As we come to look at Psalm 23 together, I’m very conscious that we are on hallowed ground. This is probably one of the most loved passages in the Bible, one of the most well-known passages in the Bible, possibly second only to John 3:16, with which Tony opened our service. Many Christians have derived great comfort, support, and help from these familiar words over the years.
As we’ve been preaching together through some of the Psalms this spring, we’ve been focusing particularly on how the Psalms speak to us of the Lord Jesus before they address us directly. Then we find our place in the Psalms connected to Jesus, rather than making a direct link from the psalm to us. So my hope, my prayer, is that Psalm 23 will become even more precious to us as we look at it through that particular lens.
Psalm 23 contains two main pictures, two images, because it starts, The Lord is my shepherd. Many people think that the whole psalm is about shepherds and sheep, but actually, if you look, verse five and verse six, the language changes. Sheep do not eat a meal on a hilltop with a knife and a fork at a table. There is one writer who’s tried to make this whole psalm fit what he knows of Middle Eastern shepherding, and he suggests that verse five is about a grassy hilltop where the shepherd would carefully prepare the food the sheep will eat before leading them up there. But I think that’s stretching it just a little.
So we’re going to say there are two things, two pictures in the psalm: the picture of a shepherd in verses 1 to 4, and then the picture of a host and hospitality in verses five and six.
God as shepherd
So firstly, we’ll look at God as shepherd.
Verse one: The Lord is my shepherd. I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside quiet waters. He refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake.
This is a beautiful picture. It’s a God who gives us provision. It’s a God who gives us protection. It’s a God who gives us his presence.
The psalm starts with a question: who is your shepherd? We’ll come back to that question. But the answer of Psalm 23 is The Lord is my shepherd. He’s the kind of shepherd where, if he is looking after you, you will lack nothing.
There’s not much green grass in the Middle East. I’ve been there. It’s mostly dusty scrub. If you’re herding sheep, moving them to find the green pasture, it’s not an easy task — but God finds it. There’s also not much water for most of the year, but God finds them water to drink as well. He leads me beside quiet waters, more literally waters of rest. I think that’s not so much that the waters themselves are calm and restful, but that this is a place of rest. The place with the water is a place where all is well, and the sheep can rest secure and content.
And then we’re told in verse three that God refreshes our souls — who we are deep down inside. When we’re flagging, God breathes fresh life into our souls and he sustains us. God leads us through life. He leads us along just the right tracks, along the right paths where he wants us to go. Or other versions have the paths of righteousness. He leads us through life in the way that pleases him.
And then, slight shift in tone in verse four: Even though I walk through the darkest valley — or possibly the valley of the shadow of death — I will fear no evil, for you are with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort.
Sometimes God’s right way for us does not lead us to a place of rest — not seemingly — but to a place of fear. For sheep, this could be going through a shady ravine where the predators lurk. There is more grass and more water because of the shade, but it’s dangerous. For us, death lurks in the shadows.
But notice how, as we reach the point in the psalm of greatest fear, the psalm just stops describing God — God is. Instead, it speaks to God — You are. You are with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
Throughout verses 1 to 3, God’s been leading from the front — leading to grass, leading to water, leading in paths of righteousness. But suddenly, God’s not at the front. He’s with — alongside, close — there to deal with any danger, there to look after us in the darkness. We can draw real strength because we know that God has his rod and his staff — the rod to deal with any danger and the staff just to keep us on the right track. Provision. Protection. Presence.
God as Jesus’ shepherd
Now, this was written by David — King David. David was the shepherd-king of Israel. Before he became king, he was looking after his father’s sheep. After he became king, he liked to continue to see himself as the shepherd of his people. That was his chosen model for how he understood his role as king.
So therefore, there’s a slight jarring as David the shepherd says, The Lord is my shepherd. Before David shepherded his people, David himself had a shepherd. The Lord — God — was his shepherd.
Now, Jesus would have prayed this psalm. Before Jesus was our shepherd, God the Father was his shepherd. Before Jesus was a shepherd, he was a lamb. Jesus knew what it was to hunger. On the cross, he knew what it was to thirst. When he was tempted to turn stones into bread, he knew that God would meet his needs, and so he chose to live by every word that came from God’s mouth.
When the time came to stop heading up country and turn to Jerusalem to face his death, Luke records that Jesus set his face down that track. He knew that it was God’s right path for him. This took him into a darker valley than we will ever have to go to. You remember — for three hours in the middle of the day, both the sky and the sun turned pitch black at midday. Again, if you’ve been to the Middle East, the midday sun is not black. Death lurked — physical death lurked for Jesus — but also the spiritual death of the judgement of God.
And as Jesus went to that, just hear these astonishing words from John chapter 16. Jesus says to his disciples the night before he dies: “A time is coming, and in fact has come, when you’ll be scattered, each to your own home. You will leave me all alone. Yet I am not alone, for my Father is with me.” You are with me.
Jesus as our shepherd
So Jesus the Lamb then becomes our Shepherd. I am the Good Shepherd. He leads us beside waters of rest. Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life. I am the Bread of Life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry. Whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your ancestors ate manna and died, but whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.
