“Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me All the days of my life” Psalm 23:6. Goodness in the Hebrew text means just that; in Exodus 34:6 God “proclaimed, The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering and abounding in goodness and truth.” Mercy in the Hebrew means kindness, piety, and (rarely) reproof, but even […]
Psalm 23:5 continues “My cup runs over.” When a cup runs over it has been filled to the brim, and receiving more than it needs, or can hold, the excess flows over the side and covers the area around it. As we sit at God’s banquet table it is His plan, desire, and provision for […]
The next thing that Psalm 23:5 says of (and to) the shepherd is “You anoint my head with oil”, likely drawing from the practice of putting oil on the sheep to protect them from flies and other insects that could get into their eyes, ears, and nose. Aside from the sheep it was a custom […]
“You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies…” verse 4. Picture a large table, perhaps at a family reunion, you find the place with your name and take your seat. The food is on the table in abundance, it is passed around family style and you dine on the bounty with […]
“Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me” Psalm 23:4. The rod and staff were the symbol of a shepherd; while the staff may have been used by the shepherd in walking, or as something to lean on, the obvious message here is their function in caring for the flock, and by their use the […]
Continuing in verse 4 of Psalm 23 we come to the third of four powerful statements in this verse, “For you are with me”. I see this as another key to the entire Psalm, (similar to “The Lord is my shepherd”) the assurance of His presence! God knew His redeemed people would go through dark, […]
Picking up from last week’s meditation Psalm 23:4 continues “…I will fear no evil…” The Hebrew word here translated evil means bad or evil, and can associate with adversity, affliction, and calamity. It seems that as David makes this declaration he is refusing to focus on the shadow of this valley. It is a battle […]
Verse 4 of Psalm 23 opens up saying, “Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death…” The picture here is of a dangerous path through a deep ravine with high steep mountains on either side, and no seeming way of escape, so you must move forward in spite of the […]
Why does God choose to have this intimate relationship with us, providing for our needs, giving us rest, refreshing, healing, and guiding us in righteous paths? It most certainly is not because we merit or deserve it, for every one of us like David in Psalm 51:5 “was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin…conceived”. […]
“He leads (guides) me in paths of righteousness” Verse 3. This shepherds Psalm has a counterpart in the New Testament where in John 10 we are introduced to Jesus the good shepherd; in verses 3-4 we read “…he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out…and the sheep follow him, for they know […]