on board a vessel that was being buffeted by the tempest and everybody was distressed, knowing that the ship was in great peril. There was not a sailor on board, certainly not a passenger, who was not full of fear. This boy, however, was perfectly happy and was rather amused than alarmed by the tossing of the ship. They asked him why he was so happy at such a time. “Well,” he said, “my father is the captain. He knows how to manage.” He did not think it possible that the ship could go down while his father was in command! There was folly in such confidence, but there will be none in yours if you believe with an equally unqualified faith in your Father who can and will bring safely into port every vessel that is committed to His charge! Rest in God and be quiet from fear of evil! This pilgrim, while he is thus free from fear, is not at all fanatical or ignorant since he gives a good reason for his freedom from alarm. “I will fear no evil,” says he, “for You are with me.” Was there ever a better reason given under Heaven for being fearless than this—that God is with us? He is on our side! He is pledged to help us! He has never failed us. He must cease to be what He is before He can cast away one soul that trusts Him. Where, then, is there room for terror? The child is confident because his mother is with him—much more should we be serene in heart since the Omniscient, the Omnipotent, the Immutable God is on our side! “Whom shall I fear?” Whom shall we select to honor with our dread? Is there anybody that we need to fear? “Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifies. Who is he that condemns?” Christ has died and risen again and sits up yonder at the right hand of God as our Representative—who, then, can harm us? Let the heavens be dissolved and the earth be melted with fervent heat, but let not the Christian’s heart be moved! Let him stand like the great mountains whose foundations are confirmed forever, for the Lord God will not forsake His people or break His Covenant. “I will fear no evil, for You are with me.” There is something more, here, than freedom from fear and a substantial reason for it, for the true Believer rejoices in exalted companionship. “You are with me.” You—You, You—the King of kings, before whom every seraph veils his face, abashed before the awful majesty of his Maker. “You are with me”—You before whom the greatest of the great sink into utter insignificance—YOU are with me! How brave that man ought to be who walks with the Lion of the tribe of Judah as his guard! What steady footsteps should that man take who treads upon a rock and knows it. “You are with me.”

7. TREASURY OF DAVID BY SPURGEO� , “ Verse 4. "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil." To "fear no evil," then, "in the valley of the shadow of death," is a blessed privilege open to every true believer! For death shall be to him no death at all, but a very deliverance from death, from all pains, cares, and sorrows, miseries and wretchedness of this world, and the very entry into rest, and a beginning of everlasting joy: a tasting of heavenly pleasures, so great, that neither tongue is able to express, neither eyes to see, nor ear to hear them, no, nor any earthly man's heart to conceive them. . . . And to comfort all Christian persons herein, holy Scripture calleth this bodily death a sleep,

wherein man's senses be, as it were, taken from him for a season, and yet, when he waketh, he is more fresh than when he went to bed! . . . Thus is this bodily death a door or entering into life, and therefore not so much dreadful, if it be rightly considered, as it is comfortable; not a mischief, but a remedy for all mischief; no enemy, but a friend; not a cruel tyrant, but a gentle guide; leading us not to mortality, but to immortality! not to sorrow and pain, but to joy and pleasure, and that to endure for ever! Homily against the Fear of Death, 1547.

Verse 4. "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil." Though I were called to such a sight as Ezekiel's vision, a valley full of dead men's bones; though the king of terrors should ride in awful pomp through the streets, slaying heaps upon heaps, and thousands should fall at my side, and ten thousands at my right hand, I will fear no evil. Though he should level his fatal arrows at the little circle of my associates, and put lover and friend far from me, and mine acquaintance into darkness, I will fear no evil. Yea, though I myself should feel his arrow sticking fast in me, the poison drinking up my spirits; though I should in consequence of that fatal seizure, sicken and languish, and have all the symptoms of approaching dissolution, still I will fear no evil. �ature, indeed, may start back and tremble, but I trust that he who knows the flesh to be weak, will pity and pardon these struggles. However I may be afraid of the agonies of dying, I will fear no evil in death. The venom of his sting is taken away. The point of his arrow is blunted, so that it can pierce no deeper than the body. My soul in invulnerable. I can smile at the shaking of his spear; look unmoved on the ravages which the unrelenting destroyer is making on my tabernacle; and long for the happy period when he shall have made a breach wide enough for my heaven-aspiring spirit to fly away and be at rest. Samuel Lavington.

Verse 4. "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil." "I want to talk to you about heaven," said a dying parent [The late Rev. Hugh Stowell, Rector of Ballaugh, Isle of Man.] to a member of his family. "We may not be spared to each other long. May we meet around the throne of glory, one family in heaven!" Overpowered at the thought, his beloved daughter exclaimed, "Surely you do not think there is any danger?" Calmly and beautifully he replied, "Danger, my darling! Oh, do not use that word! There can be no danger to the Christian, whatever may happen! All is right! All is well! God is love! All is well! Everlastingly well! Everlastingly well!" John Stevenson.

Verse 4. "Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil." What not fear then? Why, what friend is it that keeps up your spirits, that bears you company in that black and dismal region? He will soon tell you God was with him, and in those slippery ways he leaned upon his staff, and these were the cordials that kept his heart from fainting. I challenge all the gallants in the world, out of all their merry, jovial clubs, to find such a company of merry, cheerful creatures as the friends of God are. It is not the company of God, but the want of it, that makes sad. Alas! you know not what their comforts be, and strangers intermeddle not with their joy. You think they cannot be merry when their countenance is so grave; but they are sure you cannot be truly merry when you

smile with a curse upon your souls. They know that he spoke that sentence which could not be mistaken, "Even in laughter the heart is sorrowful; and the end of that mirth is heaviness." Proverbs 14:13. Then call your roaring, and your singing, and laughter, mirth; but the Spirit of God calls it madness. Ecclesiastes 2:2. When a carnal man;s heart is ready to die within him, and, with �abal, to become like a stone, how cheerfully then can those look that have God for their friend! Which of the valiant ones of the world can outface death, look joyfully into eternity? Which of them can hug a faggot, embrace the flames? This the saint can do, and more too; for he can look infinite justice in the face with a cheerful heart; he can hear of hell with joy and thankfulness; he can think of the day of judgment with great delight and comfort. I again challenge all the world to produce one out of all their merry companies, one that can do all this. Come, muster up all your jovial blades together; call for your harps and viols; add what you will to make the concert complete; bring in your richest wines; come, lay your heads together, and study what may still add to your comfort. Well, it is done? �ow, come away, sinner, this night thy soul must appear before God. Well now, what say you, man? What! doth your courage fail you? �ow call for your merry companions, and let them cheer thy heart. �ow call for a cup, a whore; never be daunted, man. Shall one of thy courage quail, that could make a mock at the threatenings of the Almighty God? What, so boon and jolly but now, and now down in the mouth! Here's a sudden change indeed! Where are thy merry companions, I say again? All fled? Where are thy darling pleasures? Have all forsaken thee? Why shouldst thou be dejected; there's a poor man in rags that's smiling? What! art thou quite bereft of all comfort? What's the matter? There's a question with all my heart, to ask a man that must appear before God to-morrow morning. Well, then, it seems your heart misgives you. What then did you mean of talk of joys and pleasures? Are they all come to this? Why, there stands one that now hath his heart as full of comfort as ever it can hold, and the very thoughts of eternity, which do so daunt your soul, raise his! And would you know the reason? He knows he is going to his Friend; nay, his Friend bears him company through that dirty lane. Behold how good and how pleasant a thing it is for God and the soul to dwell together in unity! This it is to have God for a friend. "Oh blessed is the soul that is in such a case; yea, blessed is the soul whose God is the Lord." Psalm 144:15. James Janeway.

Verse 4. "Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death." Any darkness is evil, but darkness and the shadow of death is the utmost of evils. David put the worst of his case and the best of his faith when he said, "Though I walk in the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil;" that is, in the greatest evil I will fear no evil. . . . Again, to be under the shadow of a thing, is to be under the power of a thing. . . . Thus to be under the shadow of death, is to be so under the power or reach of death, that death may take a man and seize upon him when it pleaseth. "Though I walk in the valley of the shadow of death," that is, though I be so near death, that it seems to others death may catch me every moment, though I be under so many appearances and probabilities of extreme danger, that there appears an impossibility, in sense, to escape death, "yet I will not fear." Joseph Caryl.

Verse 4. "Valley of the shadow of death." A valley is a low place, with mountains on

either side. Enemies may be posted on those mountains to shoot their arrows at the traveler, as ever was the case in the East; but he must pass through it. The psalmist, however, said he would fear no evil, not even the fiery darts of Satan, for the Lord was with him. The figure is not primarily, as is sometimes supposed, our dying moments, though it will beautifully bear that explanation; but it is the valley beset with enemies, posted on the hills. David was not only protected in that valley, but even in the presence of those enemies, his table was bountifully spread (verse 5). The Bedouin, at the present day often post themselves on the hills to harass travellers, as they pass along the valleys. John Gadsby.

Verse 4. "I will fear no evil." It hath been an ancient proverb, when a man had done some great matter, he was said to have "plucked a lion by the beard;" when a lion is dead, even to little children it hath been an easy matter. As boys, when they see a bear, a lion, or a wolf dead in the streets, they will pull off their hair, insult over them, and deal with them as they please; they will trample upon their bodies, and do that unto them being dead, which they durst not in the least measure venture upon whilst they are alive. Such a thing is death, a furious beast, a ramping lion, a devouring wolf, the helluo generis humani (eater up of mankind), yet Christ hath laid him at his length, hath been the death of death, so that God's children triumph over him, such as those refined ones in the ore of the church, those martyrs of the primitive times, who cheerfully offered themselves to the fire, and to the sword, and to all the violence of this hungry beast; and have played upon him, scorned and derided him, by the faith that they had in the life of Christ, who hath subdued him to himself. 1 Corinthians 15. Martin Day, 1660.

Verse 4. "Though art with me." Do you know the sweetness, the security, the strength of "Thou art with me"? When anticipating the solemn hour of death, when the soul is ready to halt and ask, How shall it then be? can you turn in soul-affection to your God and say, "There is nothing in death to harm me, while thy love is left to me"? Can you say, "O death, where is thy sting"? It is said, when a bee has left its sting in any one, it has no more power to hurt. Death has left its sting in the humanity of Christ, and has no more power to harm his child. Christ's victory over the grave is his people's. "At that moment I am with you," whispers Christ; "the same arm you have proved strong and faithful all the way up through the wilderness, which has never failed, though you have been often forced to lean on it all your weakness." "On this arm," answers the believer, "I feel at home; with soul confidence, I repose on my Beloved; for he has supported through so many difficulties, from the contemplation of which I shuddered. He has carried over so many depths, that I know his arm to be the arm of love." How can that be dark, in which God's child is to have the accomplishment of the longing desire of his life? How can it be dark to come in contact with the light of life? It is "his rod," "his staff;" therefore they "comfort." Prove him—prove him now, believer! it is your privilege to do so. It will be precious to him to support your weakness; prove that when weak, then are you strong; that you may be secure, his strength shall be perfected in your perfect weakness. Omnipotent love must fail before one of his sheep can perish; for, says Christ, "none shall pluck my sheep out of my hand." "I and my Father are one;" therefore we may boldly say, "Yea, though I walk through

the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me." Viscountess Powerscourt.

Verse 4. "Thy rod." Of the virga pastoralis there are three uses: —1. �umerare oves—to reckon up or count the sheep; and in this sense they are said "to pass under the rod" (Leviticus 27:32), the shepherd tells them one by one. And even so are the people of God called the rod of his inheritance (Jeremiah 10:16), such as he takes special notice or account of. And take the words in this sense—"Thy rod doth comfort me"—it holds well; q.d. "Though I am in such eminent dangers by reason of evil men, yet this is my comfort—I am not neglected of thee; thou dost not suffer me to perish; thou takest notice of me; thou dost take and make an account of me; thy special care looks after me." 2. Provocare oves: when the sheep are negligent and remiss in following or driving, thew shepherd doth, with his rod, put them on, quicken their pace. And in this sense also David saith well, "Thy rod doth comfort me;" for it is a work which doth breed much joy and comfort in the hearts of God's people, when God doth put them out of a lazy, cold, formal walking, and doth, some way or other, cause them to mend their pace, to grow more active and fervent in his service and worship. 3. Revocare oves: the sheep sometimes are petulante divagantes, idly and inconsiderately straying from the flock, grazing alone, and wandering after other pastures, not considering the dangers which attend them by such a separation and wandering; and, therefore, the shepherd doth with his rod strike and fetch them in again, and so preserve them. In this sense also David might well say, "Thy rod doth comfort me;" for it is a great comfort that the Lord will not leave his sheep to the ways of discomfort, but brings them off from sinful errings and wanderings, which always do expose them to their greatest dangers and troubles. So that the words do intimate a singular part of God's gubernation or careful providence of his flock. Obadiah Sedgwick.

Verse 4. "Rod and staff." The shepherd invariably carries a staff or rod with him when he goes forth to feed his flock. It is often bent or hooked at one end, which gave rise to the shepherd's crook in the hand of the Christian bishop. With this staff he rules and guides the flock to their green pastures, and defends them from their enemies. With it also he corrects them when disobedient, and brings them back when wandering. This staff is associated as inseparably with the shepherd as the goad is with the ploughman. W. M. Thomson.

Verse 4. The psalmist will trust, even though all be unknown. We find him doing this in Psalm 23:4: "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil." Here, surely, there is trust the most complete. We dread the unknown far above anything that we can see; a little noise in the dark will terrify, when even great dangers which are visible do not affright: the unknown, with its mystery and uncertainty, often fills the heart with anxiety, if not with foreboding and gloom. Here, the psalmist takes the highest form of the unknown, the aspect which is most terrible to man, and says, that even in the midst if it he will trust. What could be so wholly beyond the reach of human experience or speculation, or even imagination, as "the valley of the shadow of death," with all that belonged to it? but the psalmist makes no reservation against it; he will trust where he cannot

see. How often are we terrified at the unknown; even as the disciples were, "who feared as they entered the cloud;" how often is the uncertainty of the future a harder trial to our faith than the pressure of some present ill! Many dear children of God can trust him in all known evils; but why those fears and forebodings, and sinkings of heart, if they trust him equally for the unknown? How much, alas! do we fall short of the true character of the children of God, in this matter of the unknown! A child practically acts upon the declaration of Christ that "sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof," we, in this respect far less wise than he, people the unknown with phantoms and speculations, and too often forget our simple trust in God. Philip Bennet Power.

Verse 4. "For thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff comfort me. Thou shalt prepare a table before me, against them that trouble me. Thou hast anointed my head with oil, and my cup shall be full." Seeing thou art with me, at whose power and will all troubles go and come, I doubt not but to have the victory and upper hand of them, how many and dangerous soever they are; for thy rod chasteneth me when I go astray, and thy staff stayeth me when I should fall—two things most necessary for me, good Lord; the one to call me from my fault and error, and the other to keep me in thy truth and verity. What can be more blessed than to be sustained and kept from falling by the staff and strength of the Most High? And what can be more profitable than to be beaten with his merciful rod when we go astray? For he chasteneth as many as he loveth, and beateth as many as he receiveth into his holy profession. �otwithstanding, while we are here in this life, he feeds us with the sweet pastures of the wholesome herbs of his holy word, until we come to eternal life; and when we put off these bodies, and come into heaven, and know the blessed fruition and riches of his kingdom, then shall we not only be his sheep, but also the guests of his everlasting banquet; which, Lord, thou settest before all them that love thee in this world, and dost so anoint and make glad our minds with thine Holy Spirit, that no adversities nor troubles can make us sorry. In this sixth part, the prophet declares the old saying amongst wise men, "It is no less mastery to keep the thing that is won, than it was to win it." King David perceives right well the same; and, therefore, as before in the Psalm he said, the Lord turned his soul, and led him into the pleasant pastures, where virtue and justice reigned, for his name's sake, and not for any righteousness of his own; so saith he now, that being brought into the pastures of truth, and into the favour of the Almighty, and accounted and taken for one of his sheep, it is only God that keeps and maintains him, in the same state, condition, and grace. For he could not pass through the troubles and shadow of death, as he and all God's elect people must do, but only by the assistance of God, and, therefore, he saith, he passes through all peril because he was with him. John Hooper (martyr), 1495-1555.

Verse 4. By the way, I note that David amidst his green pastures, where he wanted nothing, and in his greatest ease and highest excellency, recordeth the valley of misery and shade of death which might ensue, if God so would; and therewithal reckoneth of his safest harbour and firm repose, even in God alone. And this is true wisdom indeed, in fair weather to provide for a tempest; in health to think of sickness; in prosperity, peace, and quietness, to forecast the worst, and with the wise

emmet, in summer to lay up for the winter following. The state of man is full of trouble, the condition of the godly man more. Sinners must be corrected, and sons chastised, there is no question. The ark was framed for the waters, the ship for the sea; and happy is the mariner that knoweth where to cast anchor; but, oh! blessed is the man that can take a right sanctuary, and knoweth whereupon to rely, and in whom to trust in the day of his need. "I will not fear, for thou art with me." In this Psalm, I take it, is rather vouched not what the prophet always performed, but what in duty must be performed, and what David's purpose was to endeavour unto for the time to come. For after so many pledges of God's infinite goodness, and by the guidance of his rod and stay of his sheep-hook, God willing, he would not fear, and this is the groundwork of his affiance. Peter in the gospel by our Saviour, in consideration of infirmity through fear denying his Master, is willed after his conversion by that favourable aspect of our Saviour, to confirm his brethren, and to train them in constancy; for verily God requireth settled minds, resolute men, and confirmed brethren. So upon occasions past, David found it true that he should not have been heretofore at any time, and therefore professeth, that for the time to come he would be no marigold-servant of the Lord, to open with the sun and shut with the dew —to serve him in calmer times only, and at a need, to shoot neck out of collar, fearfully and faithlessly to slip aside or shrink away. Good people, in all heartless imperfections, mark, I pray you, that they who fear every mist that ariseth, or cloud that appeareth—who are like the mulberry tree, that never shooteth forth or showeth itself till all hard weather be past—who, like standers-by and lookers on, neuters and internimists—who, like Metius Suffetius, dare not venture upon, nor enter into, nor endeavour any good action of greatest duty to God, prince, or country, till all be sure in one side—are utterly reproved by this ensample. John Prime, 1588.

Verse 4. The death of those who are under sin, is like a malefactor's execution: when he is panelled and justly convicted, one pulleth the hat doggedly from him, another his band, a third bindeth his hands behind his back; and the poor man, overcome with grief and fear, is dead before he die. But I look for the death of the righteous, and a peaceable end, that it shall be as a going to bed of an honest man: his servants with respect take off his clothes and lay them down in order; a good conscience the playing the page ordereth all, so that it confirmeth and increaseth his peace; it biddeth good night to Faith, Hope, and such other attending graces and gifts in the way—when we are come home to heaven there is no use of them— but it directeth Love, Peace, Joy, and other home graces, that as they conveyed us in the way, so they attend at death, and enter into the heavens with us. William Struther.

Verse 4. The Lord willeth us in the day of our troubles to call upon him, adding this promise—that he will deliver us. Whereunto the prophet David did so trust, feeling the comfortable truth thereof at sundry times in many and dangerous perils, that he persuaded himself (all fear set apart), to undergo one painful danger or other whatsoever; yea, if it were to "walk in the valley of the shadow of death," that he should not have cause to fear; comforting himself with this saying (which was God's promise made unto all), "For thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me." Is God's "staff" waxen so weak, that we dare not now lean too much thereon,

lest it should break? or is he now such a changeling, that he will not be with us in our trouble according to his promise? Will he not give us this "staff" to stay us by, and reach us his hand to hold us up, as he hath been wont to do? �o doubt but that he will be most ready in all extremity to help, according to his promise. The Lord that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, saith thus; Fear not, for I will defend thee," etc. Isaiah 43. Thomas Tymme.

Verse 4. �ot long before he died, he blessed God for the assurance of his love, and said, He could now as easily die as shut his eyes; and added, Here am I longing to be silent in the dust, and enjoying Christ in glory. I long to be in the arms of Jesus. It is not worth while to weep for me. Then, remembering how busy the devil had been about him, he was exceedingly thankful to God for his goodness in rebuking him. Memoir of James Janeway.

Verse 4. When Mrs. Hervey, the wife of a missionary in Bombay, was dying, a friend said to her, that he hoped the Saviour would be with her as she walked through the dark valley of the shadow of death. "If this," said she, "is the dark valley, it has not a dark spot in it; all is light." She had, during most of her sickness, bright views of the perfections of God. "His awful holiness," she said, "appeared the most lovely of all his attributes." At one time she said she wanted words to express her views of the glory and majesty of Christ. "It seems," said she, "that if all other glory were annihilated and nothing left but his bare self, it would be enough; it would be a universe of glory!"

Verses 4, 5. A readiness of spirit to suffer gives the Christian the true enjoyment of life. . . . The Christian, that hath this preparation of heart, never tastes more sweetness in the enjoyment of this life, than when he dips these morsels in the meditation of death and eternity. It is no more grief to his heart to think of the remove of these, which makes way for those far sweeter enjoyments, than it would be to one at a feast, to have the first course taken off, when he had fed well upon it, that the second course of all rare sweetmeats and banqueting stuff may come on, which it cannot till the other be gone. Holy David, in this place, brings in, as it were, a death's head with his feast. In the same breath almost, he speaks of his dying (verse 4), and of the rich feast he at present sat at through the bounty of God (verse 5), to which he was not so tied by the teeth, but if God, that gave him this cheer, should call him from it, to look death in the face, he could do it, and fear no evil when in the valley of the shadow of it. And what think you of the blessed apostle Peter? Had not he, think you, the true enjoyment of his life, when he could sleep so sweetly in a prison (no desirable place), fast bound between two soldiers (no comfortable posture), and this the very night before Herod would have brought him forth, in all probability, to his execution? no likely time, one would think, to get any rest; yet we find him, even there, thus, and then, so sound asleep, that the angel, who was sent to give him his gaol deliverance, smote him on the side to awaken him. Acts 12:6, 7. I question whether Herod himself slept so well that night, as this his prisoner did. And what was the potion that brought this holy man so quietly to rest? �o doubt this preparation of the gospel of peace—he was ready to die, and that made him able to sleep. Why should that break his rest in this world, which if it had

been effected, would have brought him to his eternal rest in the other? William Gurnall.

Verses 4, 6. The psalmist expresseth an exceeding confidence in the midst of most inexpressible troubles and pressures. He supposes himself "walking through the valley of the shadow of death." As "death" is the worst of evils, and comprehensive of them all, so the "shadow" of death is the most dismal and dark representation of those evils into the soul, and the "valley" of that shadow the most dreadful bottom and depth of that representation. This, then, the prophet supposed that he might be brought into. A condition wherein he may be overwhelmed with sad apprehensions of the coming of a confluence of all manner of evils upon him—and that not for a short season, but he may be necessitated to "walk" in them, which denotes a state of some continuance, a conflicting with most dismal evils, and in their own nature tending to death—is in the supposal. What, then, would he do if he should be brought into this estate? Saith he, "Even in that condition, in such distress, wherein I am, to my own and the eyes of others, hopeless, helpless, gone, and lost, 'I will fear no evil.'" A noble resolution, if there be a sufficient bottom and foundation for it, that it may not be accounted rashness and groundless confidence, but true spiritual courage and holy resolution. Saith he, "It is because the Lord is with me." But alas! what if the Lord should now forsake thee in this condition, and give thee up to the power of thine enemies, and suffer thee, by the strength of thy temptations, wherewith thou art beset, to fall utterly from him? Surely then thou wouldst be swallowed up for ever: the waters would go over thy soul, and thou must for ever lie down in the shades of death. "Yea," saith he, "but I have an assurance to the contrary; 'Goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.' John Owen.

8. HADDO� ROBI�SO�, “When we think of a valley, we usually imagine a pleasant low land sweep bounded by sloping hillsides. But the word for valley that the psalmist uses, describes a dreadful place-a home for vultures by day and a haven for wolves and hyenas by night. What is more, instead of our translation “Shadow of death,” it probably would be more accurate the phrase, “The valley of deep darkness.” The valley that the psalmist pictures is an actual place in Palestine-a chasm among the hills, a deep, faintly lighted ravine with steep sides and a narrow floor.”

9. Octavius Winslow, "We only experimentally and closely know God by personal relationship. A theoretical or intellectual religion is of little or no practical avail. We must know God, not by hearing and reading merely, but by personal understanding and feeling; the emotional, as well as the thinking, faculty must be brought into play: the heart must, so to speak, discourse with the head- there must be a communication, a harmony of the intellect and the affections in the religious training of the soul. Perhaps we conceive of God as so infinitely great that He can only deal with us- and we with Him- in the greater events of our history; while the smaller incidents- the little affairs of daily life- are left to the government and molding of blind chance, or fortuitous circumstance! But this is practical atheism of

the worst description. It is the privilege of the believer to recognize and practically act upon the truth that, there transpires not an event or incident in his history but marks the hand and echoes the voice of his Divine Shepherd. The Lord is in it. "The very hairs of your head are all numbered"- Christ thus teaching us that our Heavenly Father takes cognizance of the minutest event and circumstance of our individual history, and that there is nothing too trivial or common to be beneath His interest and control. And thus, although the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain Him, yet He seeks a dwelling-place amid the sighs and groans and desires of a humble, broken, and contrite heart; and all the interests of that heart- its faintest desire, gentlest sigh, and softest prayer- are entwined with the purposes, thoughts, and affections of His. "You are �EAR, O Lord," should be the consciousness of every believing mind: You, God, see me! You, God, hear me! You, God, shield me! Jesus meets us in every bend of our path, and speaks to us in every circumstance of our history- in the cloudy pillar, as in the golden beam; in the soft, 'still small voice,' as in the roar of the tempest and the vibration of the earthquake- and thus, were there less atheistical unbelief in our hearts- alas! so natural and so strong- we should feel that God has to do with us, and we with God, in the most infinitesimal event and incident of our history. Oh deem nothing too small for God! If it concerns you, it yet more deeply concerns Him; if it is your care, it is still more His. "Casting all your care upon Him; for He cares for you;" and how could He care for you, felt He not your care? You are His child by adopting grace, and nothing that attaches to you as a child is alien to Him as a Father. But let us now bend our ear to this pensive yet triumphant strain of our song- "Yes, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for You are with me."

here are VARIOUS VALLEYS which trace the journey of the Christian- and in each of which some especial blessing is found, and found in no other. The first stage of the divine life commences in the valley- the valley of repentance and humiliation for sin. All pass through this valley who are called by grace, and have set out for heaven. It is, indeed, the first step in real conversion. Until we are led down into this valley, we tread the high mountain of self-righteousness and pride, in the self-inflated, boasting spirit of �ebuchadnezzar, who walked in the palace of his kingdom exclaiming, "Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power, and for the honor of my majesty?" Alas! there are many heights, each one more elevated than the other, traversed by the natural man, from the towering summit of which he fondly, yet vainly, hopes to reach heaven, as easily and surely as Moses from the top of mount Pisgah! But, from all these elevations, divine grace, by a descent gradual yet effectual, removes him, leading him down into the valley of his own sinfulness, emptiness, and poverty, extorting from him the only prayer expressive of his felt condition- "God be merciful to me a sinner!" Oh, blessed valley of death is this! There is something more than shadow here- there is reality! -it is death itself! The sentence of death is now written upon all imaginary holiness- imaginary merit- and spurious hopes of salvation by the works of the law. The "commandment" has been applied by the Spirit to the heart and conscience- 'sin,' that lay dead and dormant, is 'revived,' quickened as into new life; and we 'die' to all our own righteousness, false hopes, and vain expectation of mounting to heaven from the Babel we had so zealously, yet

so foolishly and fatally, reared. And now the lofty look and the proud heart are brought low, and with the hand upon the mouth, and the mouth in the dust, the humbled soul exclaims, "I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes."

In this valley of repentance, self-renunciation, and godly sorrow for sin, Christ is found- and found only here! This that was, in a sense, the valley of death, now becomes the valley of life! It is here our first discovery of Christ is made. Where else should we look for Him but "outside the camp," and in the valley- the scorn of the Pharisee, and the rejected of the worldling- but the attraction and the treasure, the Savior and the Friend of every poor, penitent sinner; who, feeling the plague of his own heart, and casting away the leprous-tainted, sin-soiled, worthless garment of his own righteousness, comes to Jesus, and accepts Him as all his salvation and all his desire? Oh how real and precious does Christ now become! and how true and glorious does the gospel appear! Truly it is a new creation within; and the old and material creation outside is now clothed with a beauty and a charm unseen, unfelt before; for lo! "old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new!" Every object in nature- the flowers of earth, and the stars of heaven- as now seen with a spiritual and new-born vision- bloom with a beauty and shine with a splendor, the most brilliant imagination could never have conceived; and, recognized as the work of the Incarnate God- of Him who died upon the cross-appear as though the universe had but just sprung from chaos at the fiat of its Maker, clothed with the splendor, fragrant with the perfume, and vocal with the song of its first-born creation! It is only to the Christian's eye- and as seen to be the work of Jesus- that this world appears, even in its sin-tainted and curse-blighted condition, to be surpassingly beautiful. It is true, the painter, the poet, and the philosopher may revel amid the sublimities and wonders of 'nature'- portraying them upon canvas, chanting them in song, and illustrating them in science- but, until there is a new visual faculty of the soul, a veil conceals even from the most artistic eye, and the most brilliant fancy, and the most learned mind, more than half the grandeur and splendor of the universe. Creation, recognized as the handiwork of Christ- God seen in it- oh then it is the sentiment comes with a power perfectly irresistible- "He has made all things beautiful!" "How great is His beauty!"

Study Creation with the Christian's eye- not with the eye of a Byron, dimmed with the mist of an atheistic philosophy, but with the eye of a Milton, lit up with the noontide splendor of the Sun of Righteousness! And when you look down at the flowers- those stars of earth, and up to the planets- the jewelry of heaven, and when you gaze upon the rainbow, kissing the valley, then springing to the sky, arching and tinting hill and cloud with its mysterious beauty- and when you gaze upon the cloud-piercing Alps, capped with its eternal snows, inaccessible to the foot of man-oh let the devout thought, the rapturous feeling, leap from your adoring soul- "My Father- my Redeemer made it all!" -and lo! the curse will seem to have rolled from creation, and "instead of the thorn will be the fir tree, and instead of the brier, the myrtle tree; the mountains and the hills will break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands."

My reader, have you been brought into this valley of humiliation? and have you

there found- where alone it can be found- the "Rose of Sharon" -the "Plant of renown" -the "Lily of the valley" -the "Tree of life" -even the Lord Jesus Christ, the Savior of sinners, discovered alone by the soul led down into the depths of its own conscious sinfulness.

There is the valley of affliction which lies in our pathway to heaven, along which all the sheep travel, and was trodden by the Shepherd of the flock Himself; for, "though He was a Son, yet learned He obedience by the things which He suffered." Thus the valley of sorrow is the royal road through which all traveling to the delectable mountains are led by the Shepherd. It is an essential part of our education for heaven- our learning of the �ew Song- that we should pass through this valley- often profoundly deep and densely shaded. Our descent into it may be singularly mysterious. We are, perhaps, led down by the Shepherd from some verdant hill-side, where we fed so luxuriantly- or from some silvery stream, upon whose soft bank we reclined so peacefully- into the loneliness and gloom of the valley of tears, to learn some new lesson, to experience some new truth, to taste some new spring, found only there. It is not always upon the consecrated heights of devout communion, Christian joy, and entrancing song, that we find the richest fruit, the sweetest flowers, the purest streams of the divine life. All no! "He sends the springs into the valleys, which run among the hills;" and so He fulfils the precious evangelicalpromise- "I will open rivers in high places, and fountains in the midst of the valleys: I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water." And so it is when God brings us low, we discover the springs of life and grace and truth, found nowhere so full, so sweet, so refreshing, as in the valley winding among the 'hills' of difficulty and doubt, weariness and neediness, which lie in our path to glory. Oh there are blessings found in the shaded valley, that are not on the sun gilded height; even as there are sublimities seen by night, invisible to the eye by day! It is here the character of God is unfolded- the compassion of Christ is felt- the consolation of the Spirit is experienced. We have found it good to be in the valley. Almost paralyzed with wonder, and overwhelmed with emotion, in the shaded valley into which the Shepherd has gently led us we have plucked our ripest fruit, cropped our richest pasture, and drank our purest spring of divine truth, sweet peace, and holy joy! The discipline of sorrow thus hallowed, we have echoed the lofty note of our sweet-singing Psalmist- "Before I was afflicted I went astray: but now have I kept Your word. It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn Your statutes." Shepherd of my soul! if this be the pasture, these the blessings, found in the valley of sorrow, the valley of tears- my rebellious will disciplined- my heart's idolatry surrendered- my worldly-mindedness removed- and You made more precious to my soul- then,"Your way, not mine, O Lord,However dark it be!Lead me by Your own hand,Choose out the path for me."Smooth let it be, or rough,It will be still the best;Winding or straight, it leads

Right onward to Your rest."You take my cup, and itWith joy or sorrow fill,As best to You may seem;Choose You my good or ill."

But the most solemn valley we have yet to pass- "the valley of the shadow of death." "It is appointed unto men once to die," and even the believer is no exception to this divine appointment. The Shepherd Himself was not exempt. He must pass through the valley of death before He could " open the kingdom of heaven to all believers." We must keep in view the essential distinction of Christ's death and ours. Christ suffered death as the Substitutionary Offering of His Church; consequently, death was to Him not what it is to us, (a covenant blessing), but an unrepealed, unmitigated curse. He met, not the shadow, but the substance of death; not the phantom, but the reality- suffering countless million deaths in one! If it is an appalling event for one individual to die, what must have been the "bitterness of death" to Christ, dying the death- the sting of each buried in His heart- of every individual sheep of His flock? Oh, had He not been God, as He was man- and had not His love been equal to His Deity- infinite, boundless, fathomless- how could He have drank and exhausted that tremendous cup of death's unmingled bitterness? Consider its ingredients- all the sins of His Church- the curse entailed by those sins-the condemnation involved in that curse- yet all this He endured in the sacrificial, sin-atoning sufferings and death through which He passed.

Turn we now to THE DEATH of those for whom He thus died. Christ's death has essentially and entirely changed the character of ours. The believer, in the words of Jesus Himself, "shall not see death." Literally, it is death- symbolically, death is a shadow. Poetically, death is a sleep. "Those who sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him." And what is this sleep? It is not the sleep of the soul- the soul loses not for a moment its consciousness. It is the sleep of the body- an euthanasia- in which the mortal part of our nature only reposes in unconsciousness until the trumpet of the Archangel wakes and bids it rise a "spiritual body" 'the body of our humiliation fashioned like unto Christ's glorious body.' Banish from your mind and your creed the freezing, cheerless idea that the soul of the believer sleeps until the resurrection morn! �o! the soul- even of the lost- in its transit to eternity is not the subject of a moment's insensibility. 'Absent from the body'- that instant the believer is 'present with the Lord.' The moment that the body closes its eyes upon all the sin and suffering of earth, the ransomed soul opens its rapt vision upon all the glory and splendor of heaven- and JESUS is the first Object which meets, fastens, and feasts its ravished and wondering gaze!

"I will fear no evil!" An elevated note of our song is this! What! "no evil" in the approach of the 'king of terrors'? "�o evil" in the assaults of the Evil One? "�o evil" in the near prospect and realities of eternity? "Yes," responds the dying believer, "I fear no evil! Death cannot sting me- Christ has died! The grave cannot hold me- Christ is risen! Sin cannot condemn me-Christ has atoned! Satan cannot touch me- Christ has conquered! The fetters I wore so long and so wearily, now fall

broken and shattered at my feet- and I am free!" What, in reality, has the believer to fear in death? When Christ passed through the valley, He destroyed the substance of death, and left nothing but its shadow- its phantom- its dream! Oh, believer in Jesus! are you afraid of a shadow? And have you forgotten the exceeding great and precious promise- "As your day, so shall your strength be"? "As your day" -and not before your day! The grace laid up for a dying hour is wisely reserved by God for its 'day,' and never given ahead of time. Oh, how prodigal we should be of the precious treasure were the deposit entrusted to our own keeping! It is the prerogative and design of faith to live upon God by the day. This is evidently His purpose and arrangement. "As your day, so shall your strength be." We have daily demands for grace quite enough, irrespective of anticipating our reserves, and antedating our need. We need living grace for life's daily duties and responsibilities, temptations and trials- and we have it all in Christ, our Depositary and Head, and it is ours- affluently and freely- by pleading the promise- "My grace is sufficient for you." Our dying grace will come at the appointed time, and when most we need it; and as we experienced the grace of Jesus all-sufficient for life- its deepest sorrows, its sorest trials, its strongest temptations, its greatest difficulties- so shall we find it all-sufficient for death- its fears and doubts, its tremblings and faintings- once more, and for the last and closing scene, presenting the precious promise- "My grace is sufficient for you." Wait, then, trustfully, calmly, hopefully, God's appointed time for the divine strength, grace, and comfort, that will bear you safely, yes, triumphantly through the shaded valley."His wisdom is sublime,His heart profoundly kind;God never is before His time,And never is behind."

�o! "I will not fear" -why should I, with such a Father- such a Savior- such a Comforter at my side, as I traverse the swellings of Jordan, my foot of faith firmly planted upon the precious promises that pave my pathway to glory? Oh, what must be the power of the blood and righteousness of Christ, which annihilates every fear at that dread moment when the "King of terrors" brandishes his uplifted dart, prepared to strike, but powerless to sting! Where this boldness at a moment when the stoutest heart might quail- this calmness, when the most sublime heroism might succumb- this smiling at the pale messenger, when nature is dissolving, and loving watchers are weeping and sobbing?

"Come, death, shake hands!I love your bands;It is happiness for me to die!What! do you think that I will flinch?I go to immortality!"

Where, we again ask, does this sublime victory over death come from? Our sweet Songster shall supply the answer."For You are with me." The presence and power of the Savior in the hour and point of death, alone explain the phenomenon. There is no fact in the believer's history

more certain, as there is not one more precious, than that the Divine Shepherd walks side by side with each departing member of His flock. If ever the Savior is manifestly and sensibly with His saints, it is then. �ever did He permit one of His sheep, not a lamb of His fold, to pass down the valley unsustained by His arm, uncheered by His voice, unblest with His smile. It may be that the loved ones who shared and soothed our earthly pilgrimage are absent now; or, if present, we may be unconscious that they are at our side. A fond parent may watch in silent agony the closing scene- a devoted husband, a loving wife, may tenderly wipe the cold death-damp from our brow- an affectionate child may bend to catch the last sigh from our lips- and yet we are utterly unconscious of their presence and their love! But of one presence- of the nearness of one Friend- your departing spirit is fully, blessedly sensible. "You me with me!" breathes from the dying lips- resounds through the valley! Hell trembles! Heaven rejoices! And all the saints and angels shout for joy!

"Death comes to take me where I long to be;One pang, and bright blooms the immortal flower.Death comes to lead me from mortalityTo lands which know not one unhappy hour.I have a hope, a faith- from sorrow hereI'm led by death away- why should I flinch and fear?"A change from woe to joy- from earth to heavenDeath gives me this- it leads me calmly whereThe souls that long ago from me were rivenMay meet again! Death answers many a prayer.Bright day, shine on! be glad! Days brighter farAre stretched before my eyes than those of mortals are!"

10. Dr. Erwin W. Lutzer, "He is comforted by three promises:

First, the Shepherd protects us. Often as summer approaches, the shepherd will take the sheep to distant summer ranges. This entails long "drives" with the sheep moving along slowly, feeding as they go, working their way up the mountains behind the receding snow. During this time the flock are, for the most part, alone with the shepherd; they are under his personal attention and the bond between sheep and shepherd is strengthened.

There are many valleys in Israel. One that is particularly steep is "the valley of the shadow of death." It has vultures by day and hyenas at night; it has narrow trails and high plateaus. Even here the shepherd knows the way.

"Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.." Though David was probably thinking of an actual dangerous valley, these words have often been applied to the darkest valley we will ever face. That deep valley in Israel is symbolic of the valley that will try our faith the most; the valley that leads

all the way to heaven. We might fear this valley, but there is simply no way to get to the other side. This valley is actually a gift from God.

"The valley of the shadow of death." If there is a shadow there must be light somewhere; the light of heaven shines across our path. �otice that we do not just walk in the valley, but through the valley. Eventually, we will emerge into the light of immortality.

Remember, a shadow is not to be feared. The shadow of a wolf cannot bite; the shadow of a sword draws no blood. Thus we read, "I shall fear no evil." Yes, we are frightened by shadows, but we need not be. But the shadow is only fearful, when we mistake the shadow for the reality.

What does the shepherd do to help the sheep through the valley? Every trail has been tried; every stone is known; every blade of grass is anticipated. The sheep are comforted knowing that the Shepherd knows the way. He has already seen the light of the other side.

What if the sheep do not follow? At times he will take a young lamb, carry it on his shoulders and soon the mother will follow; then others will take the cue and begin the journey along the precipitous pathway.

Sometimes our good shepherd takes a child to heaven, then the adults are more eager to follow. And if not a child, then a friend, a marriage partner. Just recently I spoke to a new widow who cannot seem to adjust to the loneliness, the longing, the sense of abandonment. Eventually all of us will pass through the valley; despite our fears, we shall do so successfully

because of three words, "thou art with me." This is the Old Testament equivalent to "I will never leave thee nor forsake thee..."

If we do not yet have the grace to pass through that valley, it shall be there for us when we need it. Dying grace is usually not given to us until we need it. The deepest valley sometimes has the most satisfying refreshment. Remember on the other side of the valley is the higher ground that leads to God.

En route there are many dangers. "Thy rod and staff they comfort me." The rod was a symbol of authority. It was a huge club used in close combat and also thrown at wild beasts. Though it evoked fear, it also brought comfort. The rod that should bring us to our senses is the Word of God.

The staff signified the tender guidance of the shepherd. If a sheep was about to eat poisonous grass or drink contaminated water, the shepherd would use the crook to bring the animal back on track. If the rod symbolizes the Word of God, the staff is symbolic of the Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit is our "Comforter" that One who is called along side of us to meet whatever spiritual need we might have.

A shepherd who knows how to use both the rod and the staff, gives the sheep a feeling of security. Understandably David could say, "I will fear no evil."

�otice how far we have come: the Good Shepherd protects His sheep, but He also prepares for his sheep. "Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies, thou anointest my head with oil...my cup runneth over..."

The shepherd has taken the sheep through the valley and they have now emerged on the distant hillside. Yes, the wild animals are there, but the sheep may safely graze, for they are in the presence of the shepherd. If a soldier eats a meal in the presence of his enemies, it is generally eaten very quickly. But sheep can eat leisurely in the presence of their enemies if the shepherd is beside them. There is a part of us that our enemies cannot touch.

Jonathan Edwards was, perhaps, America's greatest theologian, a preacher whom God used during the days of the America's first great awakening in the 1740's. As pastor of a church in �orthhampton Massachusetts, he was involved in a controversy; the church was split; seeds of dissension were sown, rumors flew and tempers flared. At a business meeting, a vote of confidence was taken and Edwards was voted out of his church by about 230 to 30. Years later one of his relatives confessed that he had started the dispute against Edwards out of jealously. Of course, that confession was too little, too late.

But how did Edwards handle this turn of events? His reputation was tarnished and his best friends turned against him. One of his friends described it this way, "His happiness in God was beyond the reach of his enemies." He knew that his shepherd had not left him.

One of the responsibilities of the shepherd is to keep the sheep together. Wolves often seek to scatter the sheep, to find one that is unprotected. To be secure in the presence of our enemies is to be close to the shepherd and close to one another.

"Thou anointest my head with oil." Such oil was put on the head of the sheep as a repellent from insects. It is one of those special comforts the shepherd gives to his sheep. The sheep does not notice that he is in the presence of these pests, but the shepherd does and knows in advance what to do. Again, the more obedient the sheep, the easier it will be for sheep and shepherd.

"My cup runneth over. " As a courtesy, the shepherd will sometimes put water in a bowl and let the sheep drink from a full cup.

Finally, the shepherd plans for the sheep. "Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever." Christ promised to go and prepare a place for us so that when He returns we can be with Him.

I have not found it easy to preach on Psalm 23 because it seems too idealistic. A

shepherd takes care of his sheep, but sometimes the Good Shepherd appears to neglect his sheep; life is often cruel and harsh. Job, for example, might say that the Good Shepherd appears inaccessible and silent when His sheep suffer.

Let's dialogue with David. Let's ask him for an interpretation of what he wrote. He writes, "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. " We interrupt him, "David, that's fine for today when the sun is shining; but what do you do when king Saul hunts you like a partridge in the wilderness?" "He maketh me to lie down in green pastures, he leadeth me beside the still -waters. " "That sounds fine, but what do you do when you commit adultery and murder the

woman's husband to cover your sin? What do you do when the sin you tried so hard to cover is being talked about throughout the land? What about it, David?" "He restoreth my soul. ..He leadeth me in paths of righteousness for His name's sake. " "David, what do you do when the baby Bathsheba bears you dies?" "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. "

"David, what do you do when your own son turns against you? What do you do when Absolom rebels, divides your kingdom, commits immorality with your concubines and tries to kill you? What then, David?

"Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies" "David, what do you do when this son whom you loved so much is finally killed, against your express orders? How do you bounce back from the humiliation, David?"

"Thou anointest my head with oil. ..my cup runneth over.. "

"David, David, David. You are dying now. Your wives are laughing at you behind your back. Your three remaining sons have all rebelled. You have failed as a Father. Your kingdom is in ruins. David, tell us, what now?"

"Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord, forever"

And so the curtain closes; and David's life ends just as it began. All that there is, is David and his God.

David, thanks for writing this down so that people who have messed up like you have can be encouraged. Thanks for reminding us that we are just stubborn sheep and the Lord is our Shepherd. And so the psalm ends with a wounded sheep and his Shepherd.

11. RABBI HAROLD KUSH�ER, "I was paraphrasing the twenty-third Psalm: “Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me.” The psalmist is not saying, “I will fear no evil because evil only

happens to people who deserve it.” He’s saying, “This is a scary, out-of-control world, but it doesn’t scare me, because I know that God is on my side, not on the side of the hijacker. God is on my side, not on the side of the illness, or the accident, or the terrible thing that happened. And that’s enough to give me the confidence.” The twenty-third Psalm is the answer to the question, “How do you live in a dangerous, unpredictable, frightening world?”

I was inspired to write all of my books, starting with WHE� BAD THI�GS HAPPE� TO GOOD PEOPLE, by the death of my son, who was 14 years old and was born with an incurable illness. I asked myself, how did my wife and I get through that? You would think that would shatter the faith of the average person. Where did we find the strength and the ability to raise him, to comfort him when he was sick and scared, and ultimately to lose him? And the only answer is, when we used up all of our own strength and love and faith, there really is a God, and he replenishes your love and your strength and your faith.

But people who have been hurt by life get stuck in “the valley of the shadow,” and they don’t know how to find their way out. And that’s the role of God. The role of God is not to explain and not to justify but to comfort, to find people when they are living in darkness, take them by the hand, and show them how to find their way into the sunlight again.

12. MP�Home.net, "The imagery of the "shadow of death" can convey a multiplicity of thoughts: one important quality to consider is that when light completely surrounds an object, all shadows are eliminated. We should seek the light and life found in Christ Jesus, because then the ever-present shadow of death in the world will not be a threat to us. Psalms 107:13-15 "Then they cried unto the LORD in their trouble, and he saved them out of their distresses. He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and brake their bands in sunder. Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!" The light of the Lord in our life can dispel any fear we have of the shadow of death because the rod and staff of our strong shepherd Lord is our comfort and encouragement. Psalms 27:1 "A Psalm of David. The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?" During dark days in Israel, another prophet sought to turn the people back to the one who can lead out of the shadow of death and into a new morning light of life. Amos 5:8 "Seek him that maketh the seven stars and Orion, and turneth the shadow of death into the morning, and maketh the day dark with night: that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth: The LORD is his name:" Jehovah is his name, and he should be our strength and our song. Isaiah 12:2 "Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the LORD JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation." The Lord Jesus confirmed the consistent message of scripture as unchanging truth. John 16:33 "These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world."

13. Bob Deffinbaugh, "Verse 4 gives us yet another reason why God can be relied on to guide His sheep. He guides us “for His name’s sake.” A. A. Anderson has correctly caught the force of this expression when he renders it, “he acts for the sake of his reputation.”88 The measure of a shepherd is the condition of his flock. God’s reputation rests upon His ability to guide and care for His people. Just as parents are evaluated by the way they care for their children, shepherds are judged by the condition of their flocks. God’s reputation as seen by His care of His people is the basis of Moses’ appeal for mercy when God threatened to wipe out the nation for the incident involving the golden calf (Exod. 32:1-14, esp. vv. 11-12). Paul tells us that God’s work of saving men by grace was for the purpose of bringing praise “to the glory of his grace” (cf. Eph. 1:5-6, 12, 14). We can be confident that God will guide His people because their lives reflect on Him as their Shepherd. What a wonderful assurance!

Verse 4 further qualifies the “I shall not want” of verse 1b. The fact that God was David’s shepherd did not keep him from many trials and tribulations. His life was sought without cause by king Saul, who became jealous of David’s success (cf. 1 Sam. 18:6-9). In addition David sinned and suffered the painful consequences (cf. 2 Sam. 11–12; 1 Chron. 21). David was truly a “man of sorrows.” �owhere did God promise David (or any other saint) freedom from the suffering and trials of life. Even though God is our shepherd we will still go through trying times, but we will never “want” for the comfort which comes from His presence and His power.

In order for God’s sheep to be led to grassy meadows and restful streams, they must pass through dark and dangerous places.89 The “paths of righteousness” (v. 3) are not always peaceful paths.90 While we are never promised there will be no evil, we can be assured that we need “fear no evil” (v. 4), for we will always be in the Shepherd’s presence if we follow Him in His paths.

There is a subtle but significant change which occurs in verse 4. Did you notice the change of pronouns? The more impersonal “he” of verses 2 and 3 is now the much more intimate “Thou” in verse 4.91 As someone has observed, God goes before us when the path is smooth, but He stands beside us when the way is dangerous and frightening. It is His presence which dispels our fears. Furthermore, His “rod” and “staff” (v. 4c) give us comfort. Whether there are two distinct instruments indicated by these two terms92 or just one93 is open to discussion. The “rod” and the “staff” serve here as instruments of protection and assistance. They were used both to ward off enemies and to rescue straying sheep. Perhaps the disciplinary use of the “rod” is implied as well. Discipline may seem unpleasant at the moment, but it is a comfort in the long term (cf. Heb. 12:5-12) and a motivation for us to “make our paths straight” (Heb. 12:13). While God may not always use His power to keep us out of trials, His presence and His power will always be with us to keep us through our trials. As He Himself said, “I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you” (Heb. 13:5; cf. Deut. 31:6; Josh. 1:5).

14. EDWARD MARKQUART, "But the key to this verse is the preposition, “through.” Even though I walk through the valley of deep darkness, I will be with you. God will not leave you in the midst of the valley. There is always sorrow and pain in your life, but there is an end to it. Of this you can be sure, the pain that you are experiencing, no matter how enormous, that pain will pass.

God says, “When you are in that valley of deep darkness, I will be there to strengthen and to comfort you.” �ow, to comfort you, does not mean that God is going to go into a “pity party” and say, “�ow, now there. Don’t feel so badly.” The word, “comfort,” does not mean “pity party,” but “com” in Latin means with; “fort” means strength. God is there to be with you to strengthen you. Is it not true that God has strengthened you in the sorrow of life? Yes, that is true. God has made you stronger and the people around you stronger than you ever imagined that you could because God’s strength is in you. I have known so many strong Christians in my day and they are strong when they walk through the inevitable valleys of deep darkness.

15. SPURGEO�, "“I will fear no evil: for thou art with me.” — Psalm 23:4

Behold, how independent of outward circumstances the Holy Ghost can make the Christian! What a bright light may shine within us when it is all dark without! How firm, how happy, how calm, how peaceful we may be, when the world shakes to and fro, and the pillars of the earth are removed! Even death itself, with all its terrible influences, has no power to suspend the music of a Christian’s heart, but rather makes that music become more sweet, more clear, more heavenly, till the last kind act which death can do is to let the earthly strain melt into the heavenly chorus, the temporal joy into the eternal bliss! Let us have confidence, then, in the blessed Spirit’s power to comfort us. Dear reader, are you looking forward to poverty? Fear not; the divine Spirit can give you, in your want, a greater plenty than the rich have in their abundance. You know not what joys may be stored up for you in the cottage around which grace will plant the roses of content. Are you conscious of a growing failure of your bodily powers? Do you expect to suffer long nights of languishing and days of pain? O be not sad! That bed may become a throne to you. You little know how every pang that shoots through your body may be a refining fire to consume your dross—a beam of glory to light up the secret parts of your soul. Are the eyes growing dim? Jesus will be your light. Do the ears fail you? Jesus’ name will be your soul’s best music, and his person your dear delight. Socrates used to say, “Philosophers can be happy without music;” and Christians can be happier than philosophers when all outward causes of rejoicing are withdrawn. In thee, my God, my heart shall triumph, come what may of ills without! By thy power, O blessed Spirit, my heart shall be exceeding glad, though all things should fail me here below.

"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" (Psalm 23:4).

Sweet are these words in describing a deathbed assurance. How many have repeated them in their last hours with intense delight! But the verse is equally applicable to agonies of spirit in the midst of life. Some of us, like Paul, die daily through a tendency to gloom of soul. Bunyan puts the Valley of the Shadow of Death far earlier in the pilgrimage than the river which rolls at the foot of the celestial hills. We have some of us traversed the dark and dreadful defile of "the shadow of death" several times, and we can bear witness that the LORD alone enabled us to bear up amid its wild thought, its mysterious horrors, its terrible depressions. The LORD has sustained us and kept us above all real fear of evil (See How To Handle Fear), even when our spirit has been overwhelmed. We have been pressed and oppressed, but yet we have lived, for we have felt the presence of the Great Shepherd and have been confident that His crook would prevent the foe from giving us any deadly wound. Should the present time be one darkened by the raven wings of a great sorrow, let us glorify God by a peaceful trust in Him.

16. JOH� PIPER, " I asked myself, "Why does David switch from 'he' to 'you' precisely at verse 4? Why didn't he just go on to say, 'Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, he is with me; his rod and his staff, they comfort me'?" I think the switch to the more intimate "you" precisely when he enters the valley of the shadow of death is a universal experience among God's people, indeed among all men in one form or another. The crises of life draw us closer to God. We are more prone to talk about God when we are in the green pasture and more prone to cry out to God when we enter some fearful ravine."

17. ALEXA�DER MACLARE�, "The ‘valley of the shadow of death’ does not only mean the dark approach to the dark dissolution of soul and body, but any and every gloomy valley of weeping through which we have to pass. Such sunless gorges we have all to traverse at some time or other. It is striking that the Psalmist puts the sorrow, which is as certainly characteristic of our lot as the rest or the work, into the future. Looking back he sees none. Memory has softened down all the past into one uniform tone, as the mellowing distance wraps in one solemn purple the mountains which, when close to them, have many a barren rock and gloomy rift, All behind is good. And, building on this hope, he looks forward with calmness, and feels that no evil shall befall.But it is never given to human heart to meditate of the future without some foreboding. And when ‘Hope enchanted smiles,’ with the light of the future in her blue eyes, there is ever something awful in their depths, as if they saw some dark visions behind the beauty. Some evils may come; some will probably come; one at least is sure to come. However bright may be the path, somewhere on it, perhaps just round that turning, sits the ‘shadow feared of man.’ So there is never hope only in any heart that wisely considers the future. But to the Christian heart there may be this—the conviction that sorrow, when it comes, will not harm, because God will be with us; and the conviction that the Hand which guides us into the dark valley,

will guide us through it and up out of it. Yes, strange as it may sound, the presence of Him who sends the sorrow is the best help to bear it. The assurance that the Hand which strikes is the Hand which binds up, makes the stroke a blessing, sucks the poison out of the wound of sorrow, and turns the rod which smites into the staff to lean on.

18. JOH� CALVI�, "Though I should walk. True believers, although they dwell safely under the protection of God, are, notwithstanding, exposed to many dangers, or rather they are liable to all the afflictions which befall mankind in common, that they may the better feel how much they need the protection of God. David, therefore, here expressly declares, that if any adversity should befall him, he would lean upon the providence of God. Thus he does not promise himself continual pleasures; but he fortifies himself by the help of God courageously to endure the various calamities with which he might be visited. Pursuing his metaphor, he compares the care which God takes in governing true believers to a shepherd’s staff and crook, declaring that he is satisfied with this as all-sufficient for the protection of his life. As a sheep, when it wanders up and down through a dark valley, is preserved safe from the attacks of wild beasts and from harm in other ways, by the presence of the shepherd alone, so David now declares that as often as he shall be exposed to any danger, he will have sufficient defense and protection in being under the pastoral care of God.We thus see how, in his prosperity, he never forgot that he was a man, but even then seasonably meditated on the adversities which afterwards might come upon him. And certainly, the reason why we are so terrified, when it pleases God to exercise us with the cross, is, because every man, that he may sleep soundly and undisturbed, wraps himself up in carnal security. But there is a great difference between this sleep of stupidity and the repose which faith produces. Since God tries faith by adversity, it follows that no one truly confides in God, but he who is armed with invincible constancy for resisting all the fears with which he may be assailed. 535 Yet David did not mean to say that he was devoid of all fear, but only that he would surmount it so as to go without fear wherever his shepherd should lead him. This appears more clearly from the context. He says, in the first place, I will fear no evil; but immediately adding the reason of this, he openly acknowledges that he seeks a remedy against his fear in contemplating, and having his eyes fixed on, the staff of his shepherd: For thy staff and thy crook comfort me. What need would he have had of that consolation, if he had not been disquieted and agitated with fear? It ought, therefore, to be kept in mind, that when David reflected on the adversities which might befall him, he became victorious over fear and temptations, in no other way than by casting himself on the protection of God. This he had also stated before, although a little more obscurely, in these words, For thou art with me. This implies that he had been afflicted with fear. Had not this been the case, for what purpose could he desire the presence of God? 536 Besides, it is not against the common and ordinary calamities of life only that he opposes the protection of God, but against those which distract and confound the minds of men with the darkness of death. For the Jewish grammarians think that צלמות, tsalmaveth, which we have translated the shadow of death, is a compound word, as if one should say deadly shade. 537 David

here makes an allusion to the dark recesses or dens of wild beasts, to which when an individual approaches he is suddenly seized at his first entrance with an apprehension and fear of death. �ow, since God, in the person of his only begotten Son, has exhibited himself to us as our shepherd, much more clearly than he did in old time to the fathers who lived under the Law, we do not render sufficient honor to his protecting care, if we do not lift our eyes to behold it, and keeping them fixed upon it, tread all fears and terrors under our feet.

19. JACOX has this extensive study about dying alone, but ends with the assurance of this Psalm which says even in the valley of death the Shepherd is still there, and this is the great comfort of the believer in the time of death. He, or she, is never alone, and never forsaken. "Pascal said that the solitude of death was the bitterest pang of'humanity; and because one must die alone, the end of life is its heaviest trial. Some Frenchmen and Frenchwomen, very French, have essayed, in their peculiar fashion, to elude the disaster, simply by dying in public. People in Paris died in public in the seventeenth century. Death, as Mr. Herman Merivale puts it, was but thel last scene of the play, to be performed with a theatrical bow and exit. He shows us the young beauty, perishing of dissipation, who made her adieux to the world in appropriate costume and sentiments; and the worn-out statesman, who might not turn his face to the wall in peace, but was surrounded by a whole court in full dress, and talked on till his husky accents could no longer convey the last of his smart sayings to the listeners." With all his fribbles and frivolities Horace Walpole was not quite Frenchified enough to willingly face death in a French hotel, with all its noise and excitement," and, what would be still worse, exposed to receive all visits; for the French, you know," he writes to Conway, "are never more in public than in the act of death. I am like animals, and love to hide myself when I am dying " -which refers to his periodical, and prolonged, and always perilous attacks of gout. " If," says the author of " Life in the Sick-room," " I could not trust my friends to save me from * " See the well-known print of Mazarin's death-bed,surrounded by ladies at cards. According to Grimm, the Marechale de Luxembourg and two of her friends played at loto by that of Madame du Deffand till she expired. But at that time the proceeding was at least thought singular."-" Historical Studies," by Herman Merivale.

Wordsworth's Marmaduke exclaims,-. "Give me a reason why the wisest thing That the earth knows shall never choose to die, But some one must be near to count his groans. The wounded deer retires to solitude, And dies in solitude: all things but man, All die in solitude." Special note has been taken of the exceptional characteristic in the altogether exceptional career of the prophet Elijah, that, in his last hour, when he was on his way to a strange and unprecedented departure from this world-when the whirlwind and flame chariot were ready, he asked for no human companionship. " The bravest men are pardoned if one lingering feeling of human weakness clings to them at the last, and they desire a human eye resting on them-a human hand in theirs -a human presence. But Elijah would have rejected all. In harmony with the rest of his lonely severe character, he desired to meet his

Creator alone." One hears of such preferences now and then, in oddly constituted natures. Sir Walter Scott, in a letter to his sister-in-law, appears to indicate a disposition of this kind as prevalent in his father's family. " Poor aunt Curle," he tells her, " died like a Roman, or rather like one of the Sandy-Knowe bairns, the most stoical race I ever knew. She turned every one out of the room, and drew her last breath alone. So did my uncle, Captain Robert Scott, and several others of that family." Affectation was so inherent in Chateaubriand's confessions and professions, that one knows not how far genuine may have been his plea for what he calls the "necessity of isolation," and its advantages in death as in life. "Any hand is good enough to reach us the glass of water that we call for in the fever of death. Ah! may that hand not be too dear to us! " The "necessity of isolation " reminds us of Keble's query:

Why should lye faint and fear to live alone, Since all alone, so Heaven has will'd, we die, �or even the tenderest heart, and next our own, Knows half the reasons why we smile and sigh?" And that again reminds us, with a difference-the difference between Madame de Staal and the sweet singer of the "Christian Year,"-of Corinne on her death-bed, saying to Castel Forte: "But for you, I should die alone. There is no help for such a moment; friends can but follow us to the brink; there begin thoughts too deep, too troublous, to be confided." Mion sort est de mourir seul, writes Rousseau's bereaved Solitaire; et la seule Providence me fermera les yeux. Scott was not of mere imagination all compact when he made Edie Ochiltree say, in the cave that forms the old mendicant's favourite retreat, " I hae had mony a thought, that when I found myself auld and forfairn, and no able to enjoy God's blessed air ony langer, I wad e'en streek mysell out here, and abide my removal, like an auld dog that trails its useless ugsome carcass into some bush or bracken." Montaigne says that, might he have his choice, he thought he should like best to die out of his own house, and away from his own people. The Emperor Marcus Aurelius, on the seventh day of his last illness, admitted none but his unworthy son (Commodus) to his chamber, and after a few words dismissed him, "covered his head for sleep, and "-in Dean Merivale's words-" passed away alone and untended." Epigrammatic historians love to tell of Catherine the Great, who had reigned over five hundred and forty towns, over forty-two governments, over a multitude of isles of the sea from Kamschatka to Japan, and over eighty millions of slaves, that she died alone, entirely alone, without a single slave at hand to support her drooping head. The picture is meant to be sensational, and as written in French and for the French, it may be telling enough. It tells, for instance, upon such a nature as Madame Sophie Gay, who used to promise her friends to come and die among them, when it was her turn and her time.

" It has always been my wish," writes Southey, for example, "to die far from my friends, to crawl like a dog into some corner and expire unseen. I would neither give nor receive unavailing pain." When death overtook St. Francis Xavier, he was on board of a vessel bound for Siam, and at his own request he was removed to the shore, that he might die with the greater composure. Stretched on the naked beach, with the cold blasts of a Chinese winter aggravating his pains-thus Sir James Stephen describes his last moments-he contended alone with the agonies of the fever

which wasted his vital power. "It was an agony and a solitude for which the happiest of the sons of men might well have exchanged the dearest society, and the purest of the joys of life.... It was a solitude thronged by blessed ministers of peace and consolation, visible in all their bright and lovely aspects to the now unclouded eye of faith; and audible to the dying martyr through the yielding bars of his mortal prison-house, in strains of exulting joy till then unheard and unimagined." " Thou must go forth alone, my soul, thou must go forth alone,To other scenes, to other worlds, that mortal hath not known, Thou must go forth alone, my soul, to tread the narrow vale; But He, whose word is sure, hath said His comforts shall not fail. His rod and staff shall comfort thee across the dreary road, Till thou shalt join the blessed ones, in Heaven's serene abode." Mr. de Quincey has finely said of solitude, that, although it may be silent as light, it is, like light, the mightiest of agencies; for solitude is essential to man. "All men come into this world alone; all leave it alone. Even a little child has a dread, whispering consciousness, that, if he should be summoned to travel into God's presence, no gentle nurse will be allowed to lead him by the hand, nor mother to carry him in her arms, nor little sister to share his trepidations." King and priest, we are further reminded, warrior and maiden, philosopher and child, all must walk those mighty galleries alone. The solitude, therefore, which this author describes as in this world appalling or fascinating a child's heart,@ is but the echo of a far deeper solitude, through which already he has passed, and of another solitude, deeper still, through which he has to pass: reflex of one solitude-prefiguration of another. Crabbe says of man that, feeling his weakness, it is his habit to run to society, to numbers,"Himself to strengthen, or himself to shun; But though to this our weakness may be prone, Let's learn to live, for we must die, alone." Among the pangs which belong to death is emphatically reckoned by F. W. Robertson, in his sermon on Victory over it, the sensation of loneliness which attaches to that transit through the valley of shadows. Have we ever, he asks, seen a ship preparing to sail with its load of pauper emigrants to a distant colony? for that is keenly suggestive of the desolation which comes from feeling unfriended on a new and untried excursion. He dilates on all beyond the seas being to the ignorant poor man a strange land-away from the helps and friendships and companionships of life, scarcely knowing what is before him; and it is in such a moment, when a man stands upon a deck, taking his last look of his fatherland, that there comes upon him what the preacher calls "a sensation new, strange, and inexpressibly miserable-the feeling of being alone in the world. Brethren, with all the bitterness of such a moment, it is but a feeble image when placed by the side of the loneliness of death. We die alone. We go on our dark mysterious journey for the first time in all our existence, without one to accompany us. Friends are beside our bed, they must stay behind. Grant that a Christian has something like familiarity with the Most High, that breaks this solitary feeling; but what is it with the mass of men? It is a question full of loneliness to them." Says the elder Humboldt (Wilhelm), in, "God speaks to children, also, in dreams, and by the oracles that lurk in darkness. But in solitude, above all things,... God holds with children' communion undisturbed.' "-"Autobiographic Sketches," by Thomas de Quincey, i. 24.

In one of his letters: "However many companions a man may have in the active sympathising world, he must ever make the journey which leads across the

boundaries of earthly things alone; no one may accompany him." �ot but that in some moods, and in some sense, this contemplative philosopher might have assented to the protest of Paul Flemming, that had we spiritual organs, to see and hear things now invisible and inaudible to us, we should behold the air thronged with the departing souls of'that vast multitude which every moment dies. For, "truly the soul departs not alone on its last journey, but spirits of its kind attend it, when not ministering angels; and they go in families to the unknown land. �either in life nor in death are we alone." But then as we have not the spiritual organs in question, the fact of conscious isolation in articulo mortis is not affected; and their character, after all, pertains rather to spiritualism than to spirituality. A latter-day Christian lyrist expatiates on the sense of loneliness one has at midnight, in the dread calmness of the dark, -or again, on pathless hills, when the sun is set, and the ear listens in vain for some social sound from afar. But,"if this be solitude, while life retains her healthful tone, How shall I feel when, faint with pain,-I die alone? "Of all the happy things that live in ocean, earth, or air, �ot one with kindred sympathy my lonely lot shall share. My friend shall vainly scan the glance that speaks no language now; My dog shall lick the languid hand that falters on his brow: But none shall venture forth with me, to meet the dread unknown, And I between two living worlds-must die alone!" ye mourrai seul. Pascal's words are continually cited, though only to be forgotten. Mrs. Browning feelingly and earnestly expands into a sonnet what she entitles "A Thought for a Lonely Death-bed. Inscribed to my friend E. C." "If God compel thee to this destiny, To die alone,-with none beside thy bed To ruffle round with sobs thy last word said, And mark with tears the pulses ebb from thee, — Then pray alone-' 0 Christ, come tenderly!

By Thy forsaken Sonship in the red Drear wine-press,-by the wilderness outspread,And the lone garden where Thine agony Fell bloody from Thy brow,-by all of those Permitted desolations, comfort mine! �o earthly friend being near me, interpose �o deathly angel'twixt my face and Thine, But stoop Thyself to gather my life's rose, And smile away my mortal to Divine."' One can hardly quit this subject without recalling the awful significance of a cry that once expressed, if one may say it, inexpressible anguish, —anguish indescribable, incommunicable, -" My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken Me!" Penultimate words, these were; and appalling in their suggestiveness of uttermost desolation. But not the last words of all. He was not alone, consciously not alone, at the very last. Later than these, and triumphant over these-however subdued and serene the triumph-caine those other words, Divinely calm, as became the Speaker,-" Father, into Thy hands I commend my spirit." And it was when He had this said, that He gave up the ghost."

20. PASTOR BILL, "What About the Valley Experience? Each one of us at some point in our Christian walk will encounter a valley to pass through that will try to produce worry and fear in us. What will be a comfort to us when this happens? The answer is the promises of God and the Holy Spirit. They become His presence - His rod and His staff that will be a comfort to us when this happens.

Examples:

1. Does your valley cause you to be worried, anxious, afraid, or troubled? God will give you peace. "Do not let your heart be troubled. Trust in God: trust also in Me...Peace I leave with you, My peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid (John 14: 1,17).

2. Does your valley cause you to be worried about the future? God will guide you. "I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you should go; I will counsel you and watch over you" (Psalm 32:8)."Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight" (Proverbs 3:5).

3. Does your valley cause you to be afraid of feeling alone? God will never leave you."Be strong and courageous, do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; He will never leave you nor forsake you:" (Deut. 31:6)."I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you:" (John 14:18).

4. Does your valley cause you to be depressed? God will comfort you."The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit" (Psalm 34:18).

5. Does your valley cause you to worry because you face opposition?God is with you."If God is for us, who can be against us?" (Rom. 8:31).

6. Does your valley cause you to worry about your safety?God will protect you."The Lord will keep you from all harm; He will watch over your life; The Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore" (Psalm 121: 7-8).

7. Does your valley worry you so much you can't sleep?God will ease your fears." When you lie down, you will not be afraid; when you lie down, your sleep will be sweet" (Proverbs 3:24).

21. One way to see this verse explained is to recognize that even when life is hard and there is much suffering, you always have a friend in the Shepherd. There are Christian lives that illustrate this reality. They go through the dark valley and pay a heavy price for following the Shepherd through it, but they still rejoice that he never leaves them, and in him they have a faithful Friend. Below is a good example.

Joseph Scriven was a man who experienced the friendship ofChrist during a life filled with trouble. As a young man in

Ireland, about 1840, his intended bride was accidentally drownedthe evening before their wedding. He had begun training as amilitary cadet, but poor health forced him to abandon his dreamsof a career in this field. Moving to Canada, he became a servantof the underprivileged, helping those who were physicallyhandicapped and financially destitute. but tragedy continued tostalk his steps. Once again, the plans for a wedding were cutshort when his second fiancee' died following a brief illness.

It seemed that Joseph Scriven was destined to go through lifealone, knowing only the friendship of Jesus Christ. Through muchof his life he experience loneliness, meagre pay for menial workand physical illness. In Scriven's last illness a neighbour cameto visit him and the manuscript of this hymn which he had writtento comfort his mother in special sorrow was at his bedside.Another neighbour asked if he had written it, and he replied, "TheLord and I did it between us."

What a Friend we have in Jesus,All our sins and griefs to bear!What a privilege to carryEverything to God in prayer!O what peace we often forfeit!O what needless pain we bear!All because we do not carryEverything to God in prayer.

From John Telford, THE �EW METHODIST HYM�BOOK ILLUSTRATED

22. DAVID ROPER, "This again is a very picturesque scene. The shepherd is leading the sheep back home at evening. As they go down through a narrow gorge the long shadows lie across the trail. In the Hebrew this is a "valley of deep shadows". The sheep, because they are so timid and defenseless, are frightened by their experience. But they trust the shepherd, and therefore they are comforted. They will fear no evil, because the shepherd is with them. We are reminded of the Lord's words quoted in the book of Hebrews, "I will never leave you nor forsake you," {cf, Heb 13:5}. Hence we can confidently say, "The Lord is my helper; I will not fear what man can do to me," {cf, Heb 13:6}. I do not know what your experience has been, but whenever I'm in a situation like this, when there is a great deal of pressure, I begin to wonder if the Lord hasn't abandoned me. But he says he never leaves us, never forsakes us. He is always there. Therefore we have no reason to fear. That is a great comfort.

And then David writes, "Your rod and staff comfort me." The rod was a club which was used to drive off wild animals. It was never used on the sheep but was a heavy instrument used to protect the sheep from marauding predators. The staff was a

slender pole with a little crook on the end. It was used to aid the sheep. The crook could be hooked around the leg of a sheep to pull him from harm. Or it could be used as an instrument to direct, and occasionally to discipline the sheep, with taps on the side of the body.

Understanding how the shepherd tends his sheep has helped me so much in understanding the character of God. When I go wandering away he doesn't say, "There goes that stupid sheep, Dave Roper!" and -- WHAP! down comes that big club! �o. His attitude is, "Well, there's Dave, wandering away again. How can I help him? How can I move in to bring him back into line? How can I comfort him, and supply what he needs?" He may have to discipline, but he always does it in love. He reproves, corrects, encourages, and instructs in righteousness, dealing with us firmly and gently."

23. U�K�OW� PASTOR, "

A. "I will fear no evil."

1. �ot Satan, the evil one, who walks about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.

�o evil men (Ps. 27:1-4).

Psalms 27:1-4 "The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? (2) When the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell. (3) Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear: though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident. (4) One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to inquire in his temple."

�o evil thing (Ps. 46:1-4).

Psalms 46:1-4 "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. (2) Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; (3) Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Selah. (4) There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the most High."

There is no reason for one whose refuge, strength, and help the Lord is to fear anything. And child of God, there is no reason for you to fear.

"For thou art with me" (Isa. 41:10; 43:1-2).

Isaiah 41:10 "Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness."

Isaiah 43:1-5 "But now thus saith the LORD that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine. (2) When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. (3) For I am the LORD thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour: I gave Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee. (4) Since thou wast precious in my sight, thou hast been honourable, and I have loved thee: therefore will I give men for thee, and people for thy life. (5) Fear not: for I am with thee: I will bring thy seed from the east, and gather thee from the west;"

24. Donald Barnhouse was the pastor of Philadelphia’s Tenth Presbyterian Church when his wife died. He was left with young daughters to raise alone. He did something that I could never do. He preached his own wife’s funeral. It was while driving to that funeral that he realized that he had to say something to comfort his girls.

They stopped at a traffic light while driving to the funeral. It was a bright day, and the sun was streaming into the car and warming it. A truck pulled up next to them, and the shadow that came with the truck darkened the inside of the car. It was then that he turned to his daughters and asked, "Would you rather be hit by the shadow or by the truck?"

One of them responded, "Oh, Daddy, that’s a silly question! The shadow can’t hurt you. I would rather be hit by the shadow than by a truck."

It was then that he tried to explain to them that their mother had died and that it was as if she had been hit by a shadow. It was as if Jesus had stepped in the way in her place, and it was he who had been hit by the truck. He quoted the familiar words of Psalm 23: "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me." (Leith Anderson, "Valley of Death’s Shadow," Preaching Today, Tape �o. 131.)

25. J. Wallace Hamilton writes about the value of pain. This means that the hardships that come in the valley can be an important stimulus for learning. We need not fear the evil of pain and hardship, for this can be a way the Shepherd is teaching us to be more than we would be without it. He wrote, "“Because man is a stubborn student-limited, lazy, slow to learn-the great unseen Teacher has endowed

him with two powerful incentives: Pain and pleasure. He is pushed by one and pulled by the other; both are continuously in work in him. Like all living things, men move only when they are stirred, awakened, tickled, or excited; or as the dignified writer of the text books would say: “All life is response to stimuli.” By these twin incentives of pain and pleasure man is moved from ignorance to knowledge, and sometimes even to wisdom.”

“Examine the proverbs of our culture, for instance, and you will find they are heavily weighted with the idea that all learning by necessity, comes hard. We talk about the “University of hard knocks”; “�ecessity,” we say, “is the mother of invention”; “Experience is a hard teacher”; and Emerson in his essay said, “When men sit on the cushion of their advantages, they go to sleep. When they are pushed, shoved by adversity, they have a chance to learn something.” Granted, all of this is true: pain is a powerful teacher; it has pushed mankind into learning. Arnold Toynbee made it the whole thesis of history: “Civilization began,” he said, “With the crack of a whip, and nations came to hardihood by the stimulus of blows.” �o one would deny the accuracy of that insight.”

26. JAMES STALKER, "It is more than possible that there may have been some actual place bearing the name of the Valley of Shadows in the scenery from which the imagery of this Psalm is borrowed. Somewhere in the hills of Judah, where David kept his flocks, there was a glen through which, at nightfall, the shepherd boy used to lead home his sheep. They called it the Valley of Shadows or the Valley of the Shadow of Death ; because there the darkness fell earlier than elsewhere, and the gloom of night was deeper. Its ravines were haunted by wild beasts ; and, as the darkness came on, the distant howl of wolf or hyaena could be heard. David could remember how, at such moments, his sheep huddled closely about his heels, and he prepared to do battle, if necessary, for their lives. Since then he had learned that the life of man has also such passages ; but, as the sheep crept under his protection, so he had learned where to place his trust : " 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."

It will be remembered where, in the Pilgrim's Progress, the Valley of the Shadow of Death comes in. It is not at the end, but in the first half of the pilgrim's journey. In thus locating it Bunyan was taking a justifiable liberty, guided by his personal experience ; and never has the scene itself been more graphically described. You re-member that perilous path, with a ditch on one side and a quagmire on the other, so that, " when the pilgrim sought to shun the ditch on the one hand, he was ready to tip over into the mire on the other ; also, when he sought to escape the mire, without great carefulness he would be ready to fall into the ditch." The Valley was dark as pitch, and full of hobgoblins, satyrs and dragons of the pit ; " also he heard doleful voices and rushings to and fro " ; and the path was beset with snares and nets, holes and pitfalls. Under this imagery Bunyan bodies forth the spiritual conflicts and terrors, amounting almost to melancholy madness, with which the earlier stages of his own Christian course were beset, and of which such graphic and moving descriptions are found in his autobiography, Grace Abounding. These ter-rible sufferings were, in large measure, due to a nervous temperament. The elements of his nature were dangerously poised ; as was the case in a still more extreme degree with another great Englishman of Christian genius the poet Cowper. But there are many who, if asked to say what to them had been the valley of the shadow of death, would at once think of the period when they were passing through the conviction of sin, so keen was the pain and so deadly the despair which they then endured.

In the case of others, whose temperament is not so highly strung, the causes are more realistic. While there are some lives which move on equably from beginning to end with the smoothness of a boat on a canal, in most there is considerable vicissitude of joy and sorrow, as in the course of a ship which

sails the high seas and has to encounter all kinds of weather ; and in most also there occur, at least once or twice, crises and catastrophes, when feeling is put on the utmost strain, and the vital forces seem on the point of being crushed out by over-whelming pressure from without or within. We speak of experiences which can turn a person's hair grey, or out of which people emerge as if they had risen from their graves. It is to such extraordinary crises that the description of the text applies.

I will fear no evil ; for Thou art with me." It is a universal experience that fear departs when the appropriate person is near on whose love, strength or wisdom we can rely. A child dreads to be alone in an empty house ; but to be there along with its mother makes fear impossible. A boy lost in the crowd cries as if his heart would break ; but, carried through the crowd on his father's shoulder, he is as happy as a king. As the train rushes through the night at the rate of fifty miles an hour, what a panic it would cause if the passengers should karn that no one was on the engine ; but, when they have reason to believe that the engineer is with them, they fear no evil.

The prisoner placed at the bar charged with a crime of which he knows himself to be innocent would be lost if left to himself to unwind the rope which the sophistical skill of the prosecutor is twisting round his neck ; but, when he looks at the advocate who is with him, armed with complete knowledge of the facts and with brilliant powers of argument, he is not afraid.

There can be no circumstances in which God is not with His own. It has been pointed out that the four verses about the Good Shepherd in the Twenty-third Psalm correspond in a remarkable way with four

names of God- -verse I, "The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want/' with Jehovah-jireh, the Lord will provide ; verse 2, " He maketh me to lie down in green pastures : He leadeth me beside the still waters," with Jehovah-shalom, the Lord is our peace ; verse 3, " He restoreth my soul : He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake," with Jehovah-tsidkenu, the Lord our righteousness ; and verse 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/' with Jehovah-shammah, the Lord is there.

Jehovah-shammah is one of the watchwords of the spiritual life. Ascend I into heaven, He is there ; descend I into hell, He is there. Be my lot in sunshine or in dark-ness, in health or in sickness, He is there. When I am on a bed of weakness, when I am drawing my latest breath, and when I stand before the great white throne, still Jehovah-shammah, the Lord will be there ; and I will fear no evil.

This is a secret which thousands of times has transmuted the bed of death from a place of fear and mortal defeat into a scene of victory and transfiguration. This is the secret : " Lo, I am with you alway even to the end of the world. Amen."

5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.

1. Sitting down to eat with enemies watching is not exactly a comforting or enticing setting, but I read an account of a meal that enables us to see the enemy from a different perspective. We tend to think of anyone who is different from us as an enemy. They may be foreigners, or people of a different color, or language, or culture. We do not always like them, and do not go out of our way to eat with them. We only enjoy eating with people who are just like us. That is what we call fellowship, and it is a good thing to experience. But consider the value of the following account to challenge us to see how we can also benefit ourselves and others by eating with an enemy.

One Sunday afternoon our family gathered around our big oak table for dinner. Soon my daughter Kate’s laughter rose above the talk. “Gram, you’re silly!” she said. We all turned to see my mom delicately lifting to her mouth a small strand of peas on the blade of her knife. All but one pea made it, and everyone clapped. Then Mom told us the story behind her unorthodox technique:

“When I was little we didn’t have much. It was the Depression. But we did have a table full of food because my father grew wonderful vegetables. Lots of hoboes who had jumped from the train wandered onto our property, looking for a meal. More often than not an extra seat was pulled up to our dinner table.

“One summer afternoon I was sweeping the kitchen floor when my father’s voice came through the screen door: ‘Lizzy, set another plate. We have company tonight.’ Our guest paused in the doorway, and dipped his head in a gesture of gratitude. ‘Looks like he doesn’t speak much English,’ Dad said, ‘but he’s hungry like we are. His name is Henry.’

“When dinner was ready Henry stood until we were all seated, then gently perched on the edge of his chair, his head bowed and his hat in his lap. The blessing was said and dishes were passed from hand to hand.

“We all waited, as was proper, for our guest to take the first bite. Henry must have been so hungry he didn’t notice us watching him as he grabbed his knife. Carefully he slid the blade into the pile of peas before him, and then lifted a quivering row to his mouth without spilling a single pea. He was eating with his knife! I looked at my sister May and we covered our mouths to muffle our snickers. Henry took another knifeful, and then another.

“My father, taking note of the glances we were exchanging, firmly set down his fork. He looked me in the eye, then took his knife and thrust it into the peas on his plate. Most of them fell off as he attempted to lift them to his mouth, but he continued until all the peas were gone.

“Dad never did use his fork that evening, because Henry didn’t. It was one of my father’s silent lessons in acceptance. He understood the need for this man to maintain his dignity, to feel comfortable in a strange place with people of different customs. Even at my young age I understood the greatness of my father’s simple act of brotherhood.”

Mom paused, looked at her grandchildren, and winked as she plowed her knife into a mountain of peas.

Contributed by Cori Connors, of Farmington, Utah, to Guideposts, March 1997, p. 36

More likely the picture is that of a meal where the focus is so strong on the grace and provision of the Shepherd that there is no fear of the enemy that may be prowling about. It is a positive thinking picture where the negative is real and enemies are there somewhere nearby, but that fear is wiped out by the full awareness of the love and joy of being led and fed by this marvelous Shepherd. This story illustrates the point, "Several years ago Charles Stanley said that he was struggling with some opposition. During that time an elderly woman from his church invited him to her retirement community for lunch. Although he was very busy and under serious pressure, he went and ate lunch with her. Afterwards she took him up to her apartment and showed him a picture hanging on her living room wall. It was a picture of Daniel in the lion’s den. She said, "Young man, look at this picture and tell me what you see." Dr. Stanley looked at the picture and saw that all the lions had their mouths closed, some were lying down. Daniel was standing with his hands behind him. Stanley told the lady everything he knew to tell her. Then she asked, "Anything else?" He knew there must be, but he couldn’t see anything else. She put her arm on his shoulder and said, "What I want you to see is that Daniel doesn’t have his eyes on the lions, he has his eyes on the Lord."

With out eyes on the Lord we can enter into the meal he prepares with great joy and celebration. Bishop Davidson of Winchester was once one of a party of

ecclesiastics who went into dinner after a religious conference. One of the others observed in a tone of pompous self-righteousness, "This is the time to put a bridle on our appetites." "�o! returned the Bishop, "this is the time to put a bit in

our mouths." There is a time for everything under the sun, and when the Lord makes us a meal, it is time to feast. We need to get a taste now of the great wedding supper of the Lamb in heaven. There will be no fasting there, and when the Lord is serving in time, it is also no time to be fasting. We might say "no thanks" for seconds even when grandma is preparing the table, but no way do we say it when Jesus hands us the plate again.

1. Barnes, “Thou preparest a table - The image is now changed, though expressing the general idea which is indicated in the first verse of the psalm, “I shall not want.” The evidence or proof of this in the previous verses is, that God was a shepherd, and would provide for him as a shepherd does for his flock; the evidence here is that God had provided a table, or a feast, for him in the very presence of his enemies, and had filled his cup with joy. The word “table” here is synonymous with “feast;” and the meaning is, “thou providest for my wants.” There “may” be an allusion here to some particular period of the life of the psalmist, when he was in want, and when he perhaps felt an apprehension that he would perish, and when God had unexpectedly provided for his wants; but it is impossible now to determine to what occasion he thus refers. There were numerous occasions in the life of David which would be well represented by this language, “as if” God had provided a meal for him in the very “presence” of his foes, and in spite of them.

Before me - For me. It is spread in my presence, and for me.

In the presence of mine enemies - That is, in spite of them, or so that they could not prevent it. They were compelled to look on and see how God provided for him. It was manifest that this was from God; it was a proof of the divine favor; it furnished an assurance that he who had done this would never leave him to want. The friends of God are made to triumph in the very presence of their foes. Their enemies are compelled to see how He interposes in their behalf, how He provides for them, and how He defends them. Their final triumph in the day of judgment will be in the very presence of all their assembled enemies, for in their very presence He will pronounce the sentence which will make their eternal happiness sure, Mat_25:31-36.

Thou anointest my head with oil -Margin, as in Hebrew, “makest fat.” That is, thou dost pour oil on my head so abundantly that it seems to be made fat with it. The expression indicates abundance. The allusion is to the custom of anointing the head on festival occasions, as an indication of prosperity and rejoicing (see Mat_6:17, note; Luk_7:46, note), and the whole is indicative of the divine favor, of prosperity, and of joy.

My cup runneth over - It is not merely “full;” it runs over. This, too, indicates abundance; and from the abundance of the favors thus bestowed, the psalmist infers that God would always provide for him, and that He would never leave him to want.

2. Clarke, “Thou preparest a table before me - Here the second allegory begins. A magnificent banquet is provided by a most liberal and benevolent host; who has not only the bounty to feed me, but power to protect me; and, though surrounded by enemies, I sit down to this table with confidence, knowing that I shall feast in perfect security. This may refer to the favor God gave the poor captive Israelites in the sight of the Chaldeans who had grievously treated them for seventy years; and whose king, Cyrus, had not only permitted them now to return to their own land, but had also furnished them with every thing requisite for their passage, and for repairing the walls of Jerusalem, and rebuilding the temple of the Lord, where the sacrifices were offered as usual, and the people of God feasted on them.

Thou anointest my head with oil - Perfumed oil was poured on the heads of distinguished guests, when at the feasts of great personages. The woman in the Gospel, who poured the box of ointment of spikenard on the head of our Lord (see Mat_26:6,

Mat_26:7; Mar_14:8; Luk_7:46), only acted according to the custom of her own country, which the host, who invited our Lord, had shamefully neglected.

My cup runneth over - Thou hast not only given me abundance of food, but hast filled my cup with the best wine.

3. Gill, “In a providential way granting a sufficiency, and even an affluence of temporal good things; the providence of God lays and spreads a table for his people in the wilderness, and sets them down at it, and bids them welcome to it; see Psa_78:19; and in a way of grace, the Lord making large provisions in his house for them, called the goodness and fatness of his house, and a feast of fat things; and under the Gospel dispensation, the table of the Lord, on which are set his flesh and blood for faith to feed upon; see Pro_9:2; and also in heaven, the joys of which are compared to a feast, and the enjoyment of them to sitting at a table, and which are prepared by the Lord for his people, from the foundation of the world; and of which they have some foresight and foretaste in this world; see Luk_22:30; and all this

in the presence of my enemies; they seeing and envying the outward prosperity of the saints, whenever they enjoy it, and their liberty of worshipping God, hearing his word, and attending on his ordinances, none making them afraid; as they will see, and envy, and be distressed at a more glorious state of the church yet to come, Rev_11:12; and even, as it should seem from the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, the glory and happiness of the saints in the other world will be seen, or by some way or other known, by wicked men; which will be an affliction to them, and an aggravation of their misery; though here it seems chiefly to regard the present life. Some have thought there is an allusion to princes, who, having conquered others, eat and feast at a well spread table in the presence of the conquered, and they being under it; see Jdg_1:7;

thou anointest my head with oil; giving him an abundance of good things, not only for necessity, but for pleasure and delight; especially pouring out largely upon him the oil of gladness, the Spirit of God and his graces, the anointing which teaches all things, and filling him with spiritual joy and comfort; for this refers not to the anointing of David with material oil for the kingdom, by Samuel, while Saul was living, or by the men of Judah, and afterwards by all the tribes of Israel, when Saul was dead. The allusion is to the custom of the eastern countries, at feasts, to anoint the heads of the guests with oil; see Ecc_9:7. It was usual to anoint the head, as well as other parts of the body, on certain occasions; hence that of Propertius (y): and in the times before Homer (z) it was usual both to wash and anoint before meals, and not the head only, but the feet also; which, though Pliny (a) represents as luxurious, was in use in Christ's time, Luk_7:38; and spoken of as an ancient custom by Aristophanes (b) his Scholiast for daughters to anoint the feet of their parents after they had washed them; which may serve to illustrate the passage in the Gospel; see Ecc_9:8;

my cup runneth over; denoting an affluence of temporal good things, and especially of spiritual ones, which was David's case. Such who are blessed with all spiritual blessings in Christ, to whom the grace of the Lord has been exceeding abundant, and the Lord himself is the portion of their cup, their cup may be said to run over indeed.

4. Henry, “From the good gifts of God's bounty to him now he infers the constancy and perpetuity of his mercy, Psa_23:5, Psa_23:6. Here we may observe,

1. How highly he magnifies God's gracious vouchsafements to him (Psa_23:5): “Thou preparest a table before me; thou hast provided for me all things pertaining both to life and godliness, all things requisite both for body and soul, for time and eternity:” such a bountiful benefactor is God to all his people; and it becomes them abundantly to utter his great goodness, as David here, who acknowledges, (1.) That he had food convenient, a table spread, a cup filled, meat for his hunger, drink for his thirst. (2.) That he had it carefully and readily provided for him. His table was not spread with any thing that came next to hand, but prepared, and prepared before him. (3.) That he was not stinted, was not straitened, but had abundance: “My cup runs over, enough for myself and my friends too.” (4.) That he had not only for necessity, but for ornament and delight: Thou anointest my head with oil. Samuel anointed him king, which was a certain pledge of further favor; but this is rather an instance of the plenty with which God had blessed him, or an allusion to the extraordinary entertainment of special friends, whose heads they anointed with oil, Luk_7:46. Nay, some think he still looks upon himself as a sheep, but such a one as the poor man's ewe-lamb (2Sa_12:3), that did eat of his own meat, and drank of his own cup, and lay in his bosom; not only thus nobly, but thus tenderly, are the children of God looked after. Plentiful provision is made for their bodies, for their souls, for the life that now is and for that which is to come. If Providence do not bestow upon us thus plentifully for our natural life, it is our own fault if it be not made up to us in spiritual blessings.

5. Jamison, “Another figure expresses God’s provided care.a table— or, “food,” anointing

oil— the symbol of gladness, and the overflowing

cup— which represents abundance - are prepared for the child of God, who may feast in spite of his enemies, confident that this favor will ever attend him. This beautiful Psalm most admirably sets before us, in its chief figure, that of a shepherd, the gentle, kind, and sure care extended to God’s people, who, as a shepherd, both rules and feeds them. The closing verse shows that the blessings mentioned are spiritual.

6. SPURGEO�, “The good man has his enemies. He would not be like his Lord if he had not. If we were without enemies we might fear that we were not the friends of God, for the friendship of the world is enmity to God. Yet see the quietude of the godly man in spite of, and in the sight of, his enemies. How refreshing is his calm bravery! "Thou preparest a table before me." When a soldier is in the presence of his enemies, if he eats at all he snatches a hasty meal, and away he hastens to the fight. But observe: "Thou preparest a table," just as a servant does when she unfolds the damask cloth and displays the ornaments of the feast on an ordinary peaceful occasion. �othing is hurried, there is no confusion, no disturbance, the enemy is at the door, and yet God prepares a table, and the Christian sits down and eats as if everything were in perfect peace. Oh! the peace which Jehovah gives to his people, even in the midst of the most trying circumstances!

"Let earth be all in arms abroad,They dwell in perfect peace."

"Thou anointest my head with oil." May we live in the daily enjoyment of this blessing, receiving a fresh anointing for every day's duties. Every Christian is a

priest, but he cannot execute the priestly office without unction, and hence we must go day by day to God the Holy Ghost, that we may have our heads anointed with oil. A priest without oil misses the chief qualification for his office, and the Christian priest lacks his chief fitness for service when he is devoid of new grace from on high. "My cup runneth over." He had not only enough, a cup full, but more than enough, a cup which overflowed. A poor man may say this as well as those in higher circumstances. "What, all this, and Jesus Christ too?" said a poor cottager as she broke a piece of bread and filled a glass with cold water. Whereas a man may be ever so wealthy, but if he be discontented his cup cannot run over; it is cracked and leaks. Content is the philosopher's stone which turns all it touches into gold; happy is he who has found it. Content is more than a kingdom, it is another word for happiness.

7. TREASURY OF DAVID BY SPURGEO�, “ Verse 5. "Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies." God doth not at all depend upon wicked men in the benediction of his servant; they concur not with him, neither per modum principii, for he alone is the cause; nor per modum auxilii, for he without them can bless his all: their malicious renitency of spirit, or attempt against God's blessing of his people, is too impotent to frustrate God's intention and pleasure. An effectual impediment must not only have contrariety in it, but superiority: a drop of water cannot put out the fire, for though it hath a contrary nature, yet it hath not greater power. �ow the malice and contrivances of evil men are too short and weak for the divine intention of blessing, which is accompanied with an almighty arm. Evil men are but men, and God is a God; and being but men, they can do no more than men. The Lord will clear it to all the world, that he rules the earth, and that "his counsel shall stand;" and where he blesseth, that man shall be blessed; and whom he curseth, that man shall be cursed; that the creatures can do neither good not evil; that his people are the generation of his care and love, though living in the midst of deadly enemies. Condensed from Obadiah Sedgwick.

Verse 5. "In the presence of mine enemies:" they seeing and envying and fretting at it, but not being able to hinder it. Matthew Poole.

Verse 5. "Thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over." In the East the people frequently anoint their visitors with some very fragrant perfume; and give them a cup or glass of some choice wine, which they are careful to fill till it runs over. The first was designed to show their love and respect; the latter to imply that while they remained there, they should have an abundance of everything. To something of this kind the psalmist probably alludes in this passage. Samuel Burder.

Verse 5. "Thou anointest my head with oil." Anointing the head with oil is a great refreshment. There are three qualities of oil—lævor, nitor, odor, a smoothness to the touch, brightness to the sight, fragrancy to the smell, and so, gratifying the senses, it must needs cause delight to those anointed with it. To this Solomon alludes when persuading to a cheerful life, he saith, "Let thy head lack no ointment." How fully doth this represent the Spirit's unction which alone rejoices and exhilarates the soul! It is called the "oil of gladness," and the "joy of the Holy Ghost." �athanael

Hardy.

Verse 5. "Thou anointest my head with oil." It is an act of great respect to pour perfumed oil on the head of a distinguished guest; the woman in the gospel thus manifested her respect for the Saviour by pouring "precious ointment" on his head. An English lady went on board an Arabian ship which touched at Trincomalee, for the purpose of seeing the equipment of the vessel, and to make some little purchases. After she had been seated some time in the cabin, an Arabian female came and poured perfumed oil on her head. Joseph Roberts.

Verse 5. "Thou anointest my head with oil." In the East no entertainment could be without this, and it served, as elsewhere a bath does, for (bodily) refreshment. Here, however, it is naturally to be understood of the spiritual oil of gladness. T. C. Barth.

Verse 5. "Thou anointest my head with oil." Thou hast not confined thy bounty merely to the necessaries of life, but thou hast supplied me also with its luxuries. In "A plain Explanation of Difficult Passages in the Psalms," 1831.

Verse 5. "Thou anointest my head with oil." The unguents of Egypt may preserve our bodies from corruption, ensuring them a long duration in the dreary shades of the sepulchre, but, O Lord, the precious perfumed oil of thy grace which thou dost mysteriously pour upon our souls, purifies them, adorns them, strengthens them, sows in them the germs of immortality, and thus it not only secures them from a transitory corruption, but uplifts them from this house of bondage into eternal blessedness in thy bosom. Jean Baptiste Massillon, 1663-1742.

Verse 5. "My cup runneth over." He had not only a fulness of abundance, but of redundance. Those that have this happiness must carry their cup upright, and see that it overflows into their poor brethren's emptier vessels. John Trapp.

Verse 5. "My cup runneth over." Wherefore doth the Lord make you cup run over, but that other men's lips might taste the liquor? The showers that fall upon the highest mountains, should glide into the lowest valleys. "Give, and it shall be given you," is a maxim little believed. Luke 6:38. William Secker.

Verse 5. "My cup runneth over." Or as it is in the Vulgate: And my inebriating chalice, how excellent it is! With this cup were the martyrs inebriated, when, going forth to their passion, they recognised not those that belonged to them; not their weeping wife, not their children, not their relations; while they gave thanks and said, "I will take the cup of salvation!" Augustine.

8. “Charles W. Slemming, who has written a great deal about shepherds in the �ear East, tells of one such experience when a shepherd comes to a new field to feed his flock. He inspects the field closely, walking up and down the field looking for grass that could poison the sheep. He also inspects the field for vipers. These are tiny brown snakes that live under the ground. They have a way of popping up out of their small holes and

nipping the noses of the sheep. Their bite is poisonous and sometimes the inflamation from their bite will kill the sheep. The shepherd leaves the sheep outside any such invested field. Then he walks up and down until he finds the vipers holes. He takes from his girdle a bottle of thick oil. Then, raking over any long grass with his staff, he pours a circle of oil at the top of every viper’s hole he can find. As he leads the sheep into the field he anoints the head of each with the oil. When the vipers beneath the ground realize that the sheep are grazing above, they come out of their holes to do their deadly damage. But the oil keeps them from getting out. The smooth bodies of the vipers cannot slip over the slippery oil-and they’re prisoners inside their holes. What is more, the oil on the head of the sheep acts like a repellent, so if the nose of a sheep gets near a viper, the smell drives the viper away. Literally, therefore, the sheep are allowed to graze in plenty in the presence of their enemies. And what the shepherd did for the sheep, our God does for His people. If you are a Christian, God has sent you to live in a dangerous place. Do you remember in Matt. 10:16 that our Lord said to His disciples, “I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves.”

9. Octavius Winslow, "How soon is true and simple faith crowned with its reward! The first and exultant refrain of our song had scarcely died upon the ear- "I shall not want"- before another and still more jubilant one ravishes the soul. "You prepare a table before one in the presence of my enemies." God, when He gives faith in Himself- in His love to promise, in His faithfulness to fulfil, in His power to perform- seldom keeps the believing, waiting soul in long and anxious suspense. It is true He may, in some instances, test the sincerity, exercise the faith, and prove the love of His suppliant child by causing the 'vision awhile to tarry;' but sooner or later it comes, and the faith that trusted, and the prayer that petitioned, and the hope that expected, and the patience that waited, meet their due reward- never a whit less, but oftener far beyond the utmost limit of the request- from "Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us."

Sheep without nourishment, would be as incongruous as a flock without a shepherd. The very relation Christ sustains to you, is a pledge that your needs shall all be met. The existence of a table- the table emblematic of an appropriate and ample banquet- a banquet, too, where famine and foes prevail- is a demonstrative proof of the power and expectation of faith- "I shall not lack." It is no little comfort to be well and divinely assured that, in whatever part of the wilderness your lot may be cast- however weary and pressing your need, numerous and potent your enemies- yet there the Shepherd has prepared a table of the

most appropriate and costly viands, and invites you to partake- He Himself presiding at the banquet.

Shall we remind you of the table of His Providence- provided for you in the face of your enemies- which, though the least, does not the less exhibit the thoughtful, tender care the Lord takes of His own? He will have us as much live a life of dependence upon Him as the God of providence, as the God of grace. Jesus has taught us to pray- "Give us this day our daily bread." �owhere did our Lord speak lightly of our temporal need, or discourage the prayer of those that petitioned for its supply. It is not likely that He who made the body- Himself a partaker of its nature and its infirmities, often pinched with hunger and parched with thirst- would speak lightly of its needs, or fail to meet them when they occurred. �o lesson did He more frequently or emphatically inculcate than that of a humble dependence upon God's regard of our temporal necessities. His simple, yet inimitable, illustration of the 'sparrow' and the 'lily,' were designed to impress us with the duty and the happiness of seeking from God's hand the loaf that should enrich and adorn our daily board. "Do not be anxious, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, With what shall we be clothed? Your Heavenly Father knows that you have need of all these things." And are you not a living witness of God's providential care? Has He not hitherto prepared a table for you in the wilderness, and in the sight of all your foes? And when faith has been sharply tried- like the Shunamite widow, nothing in the house but a handful of meal- and unbelief- your greatest enemy- has tauntingly asked, "Where is now your God?"- has not He who fed the five thousand in the wilderness with five small loaves and two fishes, as marvelously, and almost as miraculously, appeared on your behalf, sending an ample supply at a time, and with an affluence which has filled you with amazement-extorting the praiseful acknowledgment- "You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies." Oh that every meal were as a sacrament, uplifting the heart to the Source of all our mercies, in grateful and devout acknowledgment of His daily providential care- in everything giving thanks! Is this your invariable habit, my reader, when you take your place at the table God has furnished with the bounties of His providence? is His hand recognized, and His goodness acknowledged, and His blessing invoked? Oh let not yours be an atheist's, but a Christian's table, where God is always acknowledged, and Christ is often a welcomed guest!

It is possible that these pages may find you straitened and tried in your temporal circumstances. Your income is, perhaps, inadequate- your supplies are failing- your demands multiplying- and your heart fails you for fear. Forget not that He who hears the raven's cry- feeds the sparrow- clothes the lily, is your Father and Benefactor, and that He knows your needs, and has promised, and is able, to supply it. And now, "have faith in God." Cry unto Him mightily; trust His word implicitly; wait His time and way patiently; and sooner or later the promise will be fulfilled- "Your bread and your water shall be sure;" "and truly you shall be fed!" Be it so that you have nearly come to the end of your supplies- that there is nothing in the house but the poor widow's portion- "a little meal and a pot of oil;" He who sent Elisha the prophet at the moment of her need, and more than met it, will appear in His wonder-working providence for you; and help shall come from a quarter you least expected, and at a time when you looked not for it, even though He work a miracle to accomplish it- multiplying the few loaves, and so blessing the barrel of meal and the cruse of oil, that they cease not. We lose much blessing and God much honor, by not more simply and implicitly living upon His providential care. It is an old and familiar aphorism, that "they who watch God's providence shall never lack a providence to watch." The simple meaning of which is- that they who see God's goodness in all their temporal supplies- who recognize His superintending and molding hand, ordering and shaping all the events- the most minute of their personal history- shall never be left without some marked and unmistakable evidence of God's care and bountifulness in providing for their temporal need, and His wisdom and faithfulness in ordering and directing all their worldly concerns. Be, then, a close student of God's providence. Seek a dislodgment from your mind of that atheism which would exclude God from the government of the world, but what is a far worse species of practical atheism- from the events and circumstances of our individual history. The terms 'chance', 'accident', 'contingency', as they are employed by the world in connection with the events of human life, should be entirely expunged from the Christian's vocabulary. They belong solely to the dictionary of the atheist, and should never pass the lips of the believer. It is the privilege of the believing mind to do with God in the most infinitesimal incident of individual life. Tossed amid the waves of second causes, faith often loses its anchorage on God in dark and mysterious calamities; and the believing and devout mind, thus for the moment loosed from its divine fastening, drifts away amid the breakers and the shoals of doubt

and perplexity; and but for the restraining power and the restoring grace of the Divine Shepherd would become an utter wreck.

But a richer table is, the Banquet of His Grace. In nothing is the broad line of distinction more clearly drawn between the Church and the world than in the provision God has made for His own people. The blessings of Providence with which He favors us- though covenant mercies, as all our blessings are- yet are shared in common with an ungodly world- for He makes the sun of His goodness to shine upon the evil and the good. But the saints of God have infinitely more than this. There is another table, at which only His own people sit- the Family Table, around which cluster the adopted children of His love. "I have food to eat," said Jesus, "of which you know nothing." And in the same language may the children of God address the poor worldling, feeding upon wind, and starving upon husks- "We are fed and nourished with bread to which you are an utter stranger." What a rich banquet is the gospel of Christ: a "feast of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined."

To this banquet our Lord referred when He compared His Gospel to a "great supper," to which the poor and the needy and the penniless were bidden. How divine, costly, and precious this Banquet! Well may it be called- "the glorious Gospel of the blessed God." �ext to God's unspeakable gift of His beloved Son, is the glorious gospel of His grace which makes Him known. What a banquet for poor sinners! How rich and varied its viands!- the full pardon of our sins- the free acceptance of our persons- our gracious adoption into God's family- and our joint heirship to the inheritance of glory. "Blessed are the people who know the joyful sound" of this full and free gospel! Alas! how few hear it- and when heard, how few know it! It is a jubilant sound- but to thousands, within its reach, it possesses no music, attraction, or charm.

How many religious professors, contemplating a change of abode, make the existence of a faithful, evangelical ministry the very last consideration in their search! Health- society- and scenery are points of attraction which take precedence of all religious questions; and a purely-preached Gospel is the very last- if at all considered- that awakens a moment's thought or enquiry! Like Lot, the situation is chosen because pleasant to the eye and well watered; and like him, we have lived to rue the choice that involved us in such worldliness,

temptation, and sin. Oh, in solemn consideration of the souls of your family, your domestics, and your own- and with death and Eternity before you- pitch your earthly tent on no spot where a famine of the bread and water of life exists! Avoid as you would a plague-smitten spot the place where soul-destroying doctrine, and God-dishonoring worship, have superseded an evangelical and faithful ministry of God's word, and a spiritual and devout worship of God's name. See well to it, that both the preaching of the truth and the rendering of the service are profitable to you and glorifying to Him!

A present salvation is an essential element of this Gospel Banquet thus provided for us in the wilderness. For the lack of a more simple recognition of this aspect of the gospel, many of God's people are deprived of much blessing. If saved at all-we are saved now. The believer is as entirely pardoned- as completely justified- as fully adopted at the present moment, as he will be when glorified. "Bygrace you are saved." "Accepted in the Beloved." "You are complete in Him." Could any truth be expressed in terms more strong, or placed in light more lucid? Oh marvellous banquet, that meets and satisfies all the requirements of the soul! Come to it with what infirmity- with what need- with what sorrow- with what frame you may, there is a place and a viand for you; a loving welcome, and a most free meal. "You prepare a table for me in the presence of my enemies."

And what a divine and rich banquet is God's word! Here is a table furnished with "all pleasant fruits," -the costliest and the richest God can give, for the instruction and nourishment of His own life in the soul. Here are doctrines for establishment; precepts, for guidance; promises, for comfort; and hopes which scatter the shadow of death, and light the soul's path to glory with an effulgence shining more and more unto the perfect day. Be a firm believer- a prayerful student- and an uncompromising defender of God's word.

This Divine table stands in the presence of many enemies. It is assailed on every hand. �ever was there a time when the word of God was more universally, virulently, and insidiously attacked than the present. It behooves, therefore, the true believer in Scripture to grasp firmly this "Rod and Staff" of the Divine Shepherd; and thus armed and strengthened, to "contend earnestly" against the prevalent atheism and infidelity of the age, "for the faith once delivered to the saints."

We must not conclude this chapter on the Banquet of the Flock without a passing allusion to the Lord's Supper- not the least table of spiritual nourishment provided by the Shepherd in the presence of our enemies. We have, in the preceding pages, already alluded to this; but the subject at the present moment has assumed so important an aspect, we make no apology for returning to it again. As the present work is designed to be of a spiritual and experimental, rather than of a theologically controversial character, we pass by those views of the Lord's Supper by which its nature is perverted, and its simplicity and efficacy are destroyed. All that we can venture to premise on that head briefly is the declaration that, the Lord's Supper is not- as the Romanists maintain- a sacrifice, but simply and only the commemoration of a sacrifice; and that, consequently, those who officiate as 'celebrants' are not 'Priests'-in an official or sacerdotal sense of the term- but ministers only, possessing no authority whatever to change the elements into any other than their original nature, and no power whatever to impart to them any other than their appointed efficacy. How explicit and clear the words of 'consecration'- "Who made there (by His one oblation of Himself once offered) a full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice, oblation, and satisfaction for the sins of the whole world." Here- in the very terms by which the officiating minister invokes the Divine blessing, and presents hearty thanks to Almighty God, in connection with the simple, yet most expressive symbols- is the entire exclusion of all idea of a corporeal presence- the offering of a sacrifice, or the office of a sacrificing priest. �either of these pretensions have the shadow of a shade of existence in the original institution of the sacrament. The words of our Lord, when He instituted this Holy Supper, are as explicit and lucid as they are simple and touching. "And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and broke it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body. And He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink from it, all of you; for this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins." The figurative meaning of our Lord- "This is my body", "This is my blood "-is explained by similar passages, and admits of no more literal interpretation than the metaphorical language which He employed on another occasion, when He said- "I am the Door." The argument of Zwingle, in the famous Marburg Conference on the Lord's Supper, that "a body cannot be without place; and that the body of Christ, being in heaven, could not be at the same time in the bread,"

holds as strongly now as it did then; and if reasonably and dispassionately weighed, would produce the same rational impression on all thoughtful minds as it did upon those of that learned Conference, presided over by "that pious hero and Christian Prince, the Landgrave." The Lord of His mercy grant that we may never hear in this Protestant land the echo of the shouts which then rang through the streets of Switzerland- "Down with a God of bread! a baker God!"

And yet, while avoiding the Sacramentarian theory of the Lord's Supper, let us not run into an opposite extreme, and be betrayed into light and indifferent views either of its nature, its object, or its blessing. There is great danger of turning the back upon one of the most significant institutions, and one of the richest means of grace, the Divine, Redeeming Shepherd has provided for the sheep of His pasture. There are three aspects in which the devout mind may contemplate it. The first is, retrospective. It is the remembrance, or a memorial of a fact the most stupendous, of a transaction the most noble, in the history of the universe- Christ dying for our sins! And, when humbly and believingly we approach this table, how should our fondest thoughts wing back to the scenes of Gethsemane and Calvary, and muse awhile amid the soul-sorrow and blood-sweat of the one, and the lingering sufferings and the torturing death of the other! Oh, forget not, my soul, what it cost your Lord to furnish this table for you in the wilderness!"It cost Him death to save our souls;To buy our souls, it cost His own;And all the unknown joys He givesWere bought with agonies unknown."

The Lord's Supper is a banquet of present enjoyment. Who can adequately describe the refreshment and strength which flows through this channel, "as often as we eat this bread, and drink this cup?" We re-produce the experience, and re-echo the exultant language of the church of old- "I sat down under His shadow with great delight, and His fruit was sweet to my taste. He brought me to the banqueting house, and His banner over me was love." We come believingly to the Lord's Supper, weary and jaded and we find sweet repose; we come sorrowful and depressed- and we find joy and uplifting; we come languid and cold- and we retire with hearts burning within us as He communed with us by the way. Revived- refreshed- invigorated by the spiritual nourishment thus received- we go forth to service and to conflict, to

duty and to suffering, as the bridegroom out of his chamber, and as a giant refreshed with new wine.

There is also a prospective aspect of the Lord's Supper- it points to the future Advent and glory of the Lord, with all His saints. "As often as you eat this bread, and drink this cup, you do show the Lord's death until he comes." Like the two arms of the cross of Jesus, the one pointing to the types and shadows of the past- the other, to the realities and glories of the future- this divine banquet directs our thoughts and anticipations to the Second Coming of our Lord- "that blessed hope, and glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ." How marvelously do the cross and the crown meet in this ordinance-the dark, cold shade of the one, and the splendid radiance and warm glow of the other; thus falling in blended hues upon this holy Banquet of love!

The cross of Jesus, deep and dark as was its shadow, was never designed to eclipse the crown of Jesus, bright and resplendent with its glory. "We look for the Savior"- a Personal Savior- who will come to wake the holy dead, and translate the righteous living- the waking and the rapture of both contemporaneous: "For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not precede those who are asleep. For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord." Thus the sacrament of the Lord's Supper- as often and wherever we observe it- with the morning light, or in the evening shade-amid the public services of the sanctuary, or the more private and solemn scenes of the sick and dying chamber- teaches us to keep in memory the sacrificial death, and to anticipate the coming glory, of our Divine and adorable Redeemer. My soul! draw near the Holy Table of your Lord- with the humility of contrition- the simplicity of faith- the fervor of love- and the anticipation of hope. Hesitate not to take your place at this family feast, this banquet of love, since all the merit that provided the feast, and all the worthiness that supplies your plea, and all the fitness that warrants your approach is in Him who prepared the table- who is, spiritually, the substance of the feast- who bids you 'do this in remembrance of Him' -and whose gracious welcome meets you

upon the threshold- "Eat, O friend, and drink; yes, drink abundantly, O beloved."

But oh what a table awaits us in heaven! From the banquet of grace below- which often strengthened and refreshed us in the wilderness, when weary and faint- we pass to the banquet of glory above, and sit down with apostles, prophets, and martyrs, and all the ransomed, whom no man can number- Jesus Himself coming forth to serve us. And what a Banquet will that be! How costly, how preciousits materials! The beatific sight of the glorified Redeemer- reunion with departed saints- the new song before the throne- unmingled happiness-perfect holiness- and eternity perpetuating all! "God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away."

Truly, when our Lord comes, and the wicked shall be summoned to judgment, will this Table be spread 'in the presence of all our enemies'-devils and men! Those who hated and persecuted the saints on earth-who maligned, slandered, and tortured them- will now gnash their teeth and gnaw their tongues with rage, when they see the objects of their malice and the victims of their torture sitting down with "the glorious company of the apostles, and the goodly fellowship of the prophets, and the noble army of martyrs," in the kingdom of their Father, and they themselves forever shut out! My soul, live and labor, suffer and die, looking for this blessed hope! "And He says unto me, Write, Blessed are those who are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb." Blessed are they now- yet more blessed when the Lord comes to re-unite them to their risen and glorified body. Lament not, then, the holy dead! They are done with toil and sorrow, with suffering and sin, and are with Christ now, and Christ will bring them with Him when He comes in glory, "to be admired by His saints, and adored in all those who believe."

"High in yonder realms of light,Far above these lower skies,Fair and exquisitely bright,Heaven's unfailing mansions riseBuilt of pure and massy gold,Strong and durable are they,

Decked with gems of worth untold,Subjected to no decay."Glad within those blest abodesDwell the enraptured saints above,Where no anxious care corrodes,Happy in Emmanuel's love!Once indeed, like us below,Pilgrims in this vale of tears,Torturing pain and heavy woe,Gloomy doubts, distressing fears;"These, alas! full well they knew,Sad companions of their way,Oft' on them the tempest blew,Through the long, the cheerless day!Often their vileness they deplored,Wills perverse, and hearts untrue,Grieved they could not love their Lord,Love Him as they longed to do."Oft' the big unbidden tear,Stealing down the furrowed cheek,Told, in eloquence sincere,Tales of woe that could not speak;But, these days of weeping over,Past this scene of toil and pain,They shall feel distress no more,�ever, never, weep again!"'Mid the chorus of the skies,'Mid the angelic lyres above,Hark! their songs melodious rise,Songs of praise to Jesus' love!Happy spirits! you are fledWhere no grief can entrance find;Lulled to rest the aching head,Soothed the anguish of the mind!"All is tranquil and serene,Calm and undisturbed repose;There no cloud can intervene,There no angry tempest blows;Every tear is wiped away,Sighs no more shall heave the breast;

�ight is lost in endless daySorrow- in ETER�AL REST!"(Raffles)

"You anoint my head with oil." Psalm 23:5

The holy anointing of the believer is a subject occupying a significant and prominent place in the teaching of God's word. �or is this to be wondered at. It constitutes one of the most expressive emblems of spiritual blessing, as it is one of the divinest elements of the Christian life. Indeed, apart from its possession, spiritual life has no existence or reality in the soul. The indwelling of the Spirit in the regenerate is nothing less than the anointing of the Spirit; and the anointing of the Spirit indicates our priestly relation as a part of the "Royal Priesthood," of which the Lord Jesus Christ is the Great High, and only sacrificing, Priest over the House of God. The limits of the present chapter restrict our illustration of this subject to the reference David makes to it in the Psalm- "You anoint my head with oil." Having spoken of the Banquet provided for him by the Shepherd, David naturally and appropriately adverts to a related blessing- the anointing which in Eastern countries was considered an essential and inseparable requisite on all great festive occasions. Homer, Aristophanes, Pliny, and other ancient classic writers, frequently refer to its use as a mark of respect shown by the host to his guests before the meal. But not the head only was it customary thus to anoint. The feet- shod with sandals, and therefore rendering the act all the more appropriate and grateful-were wont to be bathed, and then anointed with fragrant oil. This often a filial office on the part of the daughter, not more reflecting the affection and reverence of the child, than it was honoring and refreshing to the parent.

To this Eastern custom, doubtless, reference is made in the frequent allusion to the symbol. For example- "Let your garments be always white, and let your head lack no ointment." Again- "You, when you fast, anoint your head." And what reader of his Bible does not recall that touching narrative of the woman recorded by the Evangelist, who, following her Savior into the Pharisee's house, bearing an alabaster box of precious ointment, "stood at His feet behind Him weeping, and began to wash His feet with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head, and kissed His feet, and anointed them with the ointment." Pause for a

moment, and ponder this exquisite picture! It is too beautiful and significant to be superficially studied. She had been a sinner lost- but Jesus found her, and she was now a sinner saved. She loved much. Her affection for Jesus was not a mere sentiment evaporating in words; it was a real and practical principle, embodied and expressed in an act not less grateful to Jesus than expressive of her true affection. Oh there is no bath so acceptable to the Savior as the tears of penitence- and no anointing so precious to Him as the service of love! We now turn to the subject more immediately before us- "You anoint my head with oil."

THE SOURCE A�D �ATURE OF THE BELIEVER'S A�OI�TI�G.We must place in the foreground the truth that, all true spiritual anointing centers in, and flows from, Christ the Head and Depositary of His Church. It is in this light we shall understand the frequent and significant references to Christ as the Anointed of God. Thus for example, at Solomon's dedication of the temple- "O Lord God, turn not away the face of Your Anointed." Again- "You love righteousness, and hate wickedness: therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness above your fellows." And David prayed- "Behold, O God, our shield, and look upon the face of Your anointed." Once more-"God has anointed Jesus of �azareth with the Holy Spirit and with power." And to crown all, we have Isaiah's glorious prophecy- "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord has anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek." And what, it will be asked, was this anointing of which Christ was the Object? As God, He needed it not; but as Man, it was necessary to the accomplishment of His mission that His Humanity should be filled with the Spirit; and this was the anointing which He received- "for God gives not the Spirit by measure unto Him." "Your holy child Jesus, whom You have anointed." From this rapid glance at the source and nature of the believer's anointing, let us show in what way it becomes ours.

HOW THIS A�OI�TI�G BECOMES OURS.It becomes ours in virtue of our union with Christ. Engrafted into Him, we partake of His anointing, as the branch partakes of the sap of the vine- as a member participates in the life of the body. Apart from union with Christ, there can be no life from Christ. "If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His." "Hereby we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit which He has given us." On this truth we need not enlarge. Clear is it to every spiritual and reflective mind that, united by

the Spirit to Christ, we partake of all that Christ is- His fulness of the Spirit as Man, which is the 'anointing which teaches us of all things.' Oh, beloved, realize your union with Christ! in proportion to this will be the spiritual vitality of your soul. "You anoint my head with oil."

ELEME�TS OF THIS A�OI�TI�G.What are some of the ideas suggested by this anointing of the believer? The first clearly is that of consecration. To consecrate, or set apart, to a particular and holy office or function, anointing was invariably employed. We find this in the consecration of Aaron and his sons to the office of priesthood. "You shall put upon Aaron the holy garments, and anoint him, and sanctify him, that he may minister unto me in the priest's office." Thus, by the Holy Spirit we are anointed and set apart to be Christ's Royal Priesthood- the only priesthood in the Church of God, of which all true believers of every name partake. How high the office! how solemn the consecration! how divine and precious the anointing! Forget not, O my soul, that you are, as one with Christ-sanctified and set apart by the consecrating oil of the Spirit to be a royal priest of God! The holy unction is upon you, and henceforth you are a priest of God, in union with all His saints, anointed to "offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ." "You anoint my head with oil."

Spiritual illumination is another property and effect of this holy anointing. "As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit– just as it has taught you, remain in him." The anointing of the Spirit- that is, His divine teaching- renders us in a manner independent of human teaching in divine truth. "You do not need that any MA� teach you." Thankful indeed should we be for any spiritual aid in the understanding of the Scriptures, and in our travel heavenward, afforded by holy and well-informed minds. But the authorised Teacher and Interpreter of God's word is the Holy Spirit alone, independent of all human or ecclesiastical teaching or authority. And where human assistance is lacking, the Holy Spirit is ever present with His own inspired Word- the Author with the Book- to loosen the seals thereof, making known to us the hidden things of God's mind and will and heart as therein revealed.

Oh, my soul! seek plentifully this anointing! Honor the Spirit as your Divine Interpreter. What is dark, He will illuminate. What is discrepant, He will harmonize. What is hard to believe, He will elucidate, and give you faith to accept; and so He will-as Christ did of old- "open your understanding, that you might understand the Scriptures."

And how sanctifying is this anointing! He is emphatically the "Spirit of holiness" -the "Holy Spirit." As He is the Author of our spiritual life, so is He its divine Promoter. We have no holiness which is not His fruit in the soul. The Holy Spirit is our Sanctifier, as Christ is our Sanctification. And He sanctifies us by bidding us wash daily in the blood of Christ- and to draw all our supplies of grace from the fulness of Christ- thus taking of the things of Christ, and showing them unto us, and by anointing enabling us to reflect Christ- to live Christ- to labor for Christ- to suffer for Christ- and, if need be, to die for Christ. If, then, you would be holy- and, "without holiness no man can see the Lord " -seek large supplies of this sanctifying anointing of the Spirit, that your experience may be an echo of the Psalmist's- "You anoint my head with oil."

�or must we- in conclusion- overlook the comfort which this divine anointing conveys to the soul. It is the "oil of gladness." As the Divine Paraclete, the Holy Spirit is the Comforter of the Church. "I will send the Comforter," was the precious promise of the ascending Savior. Christ is the Comfort, the "Consolation of Israel." The Holy Spirit is the Comforter- by whom the sympathy, and grace, and consolation of Christ is conveyed into our sad and disconsolate hearts. The Holy Spirit is pledged by His office to pour the 'oil of joy' into the broken and sorrowful heart. You are, perhaps, spiritually and sorely tried. You may imagine that the Lord has forgotten to be gracious; that in anger He has shut up His tender mercies; that your past spiritual experience has been a delusion, and your religious life a pious fraud- and that you have no part or lot in the matter. And now you refer your present affliction- your mental gloom and spiritual despondency- to Divine anger, and have resigned your present to dark despair, and your future to inevitable woe! But this is your infirmity! You are not in a position to judge of your true condition, to form an intelligent and correct opinion of your real case. Oh! how comforting is the thought that the Lord does not endorse our self-condemnation: when we condemn ourselves, He

does not! "My thoughts are not yet your thoughts, says the Lord."

But whatever may be the sword that has wounded you- the arrow that has pierced you- the cloud that has darkened your mind- or the sorrow that has broken your heart- lo! the loving Shepherd stands prepared to pour the 'oil of gladness' on your head- to give you the "oil of joy for mourning, and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness." O Lord! "You have turned my mourning into joyful dancing. You have taken away my clothes of mourning and clothed me with joy, that I might sing praises to you and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give you thanks forever!" Psalm 30:11-12

In conclusion. Be exhorted to seek large communications of this holy anointing. The growth of your spiritual life- the holiness of your Christian walk- the glory of Him whose you are and whom you serve, demand that your head should be anointed- daily and abundantly- with holy oil. "Be filled with the Spirit." The anointing of Christ, our true Aaron, flows down to the fringe of His robe; and those who sit lowest and the closest at His feet in the spirit of penitence, love, and docility will partake the most richly of this holy unction. Oh with what power you will then testify for Jesus! If a minister of Christ, you will preach as with 'a tongue of fire,' with such unction, wisdom, and demonstration of the Spirit as no enemy of the truth shall be able to gainsay; sinners shall be converted to God, and the flock confided to your care will exhibit all the marks of a manly, vigorous Christianity, built up in sound doctrine and holiness of life. Oh! never cross the threshold of your pulpit but with the prayer- "Anoint me, O Christ, for this service with fresh oil."

If a Christian laborer, your work, your visits, your prayers will be attended with an energy and force perfectly irresistible; and "the ointment of your right hand will betray" you as one upon whose head the holy anointing has truly and richly fallen. Thus go forth to service and suffering- to toil and labor- to spend and to be spent for Christ-your garments always white, and your head lacking no ointment.

10. MP�Home.net, "The phrase "Prepare a table in the presence of my enemies" is unique to Psalm 23, and all who are in this fallen world as children of God are in the presence of the unsaved, who are the enemies of God and of his children. The children of Israel doubted God's ability to provide after he had brought them out of bondage in Egypt, and we should be careful not to allow that same doubt to arise in

us after we have been brought out of the bondage of sin. Psalms 78:19-20 "Yea, they spake against God; they said, Can God furnish a table in the wilderness? Behold, he smote the rock, that the waters gushed out, and the streams overflowed; can he give bread also? can he provide flesh for his people?" How much I need to accept the wisdom from the pen of Solomon, and be comforted by that truth. Proverbs 16:7 "When a man's ways please the LORD, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him." And Jesus prayed for our protection while we remain in the world after our salvation from sin. John 17:15 "I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil." Jesus stayed his course while his enemy shared his table, even with his perfect knowledge of the suffering he would endure. Luke 22:21 "But, behold, the hand of him that betrayeth me is with me on the table."

Anointing the head with oil can symbolize a sanctification or setting apart for a special office. In this context more likely, it conveys the feeling provided by personal grooming to "freshen up." The next two verses are used here to give example of a cultural custom. Luke 7:46 "My head with oil thou didst not anoint: but this woman hath anointed my feet with ointment." Matthew 6:17-18 "But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face;that thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly." �ow, the "cup" can be either bad or good, depending on the context, and in Psalm 23:5 it is definitely overflowing with goodness, which has example in other scripture as well. Psalms 16:5 "The LORD is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup: thou maintainest my lot." Psalms 116:13 "I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the LORD."

11. GREG HERRICK, "The picture here is of God as a gracious host, throwing a banquet as it were, sparing no extravagance for the invited guest. David says, “my cup overflows” which could either mean that the quality of the drink is absolutely superb or that the host had provided him with an abundance. Either way, the tremendous grace of God is evident in David’s experience here. In fact, the implication in verse 5 is that this has been David’s experience with YHWH up to this point in his life and verse 6 seems to indicate that David is confident such grace and fellowship with God will continue throughout all his days.

12. Bob Deffinbaugh, "There is a fair amount of disagreement about the structural divisions of Psalm 23, based upon differences of opinion in the number of poetic images employed. Some see only one image—the shepherd’s, which underlies the entire psalm. Others believe there is also the image of the hospitable host or the friend in verses 5 and 6. Some even see the imagery of a guide in verses 3 and 4. I am inclined to see two images in the psalm, that of the shepherd (vv. 1-4) and that of the host (vv. 5-6).

David has described his relationship to God using the imagery of the shepherd and his sheep. He now describes this same relationship employing the imagery of a

hospitable host. The relationship of a host with his guest is even closer than that of a shepherd with his sheep.94 The shepherd motif need not be prolonged as some suggest. Just as well known in the ancient �ear East was the significance of the hospitality offered to a traveler:

According to the Bedouin law of hospitality, once a traveler is received into the shepherd’s tent, and especially once his host has spread food before him, he is guaranteed immunity from enemies who may be attempting to overtake him. In pastoral circles no human protection is greater than that afforded by the hospitality of a Bedouin chief.95

�o greater security or comfort could be obtained by a traveler in the ancient �ear East than to be offered the hospitality of a home. It was understood that this was a provision of shelter and food, but even more it was a guarantee of protection from harm. We can sense this from Old Testament passages such as Genesis 18:1-8, where Abram graciously entertained three “men” who passed by as strangers. More enlightening (and distressing!) is the passage in the 19th chapter of Genesis, where Lot took the two “men” (angels) into his house as guests when the men of Sodom threatened to assault them:

But Lot went out to them at the doorway, and shut the door behind him, and said, “Please, my brothers, do not act wickedly. �ow behold, I have two daughters who have not had relations with man; please let me bring them out to you, and do to them whatever you like; only do nothing to these men, inasmuch as they have come under the shelter of my roof” (Gen. 19:6-8).

Whether or not we are able to grasp how a father could offer his virgin daughters to such a mob, we must at least gain some appreciation for the strong sense of obligation Lot felt to the two men in view of his hospitality.96 Psalm 23:5 describes this type of protective hospitality.

To sit as a guest at the table of a host was to be assured of food, housing, fellowship and protection. The table prepared in the presence of David’s enemies was the host’s public announcement to them not to attempt to molest David in any way. This offered great security, especially since the host was a man of influence and generosity. The amount of security which any host could provide depended upon his prestige and power. The abundance of his provisions indicated that he was a prosperous, powerful, and generous man. To have the hospitality of such a host was to be secure indeed!

The psalmist’s head was anointed with oil, a generous gesture97 which bestowed honor on him as an esteemed guest. The cup was likewise a gesture of generosity. It was not half-filled, but running over. David was not served “leftovers,” but was abundantly given the finest provisions in the house. Satisfaction, significance, and security are all abundantly supplied to the believer by God, as indicated by the imagery of the hospitable host.98 An even greater fellowship and graciousness is suggested by the hospitality motif than by that of the pastoral imagery.

13. JAMES CHARLESWORTH, "The biblical metaphor has become lost to many readers. It can be recovered by explaining that the poet is not thinking about "smearing." He has chosen a very symbolic verb: to anoint. That denotes the recognition and celebration of an elevated status. In the Bible anointing was primarily reserved for kings, but also for priests and occasionally for a prophet. The poet is eager to point out that each of us is worthy of being anointed and recognized as special, as one created in the image of the divine (imago dei). My son told me that because my nickname for him was "champ," he was able later in life, especially in college, to feel special, especially in times of defeat and self-doubt. That is what the psalmist seeks to convey to those who are in need (23:1). The same thought was meant by Jesus when he claimed that each of us receives God's attention, even by the counting of the hairs of our head (Mt 10:30 and Lk 12:7.

14. J. R. MILLER, ""Thou anointest my head with oil." Anointing the head was one of the tokens of hospitality in the East. Jesus reminded Simon that he had failed as host in the honors shown to him as guest: "My head with oil thou didst not anoint." Such anointing was the highest mark of respect that could be paid. Only the most distinguished guests were thus honored. When David uses these words here he means that he had been treated by the Lord as a most highly honored guest.

It seems strange to human reason that the God of heaven should so lavish his love and kindness upon sinners of a mortal race. We are apt to regard such words as exaggerations. But the Bible abounds in expressions of the same charac ter. When the prodigal was about to return to his father, he said that he would ask for a ser vant's place because he was not worthy to be called a son. Yet when he reached home he was received, not as a servant, but as a son. Jesus said, " I call you not servants, ... I have called you friends." The beloved disciple exclaimed, "Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called chil dren of God : and such we are." �o words can describe the honor and the blessedness of him who has become God's child by receiving Jesus Christ. The best things of divine grace and glory are his. Being a child of God, he is also an heir,

an heir of God, a joint heir with Christ. It is past comprehension, this wonderful loving-kind ness of God that takes us in all our un worthiness, brings us into closest divine fellowship, and puts upon us the highest honors of the universe.

" �ot worthy, Lord, to gather up the crumbs

With trembling hand that from thy table fall, A weary, heavy-laden sinner comes

To plead thy promise, and obey thy call.

I am not worthy to be thought thy child, �or sit the last and lowest at thy board ;

Too long a wanderer and too oft beguiled, I only ask one reconciling word.

I hear thy voice ; thou bid'st me come and rest ;

I come, I kneel, I clasp thy pierced feet ; Thou bid'st me take my place, a welcome gue"st,

Among thy saints, and of thy banquet eat.

My praise can only breathe itself in prayer, My prayer can only lose itself in thee ;

Dwell thou forever in my heart, and there,

Lord, let me sup with thee ; sup thou with me."

We may think of anointing also as an emblem of spiritual blessing. Oil was a symbol of the grace of God. Jesus was anointed at his baptism, and went forth full of grace and truth. If we yield ourselves to God, we, too, shall receive a heavenly anointing. Then we shall be filled with God. The beauty of the Lord our God shall be upon us. Our faces shall shine with the shining of holy peace. Our words shall have in them divine sweetness and grace. Anointed for God, our life shall be a benediction to every one it touches. Our shadow, as we pass along the streets, shall bless those on whom it falls. "We shall be God's saving health in this world, diffus

ing the influences of heaven amid human sorrow and sin.

15. CHARLES H. SPURGEO�, "Come, my Brothers and Sisters, let us see if we cannot touch a sweeter string this morning. Let us lay aside the trombone and try the dulcimer. With Christians, a cheerful carriage should be therule. Of all the men that live, we are the most fitted to rejoice. We have the most reasons for it and the most precepts for it—let us not fall behind in it. Heaven is our portion and the thoughts of its amazing bliss should cheer us on the road. Christ has given to us such large and wide domains of Grace and glory that it would be altogether unseemly that there should be poverty of happiness where there is such an affluence of possession. In considering our own portion, which must be a blessed one, since “the Lord is the portion of our inheritance and of our cup,” let us see if we cannot find themes for song and abundant cause to stir all that is within us to magnify the Lord. I. Our privileged lot is described in the text as a cup and a view of that happy portion will, I trust, be suggestive of gratitude. I shall invite you, in the first place, TO SURVEY YOUR PRIVILEGED PORTIO�. You have a cup. There is no small privilege implied in the use of such a term as that to describe your lot. Remember you were once, (and not so long ago but what your memory may well carry you back to it), wandering in a dry and thirsty land where there was no water. Hungry and thirsty, your soul fainted within you. You hastened to the broken cisterns, but they held no water. All your former confidences were as deceitful brooks which fly before the hot breath of summer. The wells of pleasure were empty and you were in a parched land where hope smiled not. Your former delights proved to be but a mirage, fair to look upon, but unsubstantial as a dream. You crouched at the foot of Sinai and even presumptuously attempted to climb its ragged sides—but you failed to find a drop of water there. Do you remember when Christ said to you—“Behold, I freely give Living water, thirsty one, Stoop down and drink and live”? Oh, what a change for you! You thirst no longer, for within your soul Jesus has an ever-springing well of living water. You believe in Him and all the cravings of your nature are supplied. Think of the full cup which Jesus holds to The Overflowing Cup Sermon #874 www.spurgeongems.org Volume 15 2 2 your lips—contrast it with your former poverty when you were ready to perish in despair—and rejoice this morning that you have a royal cup to drink of which will never fail you. Time was, too, when you were in something more than need—you were in a degradation whose remembrance crimsons your cheek. Your riotous living ended in a mighty famine and you gladly would have filled your belly with the husks that swinedid eat. A trough was then far more your portion than a cup. Many of us recollect with shame and confusion of face, to what excess of riot we ran. And wonderful, indeed, it is that the cup of a holy God should be at our lips! In many cases blasphemy defiled the lips and lasciviousness polluted the body. But we are washed, renewed, sanctified, by God’s Divine Grace, and now, with rags removed and a fair white robe girt about our loins, we are permitted to sit at the table of the banquet where music and dancing make glad the heart and the wines on the lees well-refined refresh the guests. From such need to such abundance, from such shame to such honor, what a change! Our portion is no longer that of the forlorn or the degraded. We do not pine in despair or wallow in pollution, but we sit as children at the table, drinking with joy from our allotted cup. Remember too, Beloved, and the contrast will, I hope, inflame your gratitude, that another cup was once set at our place at the table and of it we should have been compelled to drink had it not been for the interposition of the Surety of the Covenant. That deep and direful cup of the Lord’s wrath, into which He wrings out the wormwood and the gall till its bitterness is beyond degree, was once ours. Of that black cup you and I must have been made to drink forever and ever—for we could never have emptied it—but must eternally have been filled with the horror and amazement which are its dregs. �ow, as we showed you last Lord’s-Day morning [CHRIST MADE A CURSE FOR US, �O. 873] our Divine Redeemer has drained that cup on our behalf, for He was made a curse for us and now we have to bless God that our portion is not with the wicked whom the Lord shall destroy, but with the chosen whom the Lord accepts in the Beloved. Ours is not the cap of damnation, but the cup of salvation—not the vial of wrath, but the flagon of consolation. We have nothing to do with that cup, the dregs whereof “all the wicked of the earth shall wring them out and drink them,” but ours is a golden goblet which to the last drop is full of bliss and immortality. From the depths of condemnation to our present standing in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, what a change! As we think of the portion of our inheritance this morning, how shall we sufficiently admire that amazing love which brought us from the jaws of gaping Hell and set our standing on a rock at the very gates of Heaven? To make this cup, which represents our present privileged position, stand out yet more brightly before you, let me now speak of it at length. The intention of the Psalmist was to picture himself as a favored guest in the house of the Lord. When you are entertained in an Oriental house, a portion of meat is served out for you which constitutes your mess or portion. To highly esteemed and welcomed guests, a further honor is given—oil is poured upon the head. And yet further, a certain cup is placed before the favored one containing the portion which he is to drink. �ow David felt himself to be not a beggar knocking at the door of mercy, receiving a crust and a sip by the way, but he felt that he had been received by the great Master of the feast and permitted to sit down to receive the supply of all his necessities and, what was more, to receive of the luxuries of the feast as one who was thoroughly and heartily welcomed to all that was provided. Brothers and Sisters, a little while ago you and I were among the blind and the halt and the

lame lurking in the hedges and the highways, far off from the heavenly banquet—but Eternal Mercy has brought us, by living faith, to sit down at the feast which Mercy has prepared. This day ours is the lot of those who are saved! Ours is a portion with the justified! We sit at the table, this day, with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob—having been made children and heirs of God, even as they were. We participate in the pardon, the justification and the security which God gave to his saints in the olden times and which Christ clearly revealed to His Apostles in the latter days. All heavenly things are ours! We are denied none of the luxuries of the banquet of mercy. Whatever belonged to any child of God belongs to us! Whatever was enjoyed by the brightest of the saints may be enjoyed by us, if by faith we are sitting at the table of Divine Grace! This day we are no more strangers and foreigners, no more excluded and shut out—we are brought near by the blood of Jesus and our portion today is like that of the ewe lamb which ate of its master’s bread and drank from his cup. In David’s use of the term, “cup,” far more is included, for I take it he refers to accepted worship. In some of the rites of the Jewish law, you will remember that after the sacrifice the worshippers and the priest together sat down and partook of the remainder of the thank offering. God had received His portion of the meat offering. Then the drink offering was poured or laid upon the altar, and then the worshipper, himself, in token of God’s acceptance, was permitted to eat and drink of the same. Sermon #874 The Overflowing Cup Volume 15 www.spurgeongems.org 33 �ow, Beloved, at this moment every Believer here is accepted in the Beloved. That precious Christ, who has satisfied God on our behalf, has now become our satisfaction, too. He who offered Himself to God an offering of a sweet smell, has become to us our meat, indeed, and our drink, indeed—what God feeds upon, we feed upon, too. As He feels an intense satisfaction in the life, and work and death of His dear Son, we find the very same kind of satisfaction after our measure and degree. Is it not most delightful to thinkthat it is a part of my life’s privilege, as a child of God, to live as an accepted worshipper, dear to the heart of God? It is a high joy to know that my prayers and praises, my soul’s high desires to honor her God, her sighs, her tears and her works, are all accepted of God. Oh, greatly blessed is that life which is thus honored! He has made us priests unto God and we drink from the bowls before the altar with holy joy and reverent exultation. But by the cup was meant yet more than loving entertainment and sacrificial acceptance, for the Psalmist, in the 116th Psalm, at the 13th verse, speaks of taking the “cup of salvation.” Such a heavenly cup belongs to every Believer throughout the world! It is a part of your heritage this day, Beloved, that your sins are forgiven. That you are justified through the righteousness of Christ. That you are saved from the wrath of God—so saved as to be preserved in future and to be ultimately brought into the kingdom and the Glory. You have, at this hour, salvation as your portion! Some of God’s people only hope that they are saved. Such can scarcely sing that their cup runs over. Others conceive that they are saved for the present, but are not thereby saved eternally. Oh, but those who have come to know that God never plays fast and loose with us! That if He has saved us once, our salvation is secured beyond all risk. That the love of God is everlasting love and cannot be removed. That the blood of Jesus Christ does not in part redeem, but effectually redeems—those, I say, who have come to understand the fullness, the infinity, the immutability, the eternity, of the mercies of God in Christ Jesus—those are they who can rejoice in an overflowing cup! The lines have fallen unto them in pleasant places and they have a goodly heritage. The lot of the saved is a lot to be envied—theirs is a right royal heritage. Jeremiah further mentions a “cup of consolation,” and that cup of consolation, O Believer, is also yours this morning! You have your trials, but, oh, what a comfort to know that your trials work your lasting good! You are vexed with adversities, but what bliss to learn that they last but for a moment and end in eternal Glory! We mind not the black clods of trouble when we learn that light is sown in them for the righteous. It is true we are sometimes, if need be, in heaviness through manifold temptations, but our mourning ends at morning. Our dark nights will soon be ended and then a daylight comes of which the sun shall go down no more forever. The cup of comforts, which the Holy Spirit fills and brings to us, is so rich, so suitable, so operative upon our nature that we maywell rejoice as we think of it this morning. The saint’s lot has its blacks, but it has also its whites. Drops of wormwood are ours, but milk and honey are not denied us. We mourn at Marah, but we sing at Elim. Bochim still stands, but Bethel is ours, too. The lion roars, but the turtledove also yields her cheering note. Clouds are above us, but the stars smile on us. Our sea has its ebbs, but, by turns, it comes to the flood. Winters bluster and freeze, but summer comes soon and blossoms with merry joys, and autumn follows with its mellowness. We are cast down, but we are not destroyed—no, we are not even injured—for if for a little time we seem to be losers by our castings down, we before long discover our greater gain. Happy are the people that are in such a case, yes, blessed are the people whose God is the Lord. The cup of tried David is far better than that of proud Belshazzar. �one are so comforted as those to whom the Holy Spirit is Comforter. Still let us dwell for a minute or two longer upon the portion of the righteous. We read in the �ew Testament of the “cup of blessing,” and although that alludes to the cup at the Lord’s Supper, yet without wresting the words, we may say that the whole portion of God’s saints is a cup of blessing. You are blessed in all respects, Believer. As last Sabbath morning it was our painful duty to remind the unconverted that they were cursed everywhere—in basket and in store, in their home and abroad, in all that they had and did—so now with joy we remind you that those who love the Lord are blessed in all respects! Their cup, that is to say, their lot in life, is all blessing. Even that which you like least is filled with blessing. You are blessed by every morning’s sun—its beams speak benediction. You are blessed with every setting sun—the darkness is but a curtain to screen your rest. You are blessed in your poverty—contentment shall cheer you. You are blessed in your abundance—Grace shall consecrate it. Every way you are blessed. Your cup has not a single drop in it from the surface to the bottom but what is sweetened with the unchanging love of your Divine Father. The cup of our life is, moreover, a cup of fellowship. The whole of a Christian’s life ought to be fellowship with Jesus. What the cup is at the Lord’s Table, that our entire life should be. If we suffer, we suffer with Christ. If we rejoice, we The Overflowing Cup Sermon #874 www.spurgeongems.org Volume 15

4 4 should rejoice with Him. Bodily pain should help us to understand the Cross and mental depression should make us apt scholars at Gethsemane—while the high joys which our soul sometimes partakes of should conduct us to Tabor and lead us upward even to the place where the Conqueror sits high aloft on His Father’s Throne. It is a great blessing to a child of God, whatever happens to him, if he can see it overruled to the conducting of him in the footsteps of his Master into fellowship with his Covenant Head. I shall notice but one more matter about this cup, though, indeed, the phrase seems to me to be rich even to excessiveness with suggestions for thought. Our life cup is distinctly connected with the Covenant. “This cup,” said the Lord at the table, “is the �ew Covenant,” and so the whole of life which is compared in our text to a cup, manifests the Covenant faithfulness of God. �othing happens to a child of God but what was in the Covenant. The whole of Christian life is studded with God’s fulfillment of the Covenant. You have your troubles, but it was promised that you should have them. In your sadness you are revived with consolation, for it was promised you that God would set the bow in the cloud that you might look upon it and see that He was faithful, still. Oh yes, if you did but know it, the smallest event of your history as well as the largest incident in your biography—all would fit together like pieces of mosaic and when all fitted together you would read clearly, “Covenant love and Covenant faithfulness.” To come back to our simile, all the wine of the cup of human life is to the Believer warm with the spices of eternal faithfulness. There is not a single drop in all the contents which is not aromatic with the unchangeable, immutable veracity and faithfulness of our Covenant God. Will you, dear Hearers, put these things together, which I have poured from the cornucopia of the text? Look upon the whole of your life, O Christian, in that light now cast upon it—for life is a very sacred thing with us, and though the many say death is a very solemn thing—we have learned that life is equally so. Regard a Christian’s life as sublime—reaching far beyond the level of the unbeliever’s barren existence—because the spiritual is elevated, pure, heavenly. It is God in man struggling with Satan—the Christ of God fighting with evil. Heaven and Hell in the Believer’s life find a battlefield where hottest warfare rages. Our life in Christ is a sublime thing, a thing that angels lookdown upon with wonder and astonishment. The cup which is set on our Master’s table for us is no common cup—it is a celestial chalice for solemnity. It is a royal bowl for dignity—a golden cup for richness. The portion of every Believer, when it shall be seen by clearer eyes and understood by loftier intellects, will be perfectly amazing in its rare displays of the loving kindness and faithfulness of God! II. Secondly, I invite every Believer here to REJOICE I� THE ABU�DA�CE OF HIS PRIVILEGE. “My cup runs over.” Two or three words about this as far as it may relate to temporals. A small number of Believers are entrusted with much of this world’s goods—their cup runs over with wealth. Here is cause for thankfulness, for God has never taught us to deprecate riches, nor to wring our hands in sorrow if they happen to fall to our lot. Be thankful to the bounteous Lord for your abundance! At the same time, here is a note of danger. Our Lord Jesus once said and He has never retracted the saying, “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.” That is to say, in plain language, it is impossible for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of Heaven, unless something more than ordinary is done. Our Lord has told us, however, that while it is impossible with man, it is possible with God—and we rejoice to constantly find a slender line of these camels going through needles’ eyes. Rich men are led into the kingdom of Heaven—the human impossibility becomes Divine fact! Still, riches are no small hindrance to those who would run in the ways of the Truth of God. The danger is lest these worldly goods should become our gods—lest we should set too great store by them. Andrew Fuller one day went into a bullion merchant’s and was shown a mass of gold. Taking it into his hand, he very suggestively remarked, “How much better it is to hold it in your hand than to have it in your heart!” Gold in the hand will not hurt you, but gold in the heart will destroy you! �ot long ago, a burglar, as you will remember, escaping from a policeman, leaped into the Regent’s Canal and was drowned—drowned by the weight of the silver which he had plundered! How many there are who have made a god of their wealth and in hastening after riches have been drowned by the weight of their worldly substance! �otice a fly when it alights upon a dish of honey. If it just sips a little and away, it is fed and is the better for its meal. But if it lingers to eat again and again, it slides into the honey, it is bedaubed—it cannot fly—it is rolling in the mass of the honey to its own destruction. If God makes your cup run over, beware lest you perish, as too many have done through turning the blessing into a curse. If your cup runs over, take care to use what God has given you for His Glory. Sermon #874 The Overflowing Cup Volume 15 www.spurgeongems.org 55There is a responsibility attached to wealth which some do not seem to realize. Among our great men, how few use money as they should! Their gifts are nothing in proportion to their possessions. Alas, things are even worse than this with some who are miscalled honorable and noble. Our hereditary legislators are some of them a dishonor to their ancient houses and a disgrace to the peerage from which they ought to be ignominiously expelled. What right have gamblers to be making laws? How shall we trustthose with the affairs of the nation who bring themselves down to poverty by their gambling and set an example which the poorest peasant might well scorn to follow? God will visit our land for this! Wickedness reigns in high places and there the reckoning will begin. Would to God that our great men would remember that they are responsible and that wealth is not given them to lavish upon their passions, but to employ for God and for the common cause. If your cup runs over, call the poor to catch the drops and give an extra spill that they may have the more! Moreover, the Church of God needs your substance. Thank God we can, some of us, say with regard to our Churches, there is not so much a lack of Divine Grace, or a need of men, or of anything as of the financial means—and the gold and the silver are somewhere. God has given it to His Church—it is somewhere. But there are very many Church members who hold back the wealth which they ought to consecrate to the cause of God—and if they do this, their running-over cup will witness to their judgment and will not be to their honor and glory in the day when God shall

judge the world in righteousness by Jesus Christ! But I do not intend to dwell on that. I shall speak rather of spirituals. I want each Believer here now to look at his lot in a spiritual light and in it to feel that his cup is running over. Our cup overflows because of the infinite extent of the goodness itself which God has bestowed. The spiritually good things which God has given to us are so many that we never can contain them all! If the capacity of our mind could be enlarged a thousand-fold, yet such are the exceeding riches of God’s Christ that we never could contain all that God has laid up in Him as the portion of His people. Think for a minute—the Lord God has given to every Believer here, a whole Christ, a full Christ, an everlasting Christ, an exalted Christ—to be his eternal portion! �ow who can hold the whole of Christ? Behold His matchless Godhead, His immaculate Manhood, His power, His wisdom, His beauty, His Grace! Look at His works, His life of innocence, His death of disinterested affection, His triumph over Hell and the grave! Look at His Second Coming and the splendors of His millennial reign. �ow all these belong to us if we belong to God. And how shall we compass them all? Must not our cup of necessity run over? Remember next that God has made with every one of you who love Him, even the poorest and the weakest, a Covenant of Grace of which the beginning is beyond all human doubt—for that Covenant was made before the earth was—a Covenant which is ordered in all things and sure and whichwill never run out because it is the Everlasting Covenant and will stand as long as eternity endures. In that Covenant all things are yours! God has given over to you even Himself! “I will be their God and they shall be My people.” God the Father is yours! God the Son is yours! God the Holy Spirit is yours! Oh, what can you say if all this is yours? Your soul cannot hold them all, your cup must run over! Look again, Beloved, at the promises which are given us in holy Scripture. Why, any one promise is more than enough for us. “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” Why, there is a meal for a man for the next 12 months if he will never read another verse. “Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yes, they may forget, yet will I not forget you. Behold, I have engraved you upon the palms of My hands.” Oh, do but let that lie under your tongue like a wafer made with honey! Take but one such promise and you shall be like Ruth, who did eat and was satisfied, “and left”—for you cannot receive it all. But then take the range of the promises from Genesis to Revelation. How is this Book, like a beehive, filled with 10,000 cells and every cell distilling virgin honey such as enlightens the eyes of the man that tastes of it! Oh, who can hold the fullness of the promise? Who can contain all the words which the Holy Spirit has written, full of consolation to the mourning children of God? But suppose you could, by some enlarged capacity, grasp all the promises? Yet, Beloved, how would you be able to receive God Himself, and yet He is yours! The Infinite God is the portion of the faithful! You have enjoyed, sometimes, the visits of the Holy Spirit. You know what it means for the Holy Spirit to be at work in your soul. �ow, I am sure you will bear witness that at such times you have been conscious of the narrowness of your soul. You have felt, “O that I could hold my God. This sweet love of His, of which I am now conscious, is more than a match for me. Holy Spirit, how can You come to dwell with such a poor one as I am? I am but a bush and You a fire, and matched with You I am like a glowing, burning bush. How can I bear such Glory? I tremble lest I am consumed with over excess of bliss and love.” The Overflowing Cup Sermon #874 www.spurgeongems.org Volume 15 6 6 Many of God’s saints have been ready to die while they have had vivid impressions of the love of God and of the Glory which God had prepared for His elect. Their joy has been too great! One heart could not palpitate fast enough! One soul could not hold one 10th of the bliss which God was pleased to pour into it! By reason, then, of the greatness of the blessings themselves and the infinity of their number, it often happens that our cup runs over. O you that are sad today and yet Believers. You who are poverty-stricken today, and yet heirs of all this wealth! I would lovingly chide you and ask how you can thirst when your cup can no more contain all that God provides for you than the hollow of an infant’s hand can hold the wide, wide sea? Furthermore, does not our cup often run over because of our sinful contractions of its capacity?I have already hinted at the necessary narrowness of our capacity because we are mortal. But how often you and I fill up our soul with carnal joys and cares and then if God’s love does come into us, it must soon run over, for there is so little room! How often, too, are we sadly straitened in our longings after Divine things, so that when they come to us we have not room enough to receive them! I must confess that I have enjoyed more of God than my desires have ever aspired after. Oh, what stinted desires we have! He has said, “Open your mouth wide and I will fill it.” But we scarcely open our mouths at all. Men who are eager after wealth stretch their arms like seas to grasp in all the shore—but we win a little of Divine Grace and then we sit down basely content. We have not the consecrated ambition we ought to have. O that our desires were like the horseleech, so that concerning God they should always cry, “Give, give.” O that we never felt we had attained, were always dissatisfied with ourselves, seeking to do more, to know more, to love more, to kill self more and to be more consecrated to our dear Lord! Oh, our flat desires! I have heard that in the old times in England, on Christmas morning, the poor villagers were allowed to call at the house of the lord of the manor, each one with his basin, which it was the custom to fill to the brim. I guarantee you the basins grew sensibly larger every year, till one would think they had rather brought the bushel measure from the barn than the basin from the cupboard! It was wise of the poor folk, for His Lordship could not do less than fill whatever they brought. Alas, we are not so wise! We rather lessen our vessels than increase their size. You have not because you ask not, or because you ask amiss. God has done exceeding abundantly above what we have asked, or even thought. Mind how you read that text, it does not say, “above what we can ask”—no, no! We can ask for what we will and can think of boundless things and God can make us think of as great things as He can do, but above what we have asked, or think, God frequently gives to us. Beloved, I will now ask you a question. How would it be with you if God had filled your cup in proportion to your faith? How much would you havehad in your cup? Alas, I lament to say, while my God has never once failed me, but has been very faithful, constantly faithful, abundantly and richly faithful, yet my poor faith, if it were unusually tried, would hardly be found to His honor and Glory, unless He should be pleased to greatly enlarge and graciously to sustain it. Sad that we should have to make such

a confession, but we do, with shame. Is not that the confession many of us must make? If it were only to us according to our faith and God did not, in Sovereignty, step beyond His own rule in the kingdom, how poor should we be, measured by our faith! Our cup runs over, indeed. Suppose, my Brethren, our portion were to be measured by the returns that we have ever made to God for mercies we have enjoyed? Ah, should not we be starved from this day forth? What have I done for Him that died to save my wretched soul? Will you dare turn to the page in which memory records the service you have rendered to your Lord in thankfulness for His great love—ah, cover it up, it is not worth remembering. You have taught a child or two, you have preached to a congregation, you have offered a few prayers. Oh, our teaching, how feeble! Our preaching, how little in earnest! Our praying, how heartless! Our giving, how scant and how grudging! Oh, how little are our returns compared with what we owe to Him from whom we have received all we possess! We are, indeed, unprofitable servants. If our portion of meat were measured out according to our labor and devotion, long fasts would be our lot and feast days would be few and far between. But the Lord’s thoughts are not our thoughts, neither are His ways our ways, for such is the abundance of His forgiveness and longsuffering that our cup still runs over. I shall only detain you with one more remark on this point. �ote the supreme excellence of every blessing which God has given, for this tends to make the cup overflow. Every Covenant mercy which the child of God enjoys has this distinguished excellence in it—that it is eternal. The sinner’s best lot is only for a time. Ours, if it were slender, would far exceed the sinner’s, because it lasts forever! Better that a man have but a shilling a day forever, than that he have a gold piece but once in his life, which, being spent, he has no more. Sermon #874 The Overflowing Cup Volume 15 www.spurgeongems.org 77 If the Lord pardons you, it is forever. If He adopts you, it is forever. If He accepts you, it is forever. If He saves you, it is forever! There is eternity set as a Divine stamp upon every mercy. Believer, does not this make your cup run over, to think that everlasting love is yours? Moreover, your portion, whatever it may be, is received direct from God. Ishmael was sent into the desert with a bottle, but the bottle dried up,and Ishmael was thirsty. But we read of Isaac that he lived by the well Lahai-roi. There was always an abundance for Isaac, for he lived by the well. You have seen a rustic lad lie down at full length at the springhead on a summer’s day and drink—behold in him a picture of the Believer’s life. The saint does not drink of the stream far down in the valley, warmed by the world’s sun and mired by the world’s sin. He drinks at the wellhead where the current leaps up all cool and living from the great deep. There is another quality about the Sovereign gifts of Grace—they come to us in living union with Christ. If I get a mercy apart from Christ, it is like a rose plucked from the bush—it delights me with its perfume and appearance for an hour, but soon it withers and I put it away. But a spiritual mercy is like a living rose on the bush—it blooms and lasts and we smell it again and again and again. Our blessings are dear, indeed, as they come to us through Christ Jesus. And what is best of all, every one of these blessings in the Covenant are best to us because they are brought home to the heart by the Holy Spirit. You know a table may be well spread and yet a man may not be satisfied because he has no appetite, or he cannot reach the food. But the Holy Spirit has a way of making our cup run over because He gives us an appetite—He brings the food to us and helps us to receive it. He enables us to digest it and inwardly to be satisfied as with marrow and fatness. The mercies of the Infinite are the more choice because the Holy Spirit understands how to break the bread for us and feed us. He makes us to lie down in green pastures. We would fumble with mercies and spoil them like bad cooks that spoil good meat—but the Holy Spirit knows how to bring up the meat ready dressed for us and to give us the appetite and to make us feed upon His dainties with spiritual palates and refined tastes. III. �ow to close, I call upon those who have this cup to RESOLVE O� SUITABLE ACTIO�, seeing that this is their position, “My cup runs over, then let me, at any rate, drink all I can. If I cannot drink it all as it flows away, let meget all I can.” “Drink,” said the spouse, “yes, drink abundantly, O my Beloved.” The Master’s message at the communion table always is, “Take, eat!” And again, “Drink, drink all of it.” Oftentimes, when the Lord says to us, “Seek My face,” we answer, “But, Lord, I am unworthy to do so.” The proper answer is, “Your face, Lord, will I seek.” If you bring a man to a table and he is not hungry, you tell him to eat, but he may be bashful and he does not like to help and cut and carve for himself,and he takes but little. I guarantee you, however, if his hunger becomes very vehement, he will not wait for two permissions—he will cut and carve for himself after a mighty rate! O that our spiritual hunger were greater, for Christ never thinks believing sinners presumptuous in applying the promises, or laying hold upon the provisions of Divine Grace! The worst form of presumption is not to take what Christ offers. I know some in this House, today, who are very presumptuous, for they might have peace, but they will not. God has provided comfort for them, but they will not receive it, and they write bitter things against themselves. Month after month and week after week their cup runs over and yet they do not drink. There are promises exactly suitable to their case, but they think they are too humble to drink. It is not so, it is always proud humility—wicked, base, bastard humility—rank pride, that makes us think Christ is unwilling to forgive, or accept, or bless us. O dear Heart, never be hungry for lack of will to come and take! Let God’s invitations be your persuasions. Let His precepts to believe be accepted over the head of your unworthiness. Say to yourself, “I know these things are too good for me and I am not worthy of them. But if He does not shut me out, I certainly will not shut myself out. If He bids me come and take and believe, He means it—He offers like a king and I will take as a needy one should take from one so rich, who cannot miss it, but who will be glad to bestow it.” Well, that is my first piece of advice—your cup runs over—drink! The next is, if your cup runs over, Christian, and you drink of it, communicate to others. We too much neglect the comforting of those that are bowed down. Should not it be a part of the duty of every Church member to be a pastor to others who may be dispirited and sad? In such a Church as this, of course, the pastorate of one man is something even less than nominal, for I will not even accept the name if it is intended that I am thereby to carry out the duty. We can never have in a Church of 4,000 members proper oversight unless every member exercises oversight over the other, bearing one another’s burdens and so fulfilling the Law of Christ. I charge you do this! I know many of you are diligent in this duty, but be more so! Look after the sad and disconsolate and let the telling of your experience be as the putting of the bottle of cooling water to their thirsty lips. Again, if God has made your cup to run over, then seek to

serve Him, not after the order and measure of bare duty, but according to the enthusiasm of gratitude. I mean, give to The Overflowing Cup Sermon #874 www.spurgeongems.org Volume 15 8 8 God, you that have it! If he has given much to you, give much to Him! Depend on it, there is great wisdom in this, even from a selfish point of view. Good measure, pressed down and running over, will God return into your bosoms. If you cannot give money, then give your time, your talents—and, believe me, the more you do for God, the more you can do and the more happiness you will have in the doing of it! It is lazy Christians who grow rusty. It is unused keys that lose their brightness. You that rot away in inglorious ease, you know not the joy that belongs to the child of God! The Christian should feel, “I shall do all I can do and a little more, getting more strength from God than I had, that I may do, still, a little in excess. I will not measure my duty by what others say I ought to do, but reckon that if I draw back, I would not. If I might make some reserve, I could not. If I might deny my Lord something, yet I dare not, would not think of such a thing. The love He plants in my heart will not permit me.” If your cup runs over, let your service run over. Be “fervent in the Spirit, serving the Lord.” Let your generosity run over—give without stint. Let your prayers run over—pray without ceasing. Let your hymns run over—praise Him as long as you have breath. Let your talk of Him run over—tell the universe what a good God He is to you. Praise Him! You can never praise Him enough. Exaggeration will be impossible here. Let the loftiest praise be heaped upon the head of Christ and He will deserve something better. Let the angels make way for Him and let them pile their thrones one upon the other. Let them conduct Him to the seventh Heaven—over to the Heaven of heavens and let Him fill a lofty Throne there, yet, even then, He is not so high as His Father has set Him! Words cannot describe His Glory—it bows down all language beneath its weight. Metaphors, similes—though they were gathered with the wealth of wit and wisdom from all quarters of Heaven and earth—cannot reach even to the hem of His garments. Your love and your fidelity, your diligence and your zeal are not fit, even so much as to unloose the laces of His shoes, He is so great and so good. O talk much of Him, then! Let your talk run over like the language of Rutherford in his letters, where he seems, sometimes, to break through reason and moderation to glorify his Lord! Let your language of Christ be like the Apostle Paul, where he puts aside all syntax, grammar, speech and all else and makes new words and coins fresh expressions, and confuses tenses and moods and I know not what beside, because his soul could not express itself after the commonplace language of mankind! O let your praise run over to your Lord and King! Love Him! Praise Him! Exalt Him! Magnify Him! Live out His life again! You can but praise Him so! Die in His arms, that you may forever extol Him in the upper skies! May God grant us to be Christians rich in spiritual wealth, spending our strength and substance like the princes we are, for Him who is more than a prince and greater than a king!

16. ALEXA�DER MACLARE�, "God supplies our wants in the very midst of strife. ‘Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies. Thou anointest my head with oil. My cup runneth over.’ Before, it was food and rest first, work afterwards. �ow it Is more than work—it is conflict. And the mercy is more strikingly portrayed, as being granted not only before toil, but in warfare. Life is a sore fight; but to the Christian man, in spite of all the tumult, life is a festal banquet. There stand the enemies, ringing him round with cruel eyes, waiting to be let slip upon him like eager dogs round the poor beast of the chase. But for all that, here is spread a table in the wilderness, made ready by invisible hands; and the grim-eyed foe is held back in the leash till the servant of God has fed and been strengthened. This is our condition—always the foe, always the table.What sort of a meal should that be? The soldiers who eat and drink, and are drunken in the presence of the enemy, like the Saxons before Hastings, what will become of them? Drink the cup of gladness, as men do when their foe is at their side, looking askance over the rim, and with one hand on the sword, ‘ready, aye ready,’ against treachery and surprise. But the presence of the danger should make the feast more enjoyable too, by the moderation it enforces, and by the contrast it affords—as to sailors on shore, or soldiers in a truce. Joy may grow on the very face of danger, as a slender rose-bush flings its bright sprays and fragrant blossoms over the lip of a cataract; and that not the wild mirth of men in a pestilence, with their ‘Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die,’ but the simple-hearted gladness of

those who have preserved the invaluable childhood gift of living in the present moment, because they know that to-morrow will bring God, whatever it brings, and not take away His care and love, whatever it takes away.

17. DR. THOMAS CO�STABLE, "In this verse, David described God as a host rather than as a shepherd. As a gracious host, God provides hospitality for His people. He supplies us with what we need and desire lavishly, and He does so, not by removing us from the presence of our spiritual enemies, but in their presence. In the ancient East, a thoughtful host would welcome an honored guest into the protection of his home by pouring some oil on his head (cf. 45:7; 92:10; 133:2; Amos 6:6; Luke 7:46). This refreshed and soothed a weary traveler. Anointing with oil in Scripture pictured God's bestowal of His Holy Spirit on the believer (Exod. 40:9-16; Lev. 8:10-12; 1 Sam. 10:1; 16:13; 1 Kings 1:39; et al.).157 David's cup symbolized his lot in life that overflowed with abundant blessings.

18. JOH� CALVI�, "Thou wilt prepare. These words, which are put in the future tense, here denote a continued act. David, therefore, now repeats, without a figure, what he has hitherto declared, concerning the beneficence of God, under the similitude of a shepherd. He tells us that by his liberality he is supplied with all that is necessary for the maintenance of this life. When he says, Thou preparest a table before me, he means that God furnished him with sustenance without trouble or difficulty on his part, just as if a father should stretch forth his hand to give food to his child. He enhances this benefit from the additional consideration, that although many malicious persons envy his happiness, and desire his ruin, yea, endeavor to defraud him of the blessing of God; yet God does not desist from showing himself liberal towards him, and from doing him good. What he subjoins concerning oil, has a reference to a custom which then prevailed. We know that in old time, ointments were used at the more magnificent feasts, and no man thought he had honourably received his guests if he had not perfumed them therewith. �ow, this exuberant store of oil, and also this overflowing cup, ought to be explained as denoting the abundance which goes beyond the mere supply of the common necessaries of life; for it is spoken in commendation of the royal wealth with which, as the sacred historian records, David had been amply furnished. All men, it is true, are not treated with the same liberality with which David was treated; but there is not an individual who is not under obligation to God by the benefits which God has conferred upon him, so that we are constrained to acknowledge that he is a kind and liberal Father to all his people. In the meantime, let each of us stir up himself to gratitude to God for his benefits, and the more abundantly these have been bestowed upon us, our gratitude ought to be the greater. If he is ungrateful who, having only a coarse loaf, does not acknowledge in that the fatherly providence of God, how much less can the stupidity of those be tolerated, who glut themselves with the great abundance of the good things of God which they possess, without having any sense or taste of his goodness towards them? David, therefore, by his own example, admonishes the rich of their duty, that they may be the more ardent in the expression of their gratitude to God, the more delicately he feeds them. Farther, let us remember, that those who have greater abundance than others are bound to observe moderation not less than if they had only as much of the good things of this

life as would serve for their limited and temperate enjoyment. We are too much inclined by nature to excess; and, therefore, when God is, in respect of worldly things, bountiful to his people, it is not to stir up and nourish in them this disease. All men ought to attend to the rule of Paul, which is laid down in Philippians 4:12, that they “may know both how to be abased, and how to abound.” That want may not sink us into despondency, we need to be sustained by patient endurance; and, on the other hand, that too great abundance may not elate us above measure, we need to be restrained by the bridle of temperance. Accordingly, the Lord, when he enriches his own people, restrains, at the same time, the licentious desires of the flesh by the spirit of confidence, so that, of their own accord, they prescribe to themselves rules of temperance. �ot that it is unlawful for rich men to enjoy more freely the abundance which they possess than if God had given them a smaller portion; but all men ought to beware, (and much more kings,) lest they should be dissolved in voluptuous pleasures. David, no doubt, as was perfectly lawful, allowed himself larger scope than if he had been only one of the common people, or than if he had still dwelt in his father’s cottage, but he so regulated himself in the midst of his delicacies, as not at all to take pleasure in stuffing and fattening the body. He knew well how to distinguish between the table which God had prepared for him and a trough for swine. It is also worthy of particular notice, that although David lived upon his own lands, the tribute money and other revenues of the kingdom, he gave thanks to God just as if God had daily given him his food with his own hand. From this we conclude that he was not blinded with his riches, but always looked upon God as his householder, who brought forth meat and drink from his own store, and distributed it to him at the proper season.

19. GEORGE ADAM SMITH, "Our enemies are our evil deeds and theirmemories, our pride, our selfishness, our malice, our passions, which byconscience or by habit pursue us with a relentlessness past the power offigure to express. We know how they persist from youth unto the grave:_the sting of death is sin._ We know what they want: nothing less than ourwhole character and will.

20. PASTOR BILL, " With this verse the image of the Psalm suddenly changes. We are no longer in the field but in a palace. The Lord is now the gracious host. He prepares a table. He anoints the head, and He pours a cup. Our perception of God will determine our personal relationship with Him. God wants us to know that He has welcomed us and that He loves us. In this verse we see three marks of God's great love and hospitality.

1. The Preparation of The Table - How important and special we are to Him. He prepares the table.2. The Anointing of The Head - A wealthy home would have had an expensive vessel of perfumed oil by the door. It would be used for special occasions when distinctive company came to visit. If a wonderful friend from far away, or a loved one dear to ones heart would pay a visit, they would be greeted at the door, hands The host

would dip his hands into that precious ointment and the head of the incoming guest anointed. This act meant that they were very special. This is truth: you are special to God!3. The Overflowing Cup - In Bible times, there were no motels and restaurants. It was the custom if a traveler stopped at ones house, they were to be given entrance and a meal prepared for them. However, no other obligation was expected from the host. Only a meal and then the traveler could be sent on his way. If the person dining with you were quite interesting, or you really wanted him to stay, you would tell him in so many words. You would fill his glass to overflowing. When he saw it he would look up and smile and thank you for the invitation. However, if you wanted him to leave, you would fill his glass half full. That meant that after dessert -hit the road traveler! The host in verse five is a picture of Jesus and of the blessings we receive from Him.

The Fullness We Have in Jesus: "Thou preparest a table..." Full sheep are happy sheep, but the sheep must have a table land prepared for them because of their enemies. The shepherd would go ahead from time to time to seek out and prepare safe feeding places. Think of the times when the Good Shepherd, the Lord Jesus prepared the table. Read Psalms 78: 19-22 and note the four different tables.1. A table of Replenishment.2. A table of Restoration3. A table of Remembrance4. A table of Rejoicing

The Freshness We Have in Jesus: "He anoints my head with oil.." David remembered how he would anoint the heads of his sheep.The oil symbolizes the Holy Spirit. 2 Corinthians1:21-22, "�ow He which stablisheth you in Christ, and hath anointed us is God; who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts." Thank God for the freshness of that anointing. See Psalms 92:10 and Psalms 45:7.

The Freeness We Have in Jesus: "My cup runneth over." Our God is the God of more than enough. John 10:10, "...I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly."

21. One time a little boy had been punished by his mother at the dinner table for acting raucous, and she said, ¸Go over there and sit in the corner, and eat your food in the corner. She made him go over and sit on a little stool and face the wall and eat. Then, before he began to eat, she said, ¸And donÕt forget to ask the blessing! That little old tyke, about seven years old, bowed his head over his plate and said, Dear Lord, please bless this food that you've prepared for us, in the presence of our enemies!

22. DAVID WALLACE, "He is pictured as being our Host.

1. We are His guests. Verse 5

(1). We have been invited. Isa 55:1-2a

Isa 55:1-2a �IV 1 "Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.

2 Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare.

(2). He promises to serve us generously and with the best. Isa 55:2b; Lk 15:23-24; Lk 15:31; Re 3:20

Isa 55:2b �IV ... Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare.

Lk 15:23-24 �IV 23 Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let's have a feast and celebrate.

24 For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.' So they began to celebrate.

Lk 15:31 �IV "'My son,' the father said, 'you are always with me, and everything I have is yours.

23. Major Allen Satterlee, “ The focus now shifts from shepherd to friend. It is an unusual setting, a table amid enemies. This could indicate one of three things. First, that despite the enemies surrounding me, I am so safe in the Good Shepherd’s care that enemies are powerless to touch me. Second, it could refer to the ancient practice of a king surrounding his banquet table with the kings and generals he has defeated and captured, a reminder of his victory over them. And finally, it could represent a feast that commemorates the sealing of a covenant, the signing of a peace treaty. “The enemies who sought to destroy me are now living with me in peace.”

24. �ORRIS HARRIS, "And so, our concern tonight is HOW DO WE GET TO THIS RU��I�G OVER STAGE I� OUR WALK WITH THE LORD? WHAT ARE THE STEPS I�VOLVED I� GOI�G FROM A TRICKLE TO RU��I�G OVER?

I. STEP O�E IS TO TUR� YOUR CUP RIGHT SIDE UP!

In most good resturants the coffee cups are placed up-side down on the saucer. And if you desire coffee, you just turn your cup right-side up. And a good waitress/waiter takes that signal as your desire for coffee. If you want the coffee, just turn your cup

right-side up!

Many of us are trying to Live the Abundant Life with Up Side-Down Cups!

Our Cup Must Be Turned Right Side-Up. Be Open To Believe God. To Receive of His Fullness.

TUR� YOUR CUP RIGHT SIDE-UP!!

II. STEP TWO IS TO HAVE YOUR CRACKED CUP ME�DED!

Some of Our Cups are �ot Running Over because They Are Cracked!

Cracked from Disobedience!

Cracked from Selfishness!

TAKE YOUR CRACKED CUP TO THE POTTER TO BE ME�DED!!!

�ow, when Our Upside-Down Cups have been Turned Right Side-Up and Our Cracked Cups have become Mended Cup, then:

With the A�OI�TI�G,OUR CUP WILL RU� OVER!!!

Turn Your Cup Right Side Up and say:"Fill my cup, Lord;I Lift it up, Lord;Come and quench this thirsting of my Soul.Bread of Heaven,Feed me ’til I want no More.Fill My Cup.I Lift It Up.Lord, Make Me Whole."

25. JAMES STALKER, "In the second half of it, we are away from the image of the sheep al-together, and that another image is being developed. When, at v. 5, it is said, " Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies ; Thou anointest my head with oil ; my cup runneth over," it is ob-vious that the words are put not into the mouth of a sheep, but into that of a

guest, and that the person addressed is no longer conceived of as a shepherd, but as a host or entertainer. The table spread, the head anointed, the cup full to overflowing are obvious features of a banquet ; and the idea is, that he who has God for his friend enjoys a continual feast, where everything is in abundance and everything is of the best. The same cheerful image is kept up in the closing verse--" Goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life ; and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever/ 1 The favourite is not only to be a guest, but one who abides in the house for ever that is, a son.

The point to be observed is, that thissecond image agrees, as well as does the first, with the experience of David. If, during the first half of his life, he was a shepherd, he was, during the second half, a king ; and one of the duties of a king is hospitality. Indeed, this trait is mentioned again and again in the history as characteristic of David's mature life ; and what a fascination he exercised as a host may be inferred from the offer of two of his braves to risk their lives in order to procure what he wanted, when he expressed a desire to taste a draught of water from the Well of Bethlehem. To his guests he could supply not only the good things of the table, but, with his musical gifts, the feast of reason and the flow of soul. If David was a model shepherd at one period of life, he was a model entertainer at another ; and this experience also supplied him with the means of illustrating both the behaviour of God to men and the attitude of men to God."

AT the fifth verse, it is manifest, the figure of speech is changed. Up to this point every clause has been a picture from the experience of the sheep ; but, when the singer says, " Thou preparest a table before

me in the presence of mine enemies ; thou anointest mine head with oil ; my cup run-neth over," it is obvious that the figure of the sheep and the shepherd is entirely dropped.

If at this point the figure of speech is changed, it is a question what the next figure is.

In a published sermon, characterized by spiritual power and especially by the vivid-ness imparted to the interpretation of the Old Testament by knowledge of the Orient, Principal George Adam Smith takes this verse as a picture of a scene from pastoral life. He thinks the speaker is a fugitive who, having committed some crime, is pur-sued by the avengers of blood, and has taken refuge in the tent of a shepherd-chief. By Eastern law and custom such a fugitive would be protected with all the resources of the person on whose mercy he had cast himself, and regaled with the best which the encampment could afford. It is a truly tragic picture to see the fugitive there with-in, protected by the sheikh and feasting on the best, while his infuriated and blood-thirsty foes glare at him from the opposite side of the threshold, which they dare not cross. Principal Smith takes these pursuing enemies to represent the writer's sins. The spectres of guilt pursue every son of man, for who has not behind him an evil past ? But, if a man has taken refuge in God, cast-ing himself on His mercy, his pursuers dare not touch him. Undoubtedly this gives a striking sense to the verse ; and the inter-pretation has this recommendation, that it still adheres to the pastoral life. But the author is not so happy in explaining the sixth verse.

By the perusal of a fascinating booklet, entitled The Song of our Syrian Guest , from the pen of the Rev. W. A. Knight, the minds of multitudes on both sides of the

Atlantic have been captured for the view that the image of shepherd and sheep is con-tinued to the end of the Psalm. For the fifth verse this is argued ingeniously, but not convincingly : the preparing of a table being taken as the selection of a pasture, the anointing as the salving of wounds and bruises, and the cup as the vessel by which the trough is filled out of which the sheep drink. Far more natural is the application of the language to the various features of a banquet. But it is in the sixth verse that that interpretation breaks down. A sheep does not dwell in the " house ' of a shep-herd, unless it be a pet lamb ; and this is a condition which does not last "forever." �o doubt the word " house ' has great latitude of application ; and it might pos-sibly refer to the fold, though I do not remember a case where it is so used. When "the house of the Lord' is taken as the palace of the king, in which the banquet of the fifth verse has taken place, the sixth verse is the climax of the whole Psalm, as from its position it ought to be ; but under any other interpretation this character is lost. In short, David is here making use of the experience of the second portion of his own life, as in the image of the shepherd and the sheep he utilises the experience of the first. As in youth he was a shepherd abiding in the fields, in manhood he was a king living in a palace. One of the obligations of a king is to be an entertainer, exercising a frequent and a splendid hospitality. In this virtue, we know from the historical records of his reign, David did not come short ; he had the cordiality and the personal fascina-tion by which hospitality is rendered delight-ful. Many a guest had he made happy at his table, thereby binding him in triple loyalty to his own person ; and, as in his own conduct as a shepherd he had found a fruitful image of what God had done, so does he find in this other role played by himself with such distinction, an ampler and more intimate representation of the divine

goodness.

Why is it that the sacred singer forsakes the image of the shepherd and the sheep, and em-braces in his poem this one also? I have already given an external reason in the two periods of David's history ; but there is an internal reason as well : it is that the first image is not sufficient to express the spiritual life in its entirety. Some aspects of it were ex-pressed by this image admirably, but others, no less important, could hardly be expressed at all.

For example, it expressed the passive but not the active side of religion. The relation of the sheep to the shepherd is wholly passive : the sheep is fed, it is led, it is protected ; a sheep does nothing for itself, or next to nothing. And there is a side of religion which corresponds to this : in religion God does everything, and man has nothing to do but passively receive. This is a great truth ; but it is not the whole truth. Religion has an active side as well : it is a battle and a victory. Well was David aware of this : he was a great worker for God, a fighter and a victor ; and this side of his religion is expressed in this next image.

Perhaps this is most distinctly hinted at in the phrase, "in the presence of mine enemies," because this denotes that it is a warrior's feast which is described.

Many of the banquets in David's palace must have been of this type. One of the features of his reign was that, like our own King Arthur with his knights of the Round Table, he collected round himself from all parts of the land the young men of promise and aspiration, and trained them up in valour and usefulness. Their exploits were long remembered by their countrymen with pride

and affection. At their head were the three mighties, and after these the thirty ; Joab and Abishai, Benaiah and Asahel were names familiar for generations afterwards as house-hold words. These David sent forth to clear the land of enemies and to widen its borders on every hand ; and, when they came home to record their triumphs, no doubt he feasted them in the palace, making them feel how much he rejoiced in their valour and their victories.

Another element of the spiritual life imper-fectly expressed by the image of the sheep and the shepherd, but far more adequately set forth by that of entertainer and guest, is communion.

Between sheep and shepherd there is a strong tie : they understand each other, and may be said to love each other. Yet they are far apart : between a brute and a man there is a great gulf fixed. It may be said that the gulf between man and God is wider still. But this is not the case. The Eighth Psalm boldly declares, in the correct translation of the Revised Version, that man has been made but a little lower than God ; and all Scripture unites in declaring that man was made in the image of God. Man is capable of knowing, loving and obeying his Creator, and this is his highest honour. It is, indeed, an infinite condescension on the part of God ; but He allows and invites man to a far closer fellowship with Himself than it is possible for a sheep to have with a man ; and this was the fact of religion which required to be represented through a new image.

A banquet is a living image of fellowship. To invite a man to be your guest is an expression of respect and affection ; and it is an intimation that you wish to know more of him, and to come closer to him. The house is adorned, the table is spread with unusual care, and the viands are chosen to give him pleasure and do him honour. As

the feast proceeds, distance and shyness are broken down ; the lips are opened, and the heart is opened. The host not only gives his entertainment, but he gives himself; and the guest gives himself in return.

This is an image of religion. Religion is fellowship with God ; this is its very soul and essence. To be religious is to walk with God. It is to move all day long in an atmosphere warmed and enlightened by His presence. It is to realise Him to be so near that you can appeal to Him in every emer-gency, seek His aid in every time of need, and in every joy make Him your confidant. It is to see Him everywhere in the sun-shine, in the beauty of hill and dale, in the life of the market-place and the vicissitudes of home. This immensely brightens and intensifies life ; and in this sense all a Christian's life may be said to be a banquet. Others, sitting at the table of Providence, receive ordinary fare ; but those who enjoy God in everything partake of festal food. A crust, if God's blessing is given with it, and if it is received with thankfulness, causes more enjoyment than the most savoury food where God is forgotten. To the mind which can discern God the whole world becomes a king's palace.

But in another sense the Christian life may be compared to a banquet : not only is God in every part of it, but now and then He favours the soul with special seasons of com-munion. In its very nature a feast is an occasional thing : it does not take place every day. And perhaps, therefore, the experience for which it stands is one which is not the Christian's daily portion, but given as a special favour and reward now and then. There are such seasons : religion has not only its ordinary tenor, but its exceptional experiences its mounts of transfiguration and its evenings in the upper room. At such times God comes very near, and fellow-ship is very close. Of such occurrences

the saints of every age have spoken. Says one :

Upon my heart, bestowed by Thee, More gladness I have found Than they, even then when corn and wine Did most with them abound.

Another, on the evening of a day spent in communion, said, " I had rather be a door-keeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness." St. Paul was caught up to the third heavens, and did not know whether he was in the body or out of the body. Read the Confessions of St. vAugustine y or the Sermons of St. "Bernard, Bunyan's Grace Abounding, or Rutherford's Letters, and you will see that the Christian life has what Bunyan calls its "golden hours " ; and what makes these golden is the nearness of God and the sense of the divine love. Ordinary humanity no doubt has its rare and memorable moments too : it is a poor life in which there are not some days which shine like gold and dia-monds among the wood, hay and stubble of ordinary experience days so precious that they would not be exchanged for years of commonplace existence but nothing earthly can lift the human spirit to such heights as the influence of the Spirit of God.

6 Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life,and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

1. David is the ultimate optimist, for from beginning to end this Psalm is all about

the positive journey of life when the Lord is his Shepherd. He has to go throught tough times in the dark valley, but he is never alone, and will always come out into the light. In this verse he looks to etenity and see himself in the Lord's house forever. You cannot paint a more optimistic picture than this. The reality, however, is that it demands patience, for we cannot experience all of God's goodness and love at once, and we cannot experience the Father's house until we move out of the house of our bodies. We need to learn that being an optimist demands the abilit to wait. The poet puts it like this-

Who sees the beauty of a single starMust wait for night to fling her gems afar;Who sniffs the fragrance of an early roseMust wait for spring to melt the winter snows;Who plants a seed beneath the sun and rainMust wait for earth to yield the golden grain.The deepest joys in life often come late,Who claims them as his own must learn to wait.

----Sybil Leonard Armes in Home Life

David was waiting for God's best, but he was already enjoying to a great degree what was to come. He was enjoying the presence of his Shephered in time, and enjoying his goodness and his love. He was tasting both worlds at the same time.When admiral byrd took his second trip to the region of the South Pole, he flew along the 180th meridian of longitude in the Pacific. This is the international date line which is an imaginary boundry. On one side it is Wednesday and on the other it is Thursday. As they flew along Byrd said, "We were constantly zigzagging from today into tomorrow and back again." This is the way the Christian is to travel through life on the border between time and eternity, earth and heaven. He is to enter heaven by prayer and then back into the world of the material, always in the world by not of it, zigzagging back and forth between today and the tomorrow of eternity.

David could relate to these words of Spurgeon: "Oh, I reckon on the day of death if it were for the mere hope of seeing the bright spirits that are now before the throne; to clasp the hand of Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, to look into the face of Paul the apostle, and clasp the hand of Peter; to sit in flowery fields with Moses and David, to bask in the sunlight of bliss with John and Magdalene. Oh, how blessed! The company of poor imperfect saints on earth is good; but how much better the society of the redeemed. Death is no loss to us by way of friends. We leave a few, a little band below, and say to them, "Fear not, little flock," and we ascend and meet the armies of the living God--the hosts of His redeemed. "To die is gain."

David was optimistic about his life in time and eternity, and he was not defeated by all of the bad things that happened to him because of his own sin, or the wickedness

of his enemies. He knew the Shepherd and he knew what God had revealed, and so his optimism was permanent and perpetual like that of the man below-

MATTHEW STAVER "My optimism about the future is not mere psychological well-wishing. It is encompassed in my biblical worldview, grounded in fact, and watered by reality. I was addressing an audience in Midland, Texas, giving one success story after another of people whom Liberty Counsel has had the privilege of representing. During the question and answer period, a gentleman raised his hand and asked, “How can you be so optimistic when so many bad things are happening in the world?” I responded by posing a hypothetical illustration. “Suppose,” I said, “you were not able to watch your favorite football team on television because of a prior commitment, so you recorded the game. However, before you were able to watch the game, someone unfortunately told you the score, and you learned that your favorite team won. �evertheless, for mere entertainment purposes, you sat down and watched the game anyway.” I then said, “Let me ask you a question? If your team was down by twenty-one points in the second quarter, would you get depressed?” The answer is obviously “�o!” Why? Because you know the outcome. I then said, “I know who wrote the last chapter of the book, and therefore, I never get discouraged when I see evil attacking our culture.”

1B. Barnes, “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me - God will bestow them upon me. This is the “result” of what is stated in the previous verses. The effect of God’s merciful dealings with him had been to lead his mind to the assurance that God would always be his shepherd and friend; that He would never leave him to want.

All the days of my life - Through all its changes; in every variety of situation; until I reach its close. Life indeed would end, and he does not venture to conjecture when that would be; but as long as life should continue, he felt confidently assured that everything needful for him would be bestowed upon him. The language is the utterance of a heart overflowing with joy and gratitude in the recollection of the past, and full of glad anticipation (as derived from the experience of the past) in regard to the future.

And I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever -Margin, as in Hebrew: “to length of days.” The expression, I think, does not refer to eternity or to heaven, but it is parallel with the former expression “All the days of my life;” that is, he would dwell in the house of the Lord as long as he lived - with the idea added here, which was not in the former member of the sentence, that his life would be long, or that he hoped and anticipated that he would live long on the earth. The phrase used here, “I will dwell in the house of the Lord,” is one that is several times employed in the Psalms as indicative of the wish of the psalmist. Thus, in Psa_27:4, “One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life.” Psa_26:8, “lord, I have loved the habitation of thy house, and the place where thine honor dwelleth.” Psa_65:4, “blessed is the man whom thou choosest, and causest to approach unto thee, that he may dwell in thy courts.”

Psa_84:4, “blessed are they that dwell in thy house.” (Compare also Psa_87:1, Psa_87:3,10). The “language” here is obviously taken from the employment of those who had their habitation near the tabernacle, and afterward the temple, whose business it was to attend constantly on the service of God, and to minister in his courts. We are not to suppose of David that he anticipated such a residence in or near the tabernacle or the

house of God; but the meaning is, that he anticipated and desired a life as if he dwelt there, and as if he was constantly engaged in holy occupations. His life would be spent as if in the constant service of God; his joy and peace in religion would be as if he were always within the immediate dwelling-place of the Most High. This expresses the desire of a true child of God. He wishes to live as if he were always engaged in solemn acts of worship, and occupied in holy things; he desires peace and joy in religion as if he were constantly in the place where God makes his abode, and allowed to partake of his smiles and friendship. In a very important sense it is his privilege so to live even on earth; it will certainly be his privilege so to live in heaven: and, full of grateful exultation and joy, every child of God may adopt this language as his own, and say confidently, “Goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life here, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever,” for heaven, where God dwells, will be his eternal home.

2. Clarke, “Goodness and mercy shall follow me - As I pass on through the vale of life, thy goodness and mercy shall follow my every step; as I proceed, so shall they. There seems to be an allusion here to the waters of the rock smitten by the rod of Moses, which followed the Israelites all the way through the wilderness, till they came to the Promised Land. God never leaves his true followers providential mercies gracious influences, and miraculous interferences, shall never be wanting when they are

necessary. I will dwell in the house, ושבתי veshabti, “and I shall Return to the house of the

Lord,” for ever, לארך�ימים leorech�yamim, “for length of days.” During the rest of my life, I shall not be separated from God’s house, nor from God’s ordinances; and shall at last dwell with him in glory. These two last verses seem to be the language of a priest returned from captivity to live in the temple, and to serve God the rest of his life.

3. Gill, “ Either the free grace, love, favour, and mercy of God in Christ, which endures continually, and is always the same from everlasting to everlasting; or the effects of it; and these either temporal good things, which flow from the goodness and mercy of God, and not the merits of men; and which are in great mercy and loving kindness bestowed on his people, and which follow them: they do not anxiously seek after them; but seeking the kingdom of God and his righteousness, these are added to them, they trusting in the Lord, and he caring for them: or spiritual good things, which arise from the mere grace and mercy of God; such as the blessings of the covenant, the sure mercies of David, the discoveries and instances of the love of God, and the provisions of his house, which follow them, being undeserving of them; and even when they have backslidden from the Lord, and in times of distress, when his grace is sufficient for them; and of all this the psalmist had a comfortable assurance, depending upon the promise of God, arguing from the blessings he had already bestowed, and from the constant care he takes of his people, having in view his unchangeableness and faithfulness, the firmness of his covenant, and the irreversibleness of the blessings of it: the words may be rendered "only goodness and mercy", &c. (c) nothing but mere mercy and kindness; for though afflictions do attend the children of God, yet these are in mercy and love; there is no fury in the Lord against them; there is nothing comes in wrath to them, throughout the whole course of their lives; wherefore it is added,

all the days of my life; the mercies of God are new every morning, they continue all

the day long; temporal goodness abides as long as life lasts, and ends with it; and spiritual blessings are for ever, they are the gifts of God, which are without repentance;

and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever; which may denote his constant attendance on the public worship of God, of which he had been deprived in time past, being driven out from it, but now he enjoyed it, and believed he ever should; or it may design his being a member of the church of God, and a pillar in the house and temple of the Lord, that should never go out; see Rev_3:12; or it may regard the assurance he had of dwelling in the house not made with hands, eternal, in the heavens, Christ's Father's house, in which are many mansions, sure dwellings, and quiet resting places for his people, and that to all eternity. The Targum interprets it of the house of the sanctuary; and Kimchi expounds the whole verse in a petitionary way, "may goodness and mercy", &c.

4. Henry, “How confidently he counts upon the continuance of God's favours, Psa_23:6. He had said (Psa_23:1), I shall not want; but now he speaks more positively, more comprehensively: Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.His hope rises, and his faith is strengthened, by being exercised. Observe, (1.) What he promises himself - goodness and mercy, all the streams of mercy flowing from the fountain, pardoning mercy, protecting mercy, sustaining mercy, supplying mercy. (2.) The manner of the conveyance of it: It shall follow me, as the water out of the rock followed the camp of Israel through the wilderness; it shall follow into all places and all conditions, shall be always ready. (3.) The continuance of it: It shall follow me all my life long, even to the last; for whom God loves he loves to the end. (4.) The constancy of it: All the days of my life, as duly as the day comes; it shall be new every morning (Lam_3:22, Lam_3:23) like the manna that was given to the Israelites daily. (5.) The certainty of it: Surely it shall. It is as sure as the promise of the God of truth can make it; and we know whom we have believed. (6.) Here is a prospect of the perfection of bliss in the future state. So some take the latter clause: “Goodness and mercy having followed me all the days of my life on this earth, when that is ended I shall remove to a better world, to dwell in the house of the Lord for ever, in our Father's house above, where there are many mansions. With what I have I am pleased much; with what I hope for I am pleased more.” All this, and heaven too! Then we serve a good Master.

3. How resolutely he determines to cleave to God and to his duty. We read the last clause as David's covenant with God: “I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever (as long as I live), and I will praise him while I have any being.” We must dwell in his house as servants, that desired to have their ears bored to the door-post, to serve him for ever. If God's goodness to us be like the morning light, which shines more and more to the perfect day, let not ours to him be like the morning cloud and the early dew that passeth away. Those that would be satisfied with the fatness of God's house must keep close to the duties of it.

5. SPURGEO�, “This is a fact as indisputable as it is encouraging, and therefore a heavenly verily, or "surely" is set as a seal upon it. This sentence may be read, "only goodness and mercy," for there shall be unmingled mercy in our history. These twin guardian angels will always be with me at my back and my beck. Just as when great princes go abroad they must not go unattended, so it is with the believer. Goodness and mercy follow him always—"all the days of his life"—the black days as well as the bright days, the days of fasting as well as the days of feasting, the dreary days of winter as well as the bright days of summer. Goodness supplies our needs, and

mercy blots out our sins. "And I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever." "A servant abideth not in the house for ever, but the son abideth ever." While I am here I will be a child at home with my God; the whole world shall be his house to me; and when I ascend into the upper chamber, I shall not change my company, nor even change the house; I shall only go to dwell in the upper storey of the house of the Lord for ever.May God grant us grace to dwell in the serene atmosphere of this most blessed Psalm!

6. TREASURY OF DAVID BY SPURGEO�, “ Verse 6. "I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever." A wicked man, it may be, will turn into God's house, and say a prayer, etc., but the prophet would (and so all godly men must) dwell there for ever; his soul lieth always at the throne of grace, begging for grace. A wicked man prayeth as the cock croweth; the cock crows and ceaseth, and crows again, and ceaseth again, and thinks not of crowing till he crows again: so a wicked man prays and ceaseth, prays and ceaseth again; his mind is never busied to think whether his prayers speed or no; he thinks it is good religion for him to pray, and therefore he takes for granted that his prayers speed, though in very deed God never hears his prayers, nor no more respects them than he respects the lowing of oxen, or the grunting of hogs. William Fenner, B.D. (1600-1640), in "The Sacrifice of the Faithful."

Verse 6. "I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever." This should be at once the crown of all our hopes for the future, and the one great lesson taught us by all the vicissitudes of life. The sorrows and the joys, the journeying and the rest, the temporary repose and the frequent struggles, all these should make us sure that there is an end which will interpret them all, to which they all point, for which they all prepare. We get the table in the wilderness here. It is as when the son of some great king comes back from foreign soil to his father's dominions, and is welcomed at every stage in his journey to the capital with pomp of festival and messengers from the throne, until at last he enters his palace home, where the travel-stained robe is laid aside, and he sits down with his father at his table. Alexander Maclaren, 1863.

Verse 6. Mark David's resolute persuasion, and consider how he came unto it, namely, by experience of God's favour at sundry times, and after sundry manners. For before he set down this resolution, he numbered up divers benefits received of the Lord; that he fed him in green pastures, and led him by the refreshing waters of God's word; that he restores him and leads him in the paths of righteousness; that he strengthened him in great dangers, even of death, and preserveth him; that in despite of his enemies, he enricheth him with many benefits. By means of all the mercies of God bestowed on him, he came to be persuaded of the continuance of the favour of God towards him. William Perkins.

7. MP�Home.net, "The Hebrew term translated as "goodness" in verse six is the

same at that translated as "good" in other Old Testament passages; and the Hebrew word translated as mercy in the KJV, is translated elsewhere as lovingkindness, goodness, kindness, etc. Psalms 86:5 "For thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive; and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee." Psalms 106:1 "Praise ye the LORD. O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever." Even extreme suffering while in the world cannot diminish the glory of being in the household of the Lord. Job 19:25-27 "For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: and though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed within me." Even before Christ appeared, this seeming paradox of death to life was present in more than one area of Old Testament scripture. Proverbs 12:28 "In the way of righteousness is life; and in the pathway thereof there is no death." Proverbs 21:21 "He that followeth after righteousness and mercy findeth life, righteousness, and honour." The death of our body that is inevitable because of our sin, is not cause to lose hope. Our identity as God's creation exists beyond the grave as promised by our Lord. John 11:25-26 "Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: and whosoever liveth and believeth in meshall never die. Believest thou this?" John 5:24 "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life." And Paul reminds us again that we are to bear fruit while we remain because we are freed to eternal life as our end, and should now seek after holiness. Romans 6:22 "But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life."

8. Bob Deffinbaugh, "Goodness and lovingkindness are probably the two most comforting attributes of God’s character for the Christian. They are especially consoling in times of distress. These characteristics of God are linked to His covenant with Israel.99 In contrast with the wicked man, who is beset by judgment and calamity (Ps. 35:6; 140:11), the righteous man is not just followed by goodness and kindness, but pursued by it.100 As a guest at God’s table, his enemies no longer stalk David; instead God’s goodness pursues him.101 God not only walks before us, leading us to places of rest and refreshment, but His goodness follows us from behind as well.

Most significantly, David is not a guest for a few days at the home of his gracious host; he is a permanent part of this household. There is an old Greek saying that goes something like this: “A guest is like a fish … After three days, he stinks.” To be a guest in God’s house is not limited to three days. David is assured that he will “dwell in the house of the Lord”102 forever.103

The temple was not yet built in David’s day. Although he desired to build the temple, this task was left to his son Solomon (2 Sam. 7). David may have been looking forward to that future day in eternity when he could fellowship with God in

the temple. It may well be, however, that David is simply looking forward to continued fellowship and communion with God as he has already experienced it in his life. God’s care in the past is but a sample, a kind of first-fruits of what is yet ahead.

9. With staff and shoon I journey,

And still before mine eyes The Lord who goes before me

Holds up a radiant prize. And though I faint and falter,

I yet shall overcome, And win with saints and angels

The endless rest at home.

MARGARET E. SA�GSTER.

10. J. R. MILLER, "" There come new cares and sorrows Every year. The ghosts of dead loves haunt us, The ghosts of changed friends taunt us. And disappointments daunt us Every year.

Too true ! Life's shores are shifting Every year ; And we are seaward drifting Every year ;

Old places changing fret us. The living more forget us, There are fewer to regret us Every year.

But the truer life draws nigher Every year ; And its morning star climbs higher Every year ;

Earth's hold on us grows slighter, And the heavy burthen lighter, And the dawn immortal brighter,

Every year."

The ending of the story of this life of blessed ness is not in this world ; it is in heaven. Whether David's thought reached over into the eternal home, we cannot surely tell. The truth of im mortality was not understood then as it is now. We have fuller revelation, and we know that the believer shall indeed dwell in the house of the Lord forever. We have the finishing of the pic ture in the book of The Revelation. "Therefore are they before the throne of God ; and they serve him day and night in his temple : and he that sitteth on the throne shall spread his tabernacle over them. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more ; neither shall the sun strike upon them, nor any heat : for the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall be their shepherd, and shall guide them unto fountains of waters of life : and God shall wipe away every tear from their eyes."

11. ALEXA�DER MACLARE�, "These two angels of God—Goodness and Mercy—shall follow and encamp around the pilgrim. The enemies whom God held back while he feasted, may pursue, but will not overtake him. They will be distanced sooner or later; but the white wings of these messengers of the covenant will never be far away from the journeying child, and the air will often be filled with the music of their comings, and their celestial weapons will glance around him in all the fight, and their soft arms will bear him up over all the rough ways, and up higher at last to the throne.

So much for the earthly future. But higher than all that rises the confidence of the closing words, ‘I shall dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.’ This should be at once the crown of all our hopes for the future, and the one great lesson taught us by all the vicissitudes of life. The sorrows and the joys, the journeying and the rest, the temporary repose and the frequent struggles, all these should make us sure that there is an end which will interpret them all, to which they all point, for which they may all prepare. We get the table in the wilderness here. It is as when the son of some great king comes back from foreign soil to his father’s dominions, and is welcomed at every stage in his journey to the capital with pomp of festival, and messengers from the throne, until he enters at last his palace home, where the travel-stained robe is laid aside, and he sits down with his father at his table. God provides for us here in the presence of our enemies; it is wilderness food we get, manna from heaven, and water from the rock. We eat in haste, staff in hand, and standing round the meal. But yonder we sit down with the Shepherd, the Master of the house, at His table in His kingdom. We put off the pilgrim-dress, and put on the

royal robe; we lay aside the sword, and clasp the palm. Far off, and lost to sight, are all the enemies. We fear no change. We ‘go no more out.’

The sheep are led by many a way, sometimes through sweet meadows, sometimes limping along sharp-flinted, dusty highways, sometimes high up over rough, rocky mountain-passes, sometimes down through deep gorges, with no sunshine in their gloom; but they are ever being led to one place, and when the hot day is over they are gathered into one fold, and the sinking sun sees them safe, where no wolf can come, nor any robber climb up any more, but all shall rest for ever under the Shepherd’s eye.

Brethren! can you take this psalm for yours? Have you returned unto Christ, the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls? Oh! let Him, the Shepherd of Israel, and the Lamb of God, one of the fold and yet the Guide and Defender of it, human and divine, bear you away from the dreary wilderness whither He has come seeking you. He will carry you rejoicing to the fold, if only you will trust yourselves to His gentle arm. He will restore your soul. He will lead you and keep you from all dangers, guard you from every sin, strengthen you when you come to die, and bring you to the fair plains beyond that narrow gorge of frowning rock. Then this sweet psalm shall receive its highest fulfilment, for then ‘they shall hunger no more, neither shall they thirst any more, neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat, for the Lamb which is in the midst of the Throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters, and God shall wipe all tears from their eyes.’

12. F. B. MEYER, "We are well escorted, with a Shepherd in front and these twin angels behind! Some one called them watch-dogs; but I prefer to think of them as angels. Do you not see the special beauty of these fair, strong angel-forms following?. We make such mistakes, give unnecessary pain, leave work ill-done and half-done, often succeed rather in raising dust than cleaning the rooms which we would fain sweep! It is good to think that two such angels follow close upon our track as we go through life, putting kind constructions on our actions, disentangling knots, making good deficiencies, and preventing the consequences of ill-advised and inconsiderate action pursuing us to the bitter end.

There are mothers who are always tidying up after their children. The little ones have had a rare time, which have left confusion and disorder; but the mother comes, mending the broken toys, stitching the rent garments, making everything neat and tidy. As the ambulance corps goes over the battle-field; as time festoons with verdure ruins and decay; as love puts the most tender construction on word and act - so the love of God follows us.

His goodness imputes to us the noble motive, though the act itself has been a failure; credits us with what was in our heart; reckons us the full wage, though we have only wrought one hour. His mercy forgives, obliterates the traces of our sins from his heart, undoes their ill-effect so far as possible towards others, and treats us as if we had never transgressed. Do not fear the future. God's angels do not tire. What has

been will be, in all worlds, and to all eternity. All the days, even those in which Satan seems to have obtained permission to sift.

13. JOH� CALVI�, " Surely goodness and mercy. Having recounted the blessings which God had bestowed upon him, he now expresses his undoubted persuasion of the continuance of them to the end of his life. But whence proceeded this confidence, by which he assures himself that the beneficence and mercy of God will accompany him for ever, if it did not arise from the promise by which God is accustomed to season the blessings which he bestows upon true believers, that they may not inconsiderately devour them without having any taste or relish for them? When he said to himself before, that even amidst the darkness of death he would keep his eyes fixed in beholding the providence of God, he sufficiently testified that he did not depend upon outward things, nor measured the grace of God according to the judgment of the flesh, but that even when assistance from every earthly quarter failed him, his faith continued shut up in the word of God. Although, therefore, experience led him to hope well, yet it was principally on the promise by which God confirms his people with respect to the future that he depended. If it is objected that it is presumption for a man to promise himself a continued course of prosperity in this uncertain and changing world, I answer, that David did not speak in this manner with the view of imposing on God a law; but he hoped for such exercise of God’s beneficence towards him as the condition of this world permits, with which he would be contented. He does not say, My cup shall be always full, or, My head shall be always perfumed with oil; but in general he entertains the hope that as the goodness of God never fails, he will be favorable towards him even to the end.I will dwell in the house of Jehovah. By this concluding sentence he manifestly shows that he does not confine his thoughts to earthly pleasures or comforts; but that the mark at which he aims is fixed in heaven, and to reach this was his great object in all things. It is as if he had said, I do not live for the mere purpose of living, but rather to exercise myself in the fear and service of God, and to make progress daily in all the branches of true godliness. He makes a manifest distinction between himself and ungodly men, who take pleasure only in filling their bellies with luxuriant fare. And not only so, but he also intimates that to live to God is, in his estimation, of so great importance, that he valued all the comforts of the flesh only in proportion as they served to enable him to live to God. He plainly affirms, that the end which he contemplated in all the benefits which God had conferred upon him was, that he might dwell in the house of the Lord. Whence it follows, that when deprived of the enjoyment of this blessing, he made no account of all other things; as if he had said, I would take no pleasure in earthly comforts, unless I at the same time belonged to the flock of God, as he also writes in another place,“Happy is that people that is in such a case: yea, happy is that people whose God is the Lord,” (Psalm 144:15.)Why did he desire so greatly to frequent the temple, but to offer sacrifices there along with his fellow-worshippers, and to improve by the other exercises of religion in meditation upon the celestial life? It is, therefore, certain that the mind of David, by the aid of the temporal prosperity which he enjoyed, was elevated to the hope of the everlasting inheritance. From this we conclude, that those men are brutish who

propose to themselves any other felicity than that which arises from drawing near to God.

14. PASTOR BILL, "Everyone of us could write two volumes. One on the goodness of God and on on the mercy of God. We could write about the goodness of God which has met our failures. His goodness is His provision for the good times and His mercy is His provision for the bad times. Goodness takes care of my steps and mercy takes care of my stumbles. Yet, all of our days must come to a close - "all the days of my life." Yet, when our days are over we can still say, "The best is yet to come! To die is gain. We will dwell in the House of the Lord."

The Certainty of It - "Surely.....I will." Jesus reinforced the certainty that David spoke of in John 14:1-3, "Let not your heart be troubled; ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also." Heaven is a real place. It is not just a state of mind or condition. Jesus said, "I go to prepare a place." Where is heaven? The Bible says that heaven is up. Yet, up seems to be a different place around the globe. But there is one place that is always up no matter where you are on the face of this globe. �orth is always up. See Isaiah 14: 13-14, Psalms 75: 6-7.

The saved go to this place immediately upon death. There is no soul sleep. See 2 Cor. 5: 6-8. We read in Acts 7:56 that Stephen saw the Lord and asked Jesus to receive his spirit. The kind of place to which we go is a place where there is no sin, sorrow, suffering death or disease or doubts. See Rev. 21:4. The presence of all that is good and the absence of all that is evil will be the Christian's final abode. It will be all the loving heart of God can conceive and the omnipotent hand of God can prepare. It will be a place of meaningful service. See Rev. 7:15.

The Company of It - "The house of the Lord." Jesus said that heaven is a place of many mansions or dwelling places. Think of all the saints who will be there. Mark Twain was reported to have said, "I will take heaven for climate and hell for society." How wrong he was.

Will we know our loved ones in heaven? Remember the story of David's little boy? See 2Samuel12:8-23. The disciples recognized Moses and Elijah on the Mount of Transfiguration. They had never previously met either of them. Our fellowship will surpass anything we have ever known on earth. All around will be that shining cloud of witnesses - the redeemed of all the centuries serving the same Savior. There will be such a crowd there and so much to do that eternity will seem too short to fellowship with all of them. Most of all, Jesus Himself will be there. After all, it is His house, the "House of the Lord."

The Consistency of It - "forever." Sheep are continually moving. They never settle down and stay in one place very long. The word "dwell" means to settle down and

be at home. The "House of the Lord" is a state of constant joy; no more sorrow, no more separation. It will be for eternity - a long time. We'll be "dwelling in the house of the Lord." What a happy ending!

Conclusion: Can you testify, "The Lord is my Shepherd?"

A pilgrim was I and a-wanderingIn the cold night of sin I did roam.When Jesus the kind Shepherd found meAnd now I am on my way home.

He restoreth my soul when I'm weary.He giveth me strength day by day.He leads me beside the still waters,He guard me each step of the way.

When I walk through the dark lonesome valley;My Savior will walk with me there.And safely His great hand will lead meTo the mansions He's gone to prepare.

ChorusSurely goodness and mercy shall follow meAll the days - all the days of my life.And I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever,And I shall feast at the table spread for me.Surely goodness and mercy shall follow meAll the days, all the days of my life. (John W. Peterson - Alfred B. Smith)

15. Haddon Robinson says it best, "With Him the calf is always the fatted calf; the robe is always the best robe; the joy is always unspeakable; and the peace passes understanding. There is no grudging in God's goodness. He does not measure His goodness by drops like a druggist filling a prescription. It comes upon in floods. If only we recognize the lavish abundance of His gifts, what a difference it would make in our lives!"

16. Robert AuBuchon - In God's goodness we receive what we do not deserve.- In God's mercy we do not get what we deserve.

- In God's goodness He supplies our every want.- In God's mercy He forgives us our every sin.

It is in the words of the Great Shepherd we too are assured of dwelling with Him

forever.

John 14:2b-3 I go to prepare a place for you. 3 "And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.

What a sweet promise to know that we will dwell in the house of the Lord forever! In Him we are eternally secure!

John 10:28-30 "And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. 29 "My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father's hand. 30 "I and My Father are one."

He alone will meet our every need now and eternity to come.

Revelation 7:16-17 "They shall neither hunger anymore nor thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any heat; 17 "for the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to living fountains of waters. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes."

17. JIM STEPHE�SO�, "We know where we came from – God created usWe know why we are here – to glorify him and enjoy him foreverWe know where we are going – the last verse of this Psalm tells us.

In January 2000, leaders of Charlotte, �orth Carolina, invited their favorite son, Billy Graham, to a luncheon. Billy initially hesitated to accept the invitation because he struggles with Parkinson's disease. But the Charlotte leaders said, "We don't expect a major address. Just come and let us honor you." So he agreed.

After wonderful things were said about him, Graham stepped to the rostrum, looked at the crowd, and said, "I'm reminded today of Albert Einstein, the great physicist who this month has been honored by Time magazine as the Man of the Century. Einstein was once traveling from Princeton on a train when the conductor came down the aisle, punching the tickets of each passenger. When he came to Einstein, Einstein reached in his vest pocket. He couldn't find his ticket, so he reached in his other pocket. It wasn't there, so he looked in his briefcase but couldn't find it. Then he looked in the seat by him. He couldn't find it. The conductor said, 'Dr. Einstein, I know who you are. We all know who you are. I'm sure you bought a ticket. Don't worry about it.' Einstein nodded appreciatively.

"The conductor continued down the aisle punching tickets. As he was ready to move to the next car, he turned around and saw the great physicist down on his hands and knees looking under his seat for his ticket. The conductor rushed back and said, 'Dr. Einstein, Dr. Einstein, don't worry. I know who you are. �o problem. You don't need a ticket. I'm sure you bought one.' Einstein looked at him and said, 'Young

man, I too know who I am. What I don't know is where I'm going.'"

Billy Graham continued, "See the suit I'm wearing? It's a brand new suit. My wife, my children, and my grandchildren are telling me I've gotten a little slovenly in my old age. I used to be a bit more fastidious. So I went out and bought a new suit for this luncheon and one more occasion. You know what that occasion is? This is the suit in which I'll be buried. But when you hear I'm dead, I don't want you to immediately remember the suit I'm wearing. I want you to remember this: I not only know who I am, I also know where I'm going."

Citation: John Huffman, "Who Are You, and Where Are You Going?" Preaching Conference 2005 My Shepherd’s Provisions

18. Death makes us all ask questions and even believers can have periods of fear about leaving loved ones. We all have a hard time being as consisently optimistic as David was in this Psalm. We are always looking for more assurance of what we already believe. Such is the case in the following account by an unknown author.

"In one of the episodes of M*A*S*H, the sophisticated shell, inside which MajorWinchester protects himself from the horror of the suffering and death with which he constantly deals, breaks; and he is left defenseless. He goes into a type ofdepression in which he struggles to find some answers to life’s most perplexingproblem -death. Finally, in utter desperation, he leaves the base hospital and goesup to the battalion aid station where the wounded are first taken. Colonel Potterdiscovers where he is and calls him, ordering him to return to the M*A*S*H hospital.

A medical corpsman interrupts the conversation and calls the surgeon over to a manwho is dying. Winchester confirms the impending death with a glance. The soldiersays, “I can’t see anything. Hold my hand.” The major replies, “I am.” “I’m dying,”the soldier moans, and this causes the surgeon’s unarticulated questions to surface:“Can you see anything? Can you feel anything? I have to know.” But the dying soldier doesn’t answer. Instead, he says, “I smell bread.”You cannot miss the significance of the symbol. Bread is the symbol for Christ. It isa symbol for going home."

18B. TOM STELLER, " First, the Shepherd's disposition. In Webster's dictionary, the word "disposition" is defined as the "prevailing tendency" or "inclination" of a person. The prevailing tendency or disposition of some people is to be crabby. But the disposition, the prevailing tendency and inclination of God, our Shepherd, is to be kind. This is found in verse 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." All the blessings of verses 1-5 flow out of the goodness and mercy of God. The terms "goodness" and "mercy" are almost interchangeable. They refer to God's disposition to act kindly toward people who realize they are undeserving. Goodness, or mercy, is God's

prevailing tendency, His inclination, to do good for us even though we deserve only His anger.

The fact that "goodness and mercy" is God's prevailing tendency--the dominant inclination of His heart, the very love and passion of His soul, becomes clear when we inquire into the phrase "follow me." "Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life." The Hebrew word translated "follow" signifies a very active kind of following, a pursuit--not the passive kind of following like a shadow follows a couple as they ride off into the sunset, or an easily distracted kind of following like when Hannah is supposed to follow me into the bedroom to get ready for bed. I think that's the way we sometimes understand the goodness and mercy of God following us. Either it never quite catches up to us or somehow God has gotten distracted by some other concern. But that's not what the Psalmist means here. He means an active pursuit. "Surely goodness and mercy shall pursue me all the days of my life."

God is like a police car pursuing us to do us good. We may think He's trying to give a ticket. But in reality He is chasing us to tell us we won the lottery. And instead of the prize being a mere 8 million dollars. It is an eternity of fellowship with Him, basking in His goodness and mercy forever."

19. Goodness and mercy are attributes of God.

1. Goodness - meets our needs / Mercy - forgives our faults

2. Goodness - cares for the temporal / Mercy - cares for the spiritual

3. Goodness -- bounty of God / Mercy - love of God

4. Goodness -- leads to repentance / Mercy - leads to regeneration.

5. Goodness - convicts us of sin / Mercy - offers regeneration.

6. Goodness - caused the prodigal to come back home / Mercy - ran to meet the son.

7. Goodness - is God's hand / Mercy - is God's heart.

19B. REV. GARRIT VOS gives us a list that makes it clear that evil of one kind or another will also go with us through life, but the goodness and mercy of God is always there to give balance and comfort.

" Yes, the child of God is hurt by the compressors, his enemies.

Yes, he often cries. (In reality the Christian always cries to God: Oh! great and

glorious God! We are killed all the day long for Thy sake!)

Yes, he is bruised by the devil, the world and the flesh the whole day of his life on earth. The fight is always raging.

But in the midst of the fight the Lord anoints the guest with the Holy Ghost, and that makes all the difference in the world.

Are we dishonored? Yes, and yet we are honored.

Are we put to shame by evil reports? Yes, and yet we are raised up again by a good report.

Are we called deceivers? Yes, and yet we are true.

Are we the great unknown? Yes, and yet we are well known.

Are we dying? Surely we are, we are in a thousand deaths often. And yet, behold, we live!

Are we chastened? You know we are, and yet, we are not killed.

Are we sorrowful? Oh yes, yet always rejoicing. (Let him who is wise understand this.)

Are we poor? Oh yes, dreadfully so, but we are making many rich.

Have we nothing? You know it, we are the offscouring of the world, and yet, we possess all things. See II Corinthians 6:8-10.

19C. JAMES STALKER, “Must the sweetness of life, then, be only a reminiscence of the past ? So the world believes :

Gather the rosebuds while ye may, Old Time is still a-flying ; And that same flower which blooms today Tomorrow will be dying.

Such is the philosophy of the world. But is there a truer philosophy ? is there a gospel

which can assure us that the best is still in front that the sun of life is not sinking behind our backs, but rising in the direction to which our faces are turned ?

It is this blessed gospel which is embodied in the text. This Twenty-third Psalm, as we have seen, celebrates the past it is a record of varied past experience but it also speaks of the future " for a great while to come."

The sacred poet does not assume that the future will contain no difficulties or perils for him. On the contrary, he knows that his life is to be one of service and warfare. It is the same person we have speaking in this last verse who, in verse 5, described himself as seated at the table of the king, anointed with oil and drinking an overflow-ing cup. But, as we saw, that was a warrior, and the banquet was a reward for deeds bravely done. When, however, the feast is over, the soldier must gird on his armour again and return to the field. Enemies have been vanquished, but not the whole of them ; there are still battles to fight and victories to win.

If we are in the army of God and know what it is to be rewarded by communion with Himself for past services, we must not grow weary in well-doing. There remains yet very much land to be possessed. God does not call us to a valetudinarian and cloistered virtue. He desires us to perform our part in the struggle of life, and in the common business of the world to play the man for Him. Besides, there is the burden of His cause to be borne, and the means have to be provided for extending His reign. The earth is the Lord's and must not be surrendered to the devil. Every department of human effort is yet to be holiness to the Lord ; every corner of the globe is to be filled with His glory ; every tribe of the human race to be numbered among His people. Every false form of faith must be exploded ; every practice of cruelty and oppression by which the world is cursed must come to an end. The struggle is a long one ; it is full of labour and peril ;

no Christian, however, dare decline it ; to his dying day he must be a soldier.

But, as he leaves the banqueting house, to return to the field of action, who are these two figures that accompany him by order of the king? "Goodness and Mercy shall follow me all the days of my life." These two divine attributes are here personified : they are servants appointed to follow the departing guest, to see that no evil befalls him ; they are guardian angels sent to pro-tect him from calamity. In the Homeric poems gods and goddesses sometimes de-scend to the earth and visit the field of battle, to assist their favourites. In a moment of deadly peril a goddess will diffuse round the warrior who is too severely pressed a mist, in which he is re-moved from the sight of his foes ; or, as-suming human shape, a god will plunge into the struggle in which the mortal in whom he is interested is being worsted and, with a spear before whose point everything goes down, completely turn the tide of battle.

�o such mythology finds admission into the sacred Scriptures ; but this is something like the function here intended for the personi-fied Goodness and Mercy.

What attractive figures these two are how full of sympathy and bounty ! Can there be any misfortune for which divine Goodness cannot find a remedy ? How can life ever become bare and empty when this kind angel is present, ready to pour in strength from the horn of plenty ? Still more welcome is Mercy ; ah, we cannot afford to be without her. Of all the dangers which the future contains, our chief fear is the danger arising from ourselves. The battle, however severe, would be nothing, if only we were absolutely sure of our own loyalty. But we have in us an evil heart of unbelief, which departs from the living God ; the old man within us would betray the

whole cause to the enemy ; terrible is the force of besetting sin, frequent are our fits of coldness and backsliding. We require mercy every day.

But goodness and mercy shall follow us all the days of our life. In days of pro-sperity they will be with us, lest pride should betray us ; in days of adversity, lest fear should make us turn back. It is true we can never tell with what a portent any new day may be in travail ; but, let it be what it may, yet, if Goodness and Mercy be with us, what need we fear ? In the hot days of youth and in the feeble days of old age ; in the busy day of action, in the sequestered day of thought, and in the holiday of re-pose still they will be with us. As we sleep, they will keep watch and ward ; and, when we awake, they will be ready to ac-company us. In the day when friends are many they will be there, the best friends of all ; and in the day when all have deserted us they will be there, never leaving or for-saking us. Finally, on the day of death, when the world is fading from our grasp, and around us are crowding the new shapes of the world unknown, still these old and familiar figures will be with us " Goodness and Mercy shall follow me all the days of my life."

"The house of the Lord " is a common phrase for the temple or the tabernacle ; and many have so understood it here. In this sense the text would mean that David would always have free access to God in His earthly house; and, of course, "forever 11 might not mean more than as long as he should live.

But " the house of the Lord " is not here intended in an ecclesiastical sense. It is the palace of the Divine King the same in

which the banquet of verse 5 took place. As a reward for his exploits the warrior was admitted once into the palace as a guest ; the banquet being over, he had to return again to the field of battle ; but he looked forward to a time when, all his battles being finished,

he would be invited back to the palace, not again to enjoy a banquet lasting only for a night, but to be a permanent inmate of the place ; as Mephibosheth was fed every day at King David's table.

The figurative language being stripped away, this looks as if it were the expression of an assurance that, after the efforts of the mortal life are over, those who love God will dwell forever in communion with Him in heaven.

20. QUOTES O� ETER�AL HOPE.

Our creator would never have made such lovely days and have given us the deep hearts to enjoy them, above and beyond all thought, unless we were meant to be immortal. �athaniel Hawthorne

Winter is on my head but eternal spring is in my heart. The nearer I approach the end, the plainer I hear around me the immortal symphonies of the world to come. For half a century I have been writing my thoughts in prose and verse; but I feel that I have not said one-thousandth part of what is in me. When I have gone down to the grave I shall have ended my life's work; but another day will begin the next morning. Life closes in the twilight but opens with the dawn. Victor Hugo

The Reaper and the Flowers Henry Wadsworth Longfellow There is a Reaper, whose name is Death, And, with his sickle keen, He reaps the bearded grain at a breath, And the flowers that grow between. "Shall I have naught that is fair?" saith he; "Have naught but the bearded grain? Though the breath of these flowers is sweet to me, I will give them all back again." He gazed at the flowers with tearful eyes, He kissed their drooping leaves; It was for the Lord of Paradise He bound them in his sheaves. "My Lord has need of these flowerets gay," The Reaper said, and smiled; "Dear tokens of the earth are they, Where he was once a child. "They shall all bloom in fields of light, Transplanted by my care, And saints, upon their garments white, These sacred blossoms wear." And the mother gave, in tears and pain, The flowers she most did love; She knew she should find them all again In the fields of light above. Oh, not in cruelty, not in wrath, The Reaper came that day; IT

was an angel visited the green earth, And took the flowers away.

My hour glass is nearly run,My days and deeds will quickly pass;And yet my life has just begun,For death will but invert the glass. Alexander Cairns

21. HEAVE� IS BEI�G WHERE GOD IS

The light of heaven will be the face of God and His Lamb,The joy of heaven will be the presence of the Lord,The beauty of heaven will be the glory of God,The duration of heaven will be the eternity of God,The warmth of heaven will be the love of God,The harmony of heaven will be the praise of the Lord,The melody of heaven will be the name of Jesus,The activity of heaven will be the service of the King,The fullness of heaven will be the unsearchable God in Person. AUTHOR U�K�OW�\

22. There the saints of all ages in harmony meet,Their Savior and brethern transported to greet,While the songs of salvation unceasingly roll,And the smile of the Lord is the feast of the soul

Footnotes:

Psalm 23:4 Or the valley of the shadow of death

TRANSLATIONS

Yahweh is my shepherd, I lack nothing.

In grassy meadows he lets me be.

By tranquil streams he leads me

to restore my spirit.

He guides me in paths of saving justice

as befits his name.

Even were I to walk in a ravine as dark as

death

I should fear no danger, for you are at my

side.

Your staff and your crook are there to

soothe me.

You prepare a table for me

under the eyes of my enemies;

you anoint my head with oil;

my cup brims over.

Kindness and faithful love pursue me

every day of my life.

I make my home in the house of Yahweh

for all time to come [Ps. 23, New

Jerusalem Bible].

PARAPHRASES

PARAPHRASES OF PSALM 23

Collected by Glenn Pease

I have collected these from the internet. Some of them are old and out of copyright, but

some are by contemporary writers. If any of them does not want their work shared in this

way, they can let me know and I will remove it from the collection. My e-mail is

glenn_p86@yahoo.com

1. Psalm23-paraphrased - Heather Patterson

God is my caretaker; He gives me everything that I need.

He persuades me to take a nap in rolling, green meadows; He is my tour guide beside

gentle streams.

He gives me a jumpstart. He knows the best route to take and leads me in that because

He’s that type of leader.

Even though I go through really tough times, I won’t be afraid because You’re by my

side. You comfort me with Your gentle words of encouragement and Your hand on my

back.

You put the bullies in my life to shame. You choose me as Your favorite; Your endless

stream of gifts to me never ends.

Your abundant love for me chases me down the street and overtakes me every day. I

never want to leave Your side; I’ll stay with You forever.

2. Psalm 23 The Living Bible

Because the Lord is my Shepherd,

I have everything I need!

He lets me rest in the meadow grass and

leads me beside the quiet streams.

He restores my failing health.

He helps me do what honors him the most.

Even when walking through

the dark valley of death

I will not be afraid,

for you are close beside me,

guarding, guiding me all the way.

You provide delicious food for me

in the presence of my enemies.

You have welcomed me as your guest;

blessings overflow!

Your goodness and unfailing kindness

shall be with me all of my life,

and afterwards I will live with you

forever in your home.

3. ISAAC WATTS

My Shepherd will supply my need:

Jehovah is His name;

In pastures fresh He makes me feed,

Beside the living stream.

He brings my wandering spirit back

When I forsake His ways,

And leads me, for His mercy's sake,

In paths of truth and grace.

When I walk through the shades of death

His presence is my stay.

One word of His supporting grace

Drives all my fears away.

His hand, in sight of all my foes,

Doth still my table spread;

My cup with blessings overflows,

His oil anoints my head.

The sure provisions of my God

Attend me all my days;

O may Thy house be my abode,

And all my work be praise.

There would I find a settled rest,

While others go and come;

No more a stranger,

nor a guest,

But like a child at home.

4. Septuagint Bible

THE Lord is my shepherd, I shall want nothing. [2] In a verdant pasture He hath fixed

my abode. He hath fed me by gently flowing water [3] and restored my soul. He hath led

me in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake. [4] For though I walk amidst the shades

of death: I will fear no ills, because Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff have been

my comfort. [5] Thou hast spread a table before me; in the presence of them who afflict

me. With oil Thou hast anointed my head; and Thine exhilarating cup is the very best. [6]

Thy mercy will surely follow me all the days of my life; and my dwelling shall be in the

house of the Lord to length of days.

5. © 2010 J. Randolph Turpin, Jr. ? www.DrawNear.org

The Lord Our Shepherd

(A Paraphrase of Psalm 23)

It is the LORD who is my shepherd -- my constant companion.

What more could I want? I shall never lack what I need.

His care over me brings such satisfaction, comfort and security

that I am able to lie down and rest in pastures of tender grass

-- pleasant places of habitation.

He goes before me to the places that I fear

and leads me beside still pools of water

-- waters of quietness

-- pools that He has prepared for me

-- places where my thirst might be quenched without fear of harm,

for He has gone before me to minimize the danger.

He brings back my vitality. My breath returns. My desire is renewed.

He restores my mind, my will and my emotions -- my very soul.

The path on which He guides me is the right way,

yet it is a meandering path with many twists and turns.

Nevertheless, I find great consolation in knowing that it is He who leads me,

and He leads me in such a way that His name, authority and character will be honored.

Even though this path may take me through the valley of the shadow of death

-- the place of great danger and uncertainty

-- the very place where others have come to ruin

and some have even been swept away,

I will fear no calamity, for you are with me.

Even your rod is a comfort to me,

for I remember the times when you have driven the foxes away.

How it comforts me to know that you will always be there to defend your own.

Even your staff is a comfort to me,

for I remember how you have often rescued me.

I remember the times when I began to stray, and you were careful to correct me,

making certain that I not become separated from the flock.

I am even comforted by the sound of your staff tapping on the rocks up ahead,

for when I hear that sound, I know which way to go.

You prepare a banquet before me, but it is not for me alone that you prepare it.

You have enabled me to sit down in the midst of my enemies

and even be reconciled with them and eat in peace with them.

You comfort me in my affliction by rubbing my head with oil.

This is more than I can contain! My cup overflows!

As I reflect on how you have so greatly cared for me, I must draw this conclusion:

For the rest of my life,

goodness, mercy and kindness will hunt for me wherever I go,

and beyond this life,

I will make my habitation in the sheepfold of the Lord forever.

Throughout all eternity, You, O LORD, will always be my shepherd.

6. 1. What shall we want if Christ our Head,

Our Shepherd, ever leads us?

In pastures of His heav’nly bread

He satisfies and feeds us.

Our soul’s refreshment doth He bring,

Revives us with His flowing spring,

His precious Holy Spirit.

2. On even paths for His great name

He safely doth escort us,

Forsaking not His sheep to shame,

When need or anguish hurt us;

Therefore we ever bold shall be,

Though faced with death’s dark agony;

For Christ the Lord is with us.

3. Thy blessed staff by which Thou dost

Lead, comfort, and correct us—

It is Thy cross, that from our lust

And harm doth e’er protect us.

It drains the poison of our sin

And all the evils wrought within

which else would rage and flourish.

4. Thy table Thou dost rich prepare,

And e’er to sight divest it—

Thy Holy Word’s delicious fare—

We with our heart digest it.

Whene’er the foe our soul assails

This stronghold never breaks or fails,

Bound with Thy Spirit’s fullness.

5. Thy goodness and Thy mercy, Lord,

Shall follow us forever

And all our days on us be poured,

That we through Thee, our Savior,

May dwell by living faith on earth

And there above in heav’nly mirth,

As Thy dear church and children.

6. This all through Christ our Lord we pray,—

Our Shepherd and our Brother:

By grace through faith our souls convey

To God the heav’nly Father,

With God the Holy Spirit One;

So may Thy gracious will be done!

Amen, we sing together.

Translation © Matthew Carver, 2010.

Mr. Carver notes: Here is my translation of the early paraphrase of Psalm 23, “Was kann

uns kommen an für Noth” (A. Knöpken, 1534), originally written in Low German: “Wat

kan uns kamen an vor not.” It took a while to find the original German, as quite a few

later paraphrases of the psalm have had significantly more popularity. Ludecus (1589)

appoints it as a hymn for Trinity III. The proper melody is well known as an organ piece,

but I could not find any notation for a congregational melody line.

7. J. Fedder

Paraphrase: Psalm 23

The Lord is my mentor, my counselor, my teacher. I shall not be left on my own to figure

out my problems with my limited understanding. He implores me to trust Him for His

knowledge, His ability, and His faithfulness. My teacher trains me to listen in quietness,

that I might hear Him speak.

In the midst of my daily struggles, He brings calm to my anxious heart and peace to my

turbulent situations. In full sight of those with impure motives, He provides more than my

needs--allowing me to drink from the pool of His goodness, because He favors me.

Throughout my life, tragic and difficult things happen, over which I have no

foreknowledge or ability to intervene. But He's in control; He's ever-watchful and

working. My Lord takes no days off and never sleeps.

If I think myself alone, I'm not; He's right there with me. Nothing happens in my life that

He's not personally aware of every minute detail, motive, and secondary plot. I'm able to

relax in the comfort of His wisdom, advice, presence, and care.

My Lord protects our relationship and keeps confidences. All my secrets are known to

Him; our fellowship is sweet and comfortable. When I visit with Him and anticipate His

attention, I'm satisfied with more than I can contain. The overflow naturally finds its way

to others around me.

In the present, I'm well-cared for and loved, nestled-in with Him. My future days are

confident--secure in my relationship with Him. How wonderful is His loving kindness to

me today and every day to come.

Down the best path--the one right for me--He guides me with His gentle hand. But

sometimes, when I think I have a better plan, I turn aside to follow an enticing whim. It's

those times that I find myself walking though deep and anxious valleys of strife and

frustration, of fear and uncertainty--overwhelmed by my situations. He comes after me,

and in compassion, redirects me to the best path.

8. By frogyfish Truth From the Holy Scriptures

The Lord is my Shepherd. I shall not remain in lack, for He shall supply what I need. He

allows me to rest in lush pastures when I am filled and content. He leads me beside quiet

waters where I may satisfy my thirst in peace.

He restores my soul and gives me perpetual strength for my tasks. He guides me in paths

of righteousness for His Holy name's sake. He is responsible for me, for I am submitted to

His watchcare.

Even though I stumble through the vally of deep darkness or death, I shall fear no evil, for

my Shepherd is with me. His protection and discipline do reassure me, for His staff and

rod are His mercy and grace upon me.

My Shepherd prepares a festive banquet for me in the mocking presence of my enemies -

my soul is fed though they are in hunger. My Shepherd anoints my head with healing oil

at eve's light, soothing wounds of my daily sojourn in the fields.

My provided cup overflows, and this abundance I am able to share with others. Surely His

goodness and lovingkindness will bless me all my mortal days, because I follow Him.

I am traveling to dwell in the majestic house of my Redeemer Guide, when this journey is

completed, and I shall live with Him forevermore!

9. I found this site: http://www.missiontoseafarers.ca/Worship.html

It has great prayers, including the following paraphrase of Psalm 23.

Sailor's Paraphrase of the 23rd Psalm

The Lord is my pilot, I shall not drift.

He lighteth me across the dark waters.

He steereth me in the deep channels.

He keepeth my log.

He guideth me beneath stars of his holiness for his name's sake.

Yea, though I sail 'mid the thunders and tempest of life,

I shall dread no anger, for thou art with me;

Thy love and thy care, they shelter me.

Thou preparest a harbour for me in the homeland of eternity.

Thou anointest the waves with oil

My ship rideth calmly.

Surely sunlight and starlight shall favour me on the voyage I take,

And I will rest in the port of God forever.

10. Paraphrase of Psalm 23 from Hannah’s Bible

July 2, 2011 — Sarah

Hannah’s Bible is called The Jesus Storybook Bible – Every story whispers His name. I

love this kids’ Bible. I enjoy reading it myself and highly recommend it to everyone!

Paraphrase of Psalm 23

God is my Shepherd

And I am his little lamb.

He feeds me

He guides me

He looks after me.

I have everything I need.

Inside, my heart is very quiet.

As quiet as lying still in soft green grass

In a meadow

By a little stream.

Even when I walk through

the dark scary, lonely places

I won’t be afraid

Because me Shepherd knows where I am.

He is here with me

He keeps me safe

He rescues me

He makes me strong

And brave.

He is getting wonderful things ready for me

Especially for me

Everything I ever dreamed of!

He fills my heart of full of happiness

I can’t hold it all inside.

Wherever I go I know

God’s Never Stopping

Never Giving Up

Unbreaking

Always and Forever

Love

Will go, too!

11. I am your shepherd

You will never have need of anything that I want for you.

If you will trust me, and allow me to be the

shepherd of your life, I will give to you such great

peace of mind that it will be like lying in the

cool green grass of a springtime meadow;

And as you learn to deepen your love and trust,

a quietness will come over your soul.

like a serene, calm lake.

It will be a time of great refreshment to your inner man,

thus preparing you to do whatever tasks I set before you to do;

And do not minimize any task that I give you to do,

as it is for my honor and glory, not yours.

There will be times when, because of my great love for you,

it will be necessary for me to lead you

into great darkness.....

Darkness that will be so great that you will feel as

though you are standing at the very edge

of life, with death awaiting you below.

But always remember, I am still your shepherd.

In the darkness you may not be able to see me,

but you have my eternal promise that

I will never leave you or forsake you.

If you will continue to trust me, even after you have been

through a time of darkness, I will again flood

your heart with such peace that you could even

sit down with your enemies.

Your joy will be so great that it will spill over

into the lives of others.

And as your reward I will give to you all the really

important things of life.

When you have completed all that I have planned for you

to do on earth. I want you to come up and live

with me forever

and ever

and ever.

UNKNOWN

12. Psalm 23 (My Paraphrase)

Posted by Will in 19-The Psalms

The Eternal One is my shepherd,

I lack nothing.

He lets me lie down in green pastures;

he leads me beside peaceful waters;

he restores my life.

He guides me along right paths for the sake of his name.

Even if I walk through the valley of deepest darkness,

I will fear no evil;

for you are with me;

your rod and your staff – they comfort me.

You set a table before me in front of my enemies;

you anoint my head with oil;

my cup overflows.

Surely goodness and loving kindness will pursue me all the days of my life,

and I will dwell in the house of the Eternal One for the length of my days.

13. The Lord is My Counselor!

The Lord is my Counselor,

I shall not try to solve things on my own.

He encourages me to trust Him.

He teaches me to listen in quietness & stillness to His voice,

He calms my anxious heart.

He guides me down the paths that are best for me,

Even when I think I know better.

When I walk through the valley of frustration, worry,

Fear and overwhelmingness,

He reminds me that He never sleeps or takes holidays off.

I need not fear being alone, for He is always with me.

His wisdom and advice, they comfort me.

He knows everything that is going on in my life, but

It remains confidential with Him.

Blessings overflow through my sessions with Him.

Surely my future is secure as I dwell in the house of

The Lord, leaving my problems at His feet,

and follow His advice that is free of charge,

all the days of my life!

Paraphrase of Psalm 23: copyright 2000 by Susan Secrest Waters

14. Psalm 23: The Soul Shepherding Psalm By Bill Gaultiere

The Lord Jesus is my Soul Shepherd

who meets all my needs and makes me smile

He gets me to stop working and to relax

with him in his Father’s loving arms

He takes me into a quiet place

to be still and know that he is God and I am loved

He heals and rejuvenates my whole being

with his grace from the inside out

He holds my hand at the crossroads

and walks me onto the path of life

~

Even though I go through dark and difficult times

I don’t fear anything bad because you are with me

You discipline me in love and converse patiently with me

to bring out the best in me

You prepare a celebration to bless and honor me

right in front of my enemies

~

You anoint me with your Spirit to minister to others

out of the overflow of your love to me

I can count on your generous favor and tender mercy

coming to me wherever I go

~

I will live in the presence of Christ as his beloved

in all things and at all times

15. Mymoss

The Lord is now my Shepherd; I shall no longer be in want for my physical and spiritual

needs. He leads me beside the still waters of his Holy Spirit and provides me with ample

green pastures both here and in the Bible, where I may graze to my heart's content. I am

able lie down in peace to ruminate and meditate on his word day and night.

He removes my guilt and shame for messing up and gives me a fresh start as a newborn

babe in Christ. He leads me onward in the paths of righteousness so I can share his name

and uphold his reputation.

When I run into serious trials and troubles I will turn to my Shepherd for protection and

advice on how to behave. I know that he has prepared encouraging food for thought for

me while holding my adversaries at bay.

He anoints my woolly head with oil and cleanses my soul for his purpose. He fills my cup

to overflowing and makes me desire to share his benefits.

Surely his goodness and mercy will be with me all my days and I will dwell in the place

that he has prepared for me in his Father's house forever .

16. Here's a version of psalm 23 suitable for older children to use. It's taken from the

Message version of the scriptures:-

1-3 God, my shepherd! I don't need a thing.

You have bedded me down in lush meadows,

you find me quiet pools to drink from.

True to your word,

you let me catch my breath

and send me in the right direction.

4 Even when the way goes through

Death Valley,

I'm not afraid

when you walk at my side.

Your trusty shepherd's crook

makes me feel secure.

5 You serve me a six-course dinner

right in front of my enemies.

You revive my drooping head;

my cup brims with blessing.

6 Your beauty and love chase after me

every day of my life.

I'm back home in the house of God

for the rest of my life.

(Psalm 23, The Message)

17. Psalm 23 Personal Paraphrase

by Gertrude Jefferies

My heart will not be troubled

Nor will it be dismayed,

The Lord is my Great Shepherd,

So I will not be afraid.

He leads beside still waters,

In bountiful pastures feeds;

His righteousness my banner.

I have everything I need.

Though I may walk through valleys,

And Death my companion be,

I will fear no evil, for

Thy rod and staff they comfort me.

Your goodness and your mercy

All my day shall follow me,

And in Your house forevermore,

My dwelling place shall be.

18. A Call to Worship

Easter 4, Year A, Psalm 23

Caring Shepherd,

you supply all our needs.

We celebrate God’s generous care of us all.

Good Shepherd,

you take us by the hand

and lead us through the dark and fearful times in life.

We celebrate God’s compassion and understanding.

Gracious Shepherd,

your goodness and mercy nurtures and blesses us,

and it enriches our soul.

As we worship you,

we share together in the feast you prepare for us,

and it restores and refreshes us. Amen.

— Joan Stott, posted on the website Geelong City Parish UCA.

19. The Lord is my Shepherd—that’s Relationship!

I shall not want—that’s Supply.

He maketh me to lie down in green pastures—that’s Rest!

He leadeth me beside the still waters—that’s Refreshment!

He restoreth my soul—that’s Healing!

He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness—that’s Guidance!

For His name sake—that’s Purpose!

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I will fear no evil—that’s Protection!

For Thou art with me—that’s Faithfulness!

Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me—that’s Comfort!

Thou preparest a table before me

in the presence of my enemies—that’s Hope!

Thou anointest my head with oil—that’s Consecration!

My cup runneth over—that’s Abundance!

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me

all the days of my life—that’s Blessing!

And I will dwell in the house of the Lord—that’s Security!

Forever—that’s Eternity!

20. Here’s another paraphrase of the 23rd Psalm, written by Leslie F. Brandt in his

collection of Psalm paraphrases, Psalms Now.

Psalm 23

The Lord is my constant companion.

There is no need that He cannot fulfill.

Whether His course for me points to the

mountaintops of glorious joy

or to the valleys of human suffering,

He is by my side.

He is ever present with me.

He is close beside me when I tread the dark streets of danger,

and even when I flirt with death itself,

He will not leave me.

When the pain is severe, He is near to comfort.

When the burden is heavy, He is there to lean upon.

When depression darkens my soul,

He touches me with eternal joy.

When I feel empty and alone,

He fills the aching vacuum with His power.

My security is in His promise to be near me always

and in the knowledge that He will never let me go.

- Leslie F. Brandt, in Psalms Now,

21. by Wbisbill

What does the 23rd Psalm say? (One of my paraphrases)

The LORD is my Shepherd.

Since the LORD is my Shepherd, I do not live in lack. He completely fulfills my every

need.

Since the LORD is my Shepherd, I can rest in the meadow grass, and I can enjoy His

leading and safety through the calm streams.

Since the LORD is my Shepherd, my strength is renewed to be able to walk where he

leads me! His way is good, and my walk honors Him.

Since the LORD is my shepherd. I can even walk through the shadows of my life, and I

need not be afraid, even of death, He is ever beside me, close to me, prodding me and

guiding me through every turn.

Since the LORD is my Shepherd. I need not grow hungry. He provides delicious,

continual, and nutritious food for me. He guards me and my banquet even while enemies

watch closely to destroy me. His blessings are overflowing and more than I can receive.

Without any doubt His constant goodness and continual mercy are with me, not just now

but through all all my life. I live every day in His presence and will live forever in His

Home!

Sincerely, Hope you enjoy this lens. Feel free to rate it and leave comments.

Pastor_Walt (Wbisbill)

22. roselex

Psalm 23 (paraphrased for the work place) Oct 26, '07 11:41 AM

for everyone

Link

Psalm 23 (For the Work Place)

The Lord is my real boss, and I shall not want.

He gives me peace, when chaos is all around me.

He gently reminds me to pray and do all things without murmuring

and complaining.

He reminds me that He is my source and not my job.

He restores my sanity everyday and guides my decisions that I might

honor Him in all that I do.

Even though I face absurd amounts of e-mails, system crashes,

unrealistic deadlines, budget cutbacks, gossiping co-workers,

discriminating supervisors and an aging body that doesn't cooperate

every morning, I still will not stop---for He is with me!

His presence, His peace, and His power will see me through.

He raises me up, even when they fail to promote me.

He claims me as His own, even when the company threatens to let me

go.

His Faithfulness and love is better than any bonus check.

His retirement plan beats any 401k there is!

When it's all said and done, I'll be working for Him a whole lot

longer

and for that, I BLESS HIS NAME!!!!!!

Amen!

23. The Lord is my pacesetter, I shall not rush. He makes me stop and rest at intervals. He

provides me with images of stillness to restore my serenity. He leads me in the way of

efficiency to calmness of mind and this guidance is peace. Even though I have a great

many things to accomplish this day, I will not fret for His presence is here. His

timeliness, His all importance will keep me in balance. He prepares refreshment and

renewal in the midst of my activity, anointing my head with the oils of tranquility. My

cup

of joyous energy overflows. Surely harmony and effectiveness shall be the fruits of my

hours, for I shall walk in the pace of my Lord and dwell in His heaven forever.

24. From web site Hey pcs! Psalm 23!

Psalm 23 paraphrased to bring it into sync postincarnation

The Holy Spirit is my shepherd

I can not lack any thing.

God's Spirit makes me to lie down in green pastures.

Christ's Spirit leads me beside the still waters.

The Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus restores my soul.

The Spirit of Wisdom and Understanding guides me into lifestyles of righteousness and

purity to glorify the name of Jesus.

Even though I walk through the valley of deep darkness of death, I will fear no evil.

For You, Holy Comforter, are with me.

Holy Help at my side, Your Spiritual rod and Your staff, They form a cross and comfort

me.

You, Holy Spirit, prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies

You, sanctifying Spirit, apply Christian annointing oil to my head.

My cup of Your Holy Spirit annointing runs over

Surely God's goodness and Divine mercy shall pursue me all the days of my life, and,

I shall dwell in the House of the Lord forever.

25. ~~ THE TWENTY-THIRD PSALM ~~

Oh Lord, you are the shepherd of my life -

I thank you for your love -

For the endless needs you do fulfill,

For blessings, often hidden by the clouds of life -

I thank you for leading me to the pasture greens

Where I find quiet waters and babbling brooks.

I thank you too for helping me through the valley

When grief and pain are too much for me to bear.

I often close my eyes and think of Thee -

Then I look up to the heavens above,

For here I find that my soul is still.

Pain and turmoil are changed from strife

And life again can become serene.

I recall the table you have spread for me

Where I may daily feast with you -

Many times I find the restoration of my soul takes place

And I am able to walk a closer path of righteousness -

Sometimes I discover that I am weak;

I so often stumble and fall -

But then I remember each step I take, I'm being led by you.

It's then I breathe in the bounteous blessings of your love -

I accept your glorious promise

that surely goodness and mercy will follow me -

Not forgetting that I will have an eternal home with you.

Yes, Lord, I thank you for being the shepherd of my life.

Sharon Marie Younker© April 10, 1972

26. The God of love my shepherd is,

and he that doth me feed:

while he is mine and I am his,

what can I want or need?

He leads me to the tender grass,

where I both feed and rest;

then to the streams that gently pass:

in both I have the best.

Or if I stray, he doth convert

and bring my mind in frame:

and all this not for my desert,

but for his holy name.

Yea, in death's shady black abode

well may I walk, not fear:

for thou art with me; and thy rod

to guide, thy staff to bear.

Nay, thou dost make me sit and dine,

ev'n in my enemy's sight:

my head with oil, my cup with wine

runs over day and night.

Surely the sweet and wondrous love

shall measure all my days;

and as it never shall remove,

so neither shall my praise.

The God of love my shepherd is,

and I am his, what can I want or need?

Text: Psalm 23, para. George Herbert.

27. SURELY GOODNESS AND MERCY *~

John W. Peterson, 1921-

Alfred B. Smith, 1916-1998

A pilgrim was I, and a'wandering,

In the cold night of sin I did roam,

When Jesus the kind Shepherd found me,

And now I am on my way home.

He restoreth my soul when I'm weary,

He giveth me strength day by day;

He leads me beside the still waters,

He guards me each step of the way.

When I walk thro' the dark, lonesome valley,

My Savior will walk with me there;

And safely His great hand will lead me

To the mansions He's gone to prepare.

CHORUS:

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me

All the days, all the days of my life;

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me

All the days, all the days of my life.

Refrain:

And I shall dwell in the house of the LORD forever,

And I shall feast at the table spread for me!

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me

All the days, all the days of my life,

All the days, all the days of my life!

28. Psalm 23 Paraphrased

My shepherd is my Lord

Lack I will not

My bed He makes of valleys green

And leads me to quiet waters

My soul He refreshes

Down righteous paths He leads me

Just for His name’s sake

Even when I walk through shadowy valleys

I need not fear

Because He is with me

His arms and His love comfort me

A banquet He lays before me

Within sight of my enemies

He pours holy oil upon my head

And fills my cup to the brim

His tender mercy and care

Will be with me all of my days

And I will reside in the Lord’s house

Forever and ever

Paraphrased by: Ann Martin

29. By BrannanSirratt

God is my close care-provider.

In him, I have need for nothing else.

He tucks me in and ensures that I can rest.

He nourishes me and keeps me at ease.

He refreshes me and keeps me whole.

He walks with me so I don’t lose my way.

Even when the way is dark, I have no reason to fear

For you, God, are with me.

You protect me with your rod and keep me close with your staff.

This reassures me so that I can go on.

In the midst of adversity, we feast.

You treat me like an honored guest, and give me more than I could have asked for.

You- the epitome of goodness and love- chase after me every day,

And we will be together always.

30. “The Lord is my leader and provider, I shall not be lacking; I shall not fail. He makes

me rest in a pleasant place, He protects and sustains me as He guides me along peaceful

and quiet waters, He cause my life to return to its proper rhythm. He guides me along the

track of right and justice in order to honor Him by showing forth His character. Even

when I walk weakly through the gorge with the shadow of death cast over me and

calamity all around, I will not be frightened or overwhelmed with fear, for You are right

there inside me; Your rod of authority, and your walking stick of guidance bring me great

comfort and assurance. You arrange a table and prepare a meal, inviting me to eat in full

view of those who want to cause trouble for and even kill me. You anoint my head with

oil; I am filled to overflowing, and I am completely satisfied. Truly goodness and beauty

and kindness will chase after me every day that I am alive, and I will abide and remain in

the family of the Eternal God forever and ever and ever.” (Paraphrase by Rev. Kevin

Mahaffy, Jr.)

31. Ana Marie Ort

You are my shepherd. I will never lack any good thing. My desire is for You alone. Let all

earthly pleasures be as nothing to me.

You give me rest as nothing else. The circumstances You put me in are the best for me.

Teach me to view them as such. Teach me to thank You for every situation, for each one

is from You.

Your guidance is always the best. You lead me in ways that are not too difficult for me.

No matter what may be going on along the bank, teach me to keep my eyes on the

beautiful stream of blessings that springs forth from You — the Source of all goodness.

Though worries and cares of this life threaten to swallow me up, keep me in Your rest.

Teach me to sit still and quietly by Your stream — Your Word that brings rest to my

troubled soul.

You have restored my soul forever to You. I would be lost without Your mercy. You have

restored fellowship with me though I had no desire for it. My relationship with You is

wholly due to Your effort.

You lead me in paths of righteousness. You do not leave me to find them on my own.

For, I could not. My eyes are blind to the finding of wise ways. Were it not for Your

Spirit, Father, I would meander forever in mediocre attempts to please which only puffs

up my own pride. Thank you for pleasing Yourself through me. Somehow, You make it

work, and I can just rest in You, knowing that You do lead me in all the ways that I

should go. Remind me continually that I exist for Your glory alone, and that I ought to

view my life as a gift to give back to You in praise.

Though I face many trials and fires and slippery slopes, I will hold on to You. You’ve

never let Your children fall to the depths. You’ve always kept them upright. I can trust

that You will never change in Your dealings with Your children. Nothing can separate me

from Your love. Even death for me is only a gateway to knowing You better. Therefore I

will not fear — not the evil within nor the evil without — for it all is subject to You. The

knowledge that You are with me assures me that I face nothing alone. When evil knocks

at the door, You are here to strengthen me against the temptation. For the many times I

wasn’t even aware of evil lurking and You sent it away, I thank you.

Thank You for using Your rod and staff with me. All Your dealings are loving. You

discipline those You love and You shepherd those in Your fold. Far rather would I have

Your rod than evil’s whip applied to my back. Your chastening is always followed by a

restoring embrace. Teach me to remember these things when I am tempted to despair.

Your comfort, though it appears not so to those outside Your fold, is worth all sorrow

endured.

Your table is laden with good things. The banquet you spread before me is made up of

food that never spoils. Even the tiniest morsel savored can sustain me for a day. Never

will I lack any necessary nourishment. Teach me to not seek a table elsewhere. Teach me

that there is no other lasting food except the food of Your Word. Cause me to daily come

to Your table with a hearty appetite. Never let me fast from it. Teach me that I will never

live if I do not live by Your table.

Though the war over my soul continues, I know that You have won the fight. Though I

am surrounded by enemies. they cannot take away Your table from me. It is not open to

them. It is laden with food they know nothing of.

You anoint me with oil. I am Your honored guest. Why You should honor me with such

hospitality is too much for me to grasp. All I can do is accept Your gifts and proclaim

Your worth. You fill my cup to overflowing. In every aspect of life You sustain me. Your

provision is enough for me. It is more than enough. You have given me all I need for life

and godliness, so help me live for You alone. Cause me to give you the honor due unto

Your name.

Your goodness and mercy are everlasting. Though Your wrath will come to an end, Your

mercy endures forever. You delight in showing compassion. Cause me to never forget

Who You are. Open my eyes to truth. Help me to see You continually. Thank you for not

leaving me to myself. Thank You for continuing the work of sanctification in me. Thank

You for not stopping with the work of justification. Thank You for purposing to lead me

all the way, even to glorification. Teach me to submit to You in all things. When I am

encompassed with seemingly impassable trails, remind me that Your guidance never

leads to a dead end. You always have a good plan. Teach me to see You rightly, not

tainted by what I see all around me.

You have prepared a home in Heaven for me. Make me more and more joyfully expectant

of Your eternal kingdom. Cause me to eagerly anticipate being with You. For there would

be no Heaven without You, and Heaven would not be Heaven without You. Teach me

continually to delight in You and not in Your gifts, for earthly pleasures pass away, but

You will never pass away. Draw me deeper and deeper into Your heart. Show me more

and more of Who You are. Thank You for doing so gradually, for if I would see all Your

glory at once I would not be able to bear it. Guide me moment by moment into a greater

knowledge of You. Teach me to love You more and more as I ought.

32. PEACE AND CALM

IN THE 23RD PSALM

With the LORD as "your shepherd"

you have all that you need.

If you "follow in His footsteps"

wherever HE may lead,

HE will guide and guard and keep you

in HIS loving, watchful care

And when traveling in "dark valleys,"

YOUR SHEPHERD will be there!

HIS goodness is unfailing,

HIS kindness knows no end,

For the LORD is a GOOD SHEPHERD

on Whom you can depend!

So when your heart is troubled,

you'll find quiet, peace and calm

When you open up your Bible

and just read this treasured Psalm.

Author unknown

33. THE PROGRAMMER'S 23RD PSALM

The Lord is my programmer, I shall not crash.

He installed His software on the hard disk of my heart,

All of His commands are user friendly,

His directory moves me to the right choices for His name's sake.

Even though I scroll through the problems of file,

I will fear no bugs, for You are my backup;

Your password protects me;

You prepare a menu before me in the presence of my enemies;

Your help is only a key away.

Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life,

And my file will be merged with His and saved forever.

34. Psalm23-paraphrased - Heather Patterson

God is my caretaker; He gives me everything that I need.

He persuades me to take a nap in rolling, green meadows; He is my tour guide beside

gentle streams.

He gives me a jumpstart. He knows the best route to take and leads me in that because

He’s that type of leader.

Even though I go through really tough times, I won’t be afraid because You’re by my

side. You comfort me with Your gentle words of encouragement and Your hand on my

back.

You put the bullies in my life to shame. You choose me as Your favorite; Your endless

stream of gifts to me never ends.

Your abundant love for me chases me down the street and overtakes me every day. I

never want to leave Your side; I’ll stay with You forever.

REVERSE PARAPHRASES

1. Posted 28 August 2009 by usmpka in General. 4 Comments

(interesting)

The Lord is a stranger,

I am constantly in want.

I lie down in a small apartment in a crowded city;

Traffic sounds break through,

my soul is restless.

I am alone on uncharted paths.

I walk through the dark alleys…

I fear the evil lurking in the shadows,

and am without comfort.

I have prepared my own table before my enemies,

I have anointed my head,

yet my cup remains empty.

Surely sadness and despair will follow me

all the days of my life,

and I will not dwell in the house of the Lord at all,

FOREVER

2. Here is another reverse paraphrase of Psalm 23, exploring life without God. It was

written by 15-year-old Anna Thompson.

Psalm 23

Reverse Paraphrase

I have no shepherd, I need a shepherd.

I am caught in the desert.

I am thirsty

and no one is telling me where to go.

I am lost and no one cares.

I am scared of evil, because I am alone.

I am the strongest thing in my life.

There is no greater or more powerful Being

to comfort or protect me.

I must be alone with my enemies,

with no one to help me.

The cup of my life and my soul

are empty and dry.

I seek after goodness and mercy

but never find it.

I have no home;

nothing is certain.

—Anna Thompson (age 15)

3. My appetite is my shepherd; I always want.

It maketh me sit down and stuff myself.

It leadeth me to my refrigerator repeatedly.

It leadeth me in the path of Burger King for a Whopper.

It destroyeth my shape.

Yea, though I knoweth I gaineth, I will not stop eating

For the food tasteth so good.

The ice cream and the cookies, they comfort me.

When the table is spread before me, it exciteth me

For I knoweth that I sooneth shall dig in.

As I filleth my plate continuously,

My clothes runneth smaller.

Surely bulges and pudgies shall follow me all the days of my life

And I shall be "pleasingly plump" forever.

4 THE TV PSALMThe TV is my shepherd, my spiritual life shall want,

It makes me to sit down and do nothing for the cause of Christ.

It demandeth my spare time.

It restoreth my desire for the things of the world.

It keepeth me from studying the truth of God's Word.

It leadeth me in the path of failure to attend God's house.

Yea, though I live to be a hundred, I will fear no rental;

My "Telly" is with me, its sound and vision comfort me.

It prepareth a programme for me, even in the presence of visitors.

Its volume shall be full.

Surely comedy and commercials shall follow me all the days of my life,

And I will dwell in spiritual poverty forever.

5. PSALM 23 FOR STUDENTS The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not flunk;He keepeth

me from lying down when I should be studying.He leadeth me beside the water cooler for

a study break;He restores my faith in study guides.He leads me to better study habitsFor

my grades' sake.

Yea, tho' I walk through the valley of borderline grades,I will not have a nervous

breakdown;For Thou art with me;My prayers and my friends, they comfort me.Thou

givest me the answers in moments of blankness;Thou anointest my head with

understanding,My test paper runneth over with questions I recognize.

Surely passing grades and flying colors shall follow meAll the days of

examinations;And I shall not have to dwell in this university forever!

6. The Politically Correct 23rd Psalm

The Lord and I are in a shepherd-sheep relationship, and I am

in a position of negative need.

He prostrates me in a green-belt grazing area, and conducts me

into lateral proximity with a non-torrential aqueous accumulation.

He restores to original satisfaction levels my psychological make-

up.

Notwithstanding the fact that I make ambulatory progress through

the non-illuminated geological interstice of mortality, terror sen-

sations shall not be manifest within me due to the proximity of

omnipotence. Your pastoral walking aid and quadruped-restraint

module induce in me a pleasurific mood state.

You design and produce a nutrient-bearing support structure in

the context of non-cooperative elements. You enact a head-relat-

ed folk ritual utilizing vegetable extracts, and my beverage con-

tainer exhibits inadequate volumetric parameters.

Surely it must be an intrinsic non-deductible factor that your inter-

relational, emphatic, and non-vengeful attributes will pursue me as

their target focus for the duration of the current non-death period.

And I will possess tenant rights in the residential facility of the Lord

7. A Psalm of Summer

"Now it came to pass that spring turned to summer again.

God's people raised their voices amd said:

'Recreation is my shepherd, I shall not stay home;

He maketh me lie down in a sleeping bag;

He leadeth me down the interstate each weekend.

He restoreth my suntan;

He leadeth me to state parks for comfort's sake.

Even though I stray on the Lord's Day,

I will fear no reprimand, for Thou art with me;

my rod and my reel they comfort me.

I anointest my skin with oil, my gas tank runneth dry;

Surely my trailer shall follow me all the weekends this summer,

and I shall return to the House of the Lord this fall.'

But then it is hunting season and that's another psalm."

PSALM 23 FOR PILOTS

The Lord is my pilot, I shall not want,

He maketh me to rise up to the heavens,

He leadeth me through clouds of stardust,

He restoreth my soul.

He leadeth me in the paths of wonderment

For his name's sake.

Yea, though I fly through the dangerous and

Sickening air pockets

I will fear no evil, for thou art with me,

Thy stars and thy moon, they comfort me;

Thou openest lovely vistas before me

In presence of the angels;

Thou fillest my heart with delight;

My cup runneth over.

Surely goodness and mercy

Shall follow me all the days of my life,

And I shall dwell in the skies of the Lord forever.\

My appetite is my shepherd; I always want.

It maketh me sit down and stuff myself.

It leadeth me to my refrigerator repeatedly.

It leadeth me in the path of Burger King for a Whopper.

It destroyeth my shape.

Yea, though I knoweth I gaineth, I will not stop eating

For the food tasteth so good.

The ice cream and the cookies, they comfort me.

When the table is spread before me, it exciteth me

For I knoweth that I sooneth shall dig in.

As I filleth my plate continuously,

My clothes runneth smaller.

Surely bulges and pudgies shall follow me all the days of my life

And I shall be "pleasingly plump" forever.