Now, sometimes following Jesus takes us away from places of rest and into the dark valley. At times in our life, the shadow of death hangs over our lives. When you face bereavement and grief, you’re living in the valley of the shadow of death. You’re overshadowed by death. When you face persistent sickness, you’re feeling death’s shadow. As you come to terms with ageing, you’re aware of death’s shadow. Indeed, in any form of suffering in life, you’re feeling the shadow of death hovering.
Well, Jesus has been through that valley. But here’s the wonderful truth. Because Jesus has been through that and come out the other side, death’s shadow does remain — but its sting is gone. Death has been swallowed up in victory. Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?
And Jesus said, “Surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” We walk through the valley with Jesus. You are with me. The valley we walk through with him — it’s not our home. Because one day Jesus will bring us through that valley and into the everlasting sunshine on the other side.
God as our Shepherd.
God as host
And then the second picture is of God as our Host.
Here’s verse five: You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil. My cup overflows. 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.
It’s time for a banquet. The king’s enemies are there. Some people try to airbrush the psalm at this point and take this line out, but the king’s enemies are there. Why? Because they’ve been conquered. So they are on display at the victory feast as the conquered previous opponents.
You see, the king had been publicly opposed — if you know the story of King David, at least two big incidents, and lots of smaller ones, when his opposition was public. So it’s important that the king is seen in public to have won.
And notice how, just like in the dark valley, this is You. You prepare, you anoint. This is God’s banquet, and the king is the guest of honour. His head is anointed with oil. This is not the oil to consecrate him as king — that’s a different verb. This is to anoint — to welcome — as a guest of honour. The food is excellent. His cup of wine cannot take any more. It’s literally saturated.
And then verse six mentions two of God’s qualities. God is good, and God loves in a way that is completely committed. So when it says goodness and love will follow me, it means that God will follow him — the God who is goodness and love. He will follow him in his goodness, and God will follow him in his steadfast love.
In fact, the word follow here — it’s too weak. It’s an active word: pursue me, chase after me. Goodness and steadfast love on our tail, chasing after us.
In fact, we sing about this — now you know where this line of a song comes from: Your goodness is running after, running after me.
For lots of his life, King David had enemies pursuing him. But here’s the precious truth — he also had God on his tail. The enemies were not the only people trying to catch him. God is on the run — the God who is goodness and love. God will never stop chasing him.
More than once, David had to flee his home. More than once, David had to flee God’s home — where the tabernacle was, the ark. His days of running away will be over — the time when he can return to God’s house and stay there for a very, very long time.
God as Jesus’ host
Jesus had his head anointed with oil in the home of Simon the leper. This prepared him for his burial. Jesus drank the cup of God’s wrath — full of foaming wine and mixed with spices, says Psalm 78.
But after Jesus rose, he will return to this earth for what the Old Testament describes as a great banquet — a feast of rich food, a banquet of aged wine, the best of meats and the finest of wines.
Now it’s not time for him to drink the cup of God’s wrath. It’s time for a cup of joy. He has the cup of the finest wines in his hand.
As he prepared his disciples for his departure, he said to them, “I am leaving the world and going back to the Father.” Time for him to return — go back to his Father’s house — and stay there.
Jesus as our host
But then it becomes Jesus’s turn to host us.
Now, this was hinted at when he was ministering on earth. Remember — he produced the best quality wine in limitless quantity at a wedding in Cana of Galilee. But the best is yet to come.
The angel says to the Apostle John in the book of Revelation: “Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb.” It is his party — and he invites us.
Some of the parables of Jesus picture those who oppose Jesus able to see the party, but unable to join in. Jesus is marked by goodness. Jesus is full of steadfast loving-kindness. He will chase after us all our days.
Hebrews 13: Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you. If God is for us, who can be against us? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. 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.
Who is your shepherd?
God was David’s shepherd. God was the Lord Jesus’s shepherd. Now Jesus wants to be our shepherd. If we take him up on his invitation, if we trust him, he will be our shepherd — and he will care for us like his Father cared for him.
We could not want a better shepherd. One who provides, who protects, who is present, and who prepares the table and then invites us to spend eternity in his home.
As we think of this combination of Jesus the shepherd also being the Lamb, just listen to these beautiful words from Revelation chapter 7: “Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst. The sun will not beat down on them, nor any scorching heat.”
Why? “For the Lamb at the centre of the throne will be their shepherd.” The Lamb at the centre of the throne will be their shepherd.
And then see if you recognise this next bit in that verse: “He will lead them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”
Let’s come back to verse one. Verse one asks the question implicitly: who is your shepherd?
Let me ask you this morning — who is your shepherd?
Who or what do you look to, to provide for you? To protect you? To be present with you? To look after you when dangerous times lurk? To share the table with you when celebration is due?
Who is your shepherd?
So many people choose shepherds in life that let them down — that break promises, that can’t provide or protect when it’s most needed, that won’t stay with them, or simply cannot meet the expectations placed on their shoulders — that they will fulfil the role that only the Shepherd with a capital S can fulfil.
So — who is your shepherd? Mum? Dad? Husband? Wife? Boyfriend? Girlfriend? Employer? Home? Pension? Golf club? Bedding club? Next door neighbour who always brings you a meal?
Who’s your shepherd?
If we can reply that The Lord Jesus is my shepherd, then and only then can we add the words I will lack nothing. Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord.