I have a confession to make - I don't know much about sheep!
The first time I ever saw a sheep was at
the Del Mar Fair when I was a boy. I was
born and raised in San Diego
over near Hoover High and we didn’t have many sheep around the house. We did have dogs, snakes, lizards, rabbits,
guinea pigs and goldfish but no sheep. They
were probably illegal anyway.
While sheep have not been a part of my life, sheep are an important
commodity in the US
and in many countries around the world. Australia has ten times the number
of sheep as people. And New Zealand ,
with 3 million people and 20 million sheep, has twenty sheep to every one
person.
I also don’t know much about shepherds, although I did meet
a shepherd on our trip to Israel . He was a Palestinian. We talked to him through our Arab Christian
guide and even entered his tent. He
lived a quiet solitary existence surrounded by hundreds of sheep.
But not to worry, not being qualified to discuss sheep and
shepherds won’t stop me from delivering a message on the twenty-third
psalm. This poem, this song is one of
the most familiar and loved pieces of literature in history. It is read at funerals, in public worship and
private devotions. It has long been a
source of comfort and assurance, and inspiration for Jews and Christians down
through the ages. Here David, a shepherd
before he became the King of Israel, ponders the nature of God, the character
of God. David meditates deeply upon
God’s goodness.
The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. What was David imagining here? What does this image mean to you? I believe it acknowledges that we are totally
dependent upon God. That God provides
everything for our life. Sheep are dependent
upon the shepherd for food, water, direction, protection, and treatment in
terms of disease.
It is an admission that we need help and that God is our
ultimate help. It is saying God is
absolutely trustworthy and that we can depend upon him. God has never been known to harm one of his
sheep.
This shepherd is so committed and dedicated to His sheep that
he is even willing to put his life on the line for a single lamb – the
sacrifice of Christ comes to mind. To
say God is my shepherd is a personal confession: I belong to God. I am God’s. I am owned by
God. I am under God’s power and protection and authority. It is saying - you know God and you are known
by God, you are loyal and committed to God and God is loyal and committed to
you. It means God leads my life, I am a
follower and I am obliged to follow God’s leading. God like a shepherd meets our basic
needs. I shall not want of the basic
needs of life.
I understand from both my own reading and from what our
guide in Israel
told us, that sheep really do know their shepherds and vice versa. They know and trust the shepherd’s
voice. Sheep will run from strangers,
but they will come upon hearing the voice of their shepherd. To say God is my shepherd means to live in
a personal relationship with God. It’s
like a child who says: "That's my mom" or "There goes my
dad"? This is the kind of
relationship to God pictured in this psalm. It is a personal, intimate and close. What is your relationship to God like?
He makes me lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside
still waters, he restores my soul.
Picture in your mind a moment in which you just relaxed and enjoyed a
moment of peace and quiet. Maybe basking
on the beach in Hawaii
or lounging on a warm sunny day in your own backyard. Like a shepherd God leads us on life’s
journey to good places and good spaces.
God pours out gifts upon us in times of need – comfort, strength, rest
when we are weary, peace when we are anxious or worried. God sees our lives and at unexpected moments
restores our soul. Can I get an
amen! God bestows upon us a sense of
serenity, a sense of well-being that it is well with my soul, even when things are
swirling around us.
I like Eugene Peterson’s translation in The Message of these
words – “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.” Can you think of an instance when God led you
to such a time and such a place and let you catch your breath?
God leads us in paths of righteousness or in right paths for
His name’s sake. Yes isn’t this true
about God? God sometimes leads us in paths of
righteousness, in paths of duty, in paths of justice or goodness toward others,
in paths of the right unpleasant thing that must be done, in paths of service. God sometimes leads us and calls us to do the
right thing or to get involved, even though we resist and don’t want to. Can you think of an example in your life?
It may be standing alongside someone who is being exploited
or oppressed or abused. It may be
getting involved in a cause that you know in your heart needs to be taken
on. It may be sacrificing for someone
who is in great need. I have had friends
say to me they felt called to go into the military – they knew it would be
difficult but they felt it was the path God wanted them to follow. I have had friends says they felt called to
teach in poor rural communities, where salaries and benefits were low and
community resources were lean, but that was the path they felt God was calling
them. I have had friends tell me they
felt called to be missionaries in Muslim countries. They knew it would be dangerous, but they felt
it was the path God was calling them to walk.
God may call you to be a whistle-blower or to speak out for something
that is wrong. God may call you to go
and do the right thing and apologize to someone you hurt and seek to reconcile
that broken relationship. When has God
called you to walk the path of righteousness?
Why do we do it? For our
sake? No, for His name’s sake. We do it for Jesus Christ.
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death
or it can also be translated the darkest valley. Death is the darkest valley through which we
walk in this life. Death has the darkest
shadow of all. Death, the death or
pending death of a loved one or receiving news that you have a terminal
illness, strikes the greatest fear. And
yet, by the grace and mercy of God, through prayer and the Spirit of God and
the love of brothers and sisters of faith, we can find courage to face it, we
can find courage in spite of our fears.
While death may be the darkest valley through which we walk,
it is not the only valley in life. Life
has many other valleys and the Bible speaks of valleys as symbols of trials and
hardships. A marriage that crumbles and
leads to divorce, alienation from your children and grandchildren, chronic
illness, being the victim of a crime, loss of a job, a natural disaster where
you lose your home and the list goes on.
All of these are valleys that we fear. We are frightened that life's happiness might
be snatched away from us, never to be regained.
And it’s then that faith brings light to our darkness. This is what I have found. Our faith assures us that nothing can
separate us from the love of God in Jesus Christ. God is with us. God never lets go of us. God guides us, God leads us, God brings the
right people to us, God surprises us, God brings miracles, small or great, God
comforts us. God is your shepherd.
I think of church members who were grieving, who have told
me that without their faith and the grace and power of God, and the love and
support of church members and neighbors and friends, they would not have made
it through. I have had people tell me they were
contemplating suicide. But then God
reached out to them in a surprising way, in a way which instilled hope, and
they changed their mind.
Dark valleys are never God’s destination. They are places
that we walk through along the journey. No we can’t avoid them or escape from
them. But God does not intend for us to
live in valleys as our normal way of life.
And when we do walk through such
valleys, God goes with us. God’s goal is
to lead us through the valley to the other side. And I suspect that many of you could say:
"That's right! That's right, I've been there, and I’ve experienced that
myself."
I will not fear. Is
it that we are never afraid? Wouldn't it
be grand to be fearless in the face of all of the dangers of life? Is it
possible to live without fear in a world where there is evil? I see a difference between never having any
fear and, finding courage in the face of fear, finding courage in spite of
fear, overcoming fear by the courage which comes with faith and trust in God.
But God where are you?
Harry Emerson Fosdick was a national radio personality, a teacher and
preacher in the 20th century. He once preached a sermon entitled, "Why
I Am A Theist.” In other words why I
believe in God. He said that when he was
a boy, he would look out the window and watch the branches and leaves on the
tree move. He would sense the wind
blowing and concluded that it was the moving of the branches, that he could see,
that caused the movement of the wind, that he could not see. When he grew to adulthood, he understood it
differently, discovering that it was the wind he could not see, that moved the
branches, that he could see.
We also might think of gravity. No one has ever seen gravity and yet it is a
force in our world that is operating constantly and effectively and efficiently
in our lives. Scripture says we walk by
faith, not by sight. Biblically we declare
that that which we cannot see rules the world, is in charge of all creation,
and moves in powerful and mysterious ways in the life that we can see.
The Bible claims that God is as real as anything else we
count as reality. The difference biblically between natural forces like the
wind and gravity is that they are impersonal and God is personal. The invisible God is like a Shepherd, who
cares and comforts and leads and protects. Invisibility makes God no less real, no less
powerful, and no less present. God is
close; God is not distant. God can be
trusted to lead us even through the valleys of the shadow of death. And I truly believe if we are open we can
learn something about God and about ourselves when we find ourselves in the
valleys of life.
God is more powerful than evil. God keeps his promises in even the deepest
and darkest of valleys. Can I trust a
God I can't even see? That is the
challenge of faith. Scripture says: “Fix your eyes not on what is seen, but on
what is unseen. For what is seen is
temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”
You prepare a table before me in the presence of mine
enemies. Here the psalmist suddenly
changes his image about God’s goodness.
The mind of the psalmist switches from thinking of God as a shepherd to
conceiving of God as a host who offers hospitality to His people. Even when we are surrounded by enemies,
literally or figuratively, in terms of problems, or adversity, or setbacks or
crises, God is with us; God is present and offers to us moments of both
physical and spiritual renewal and refreshment.
God is an abundant host.
References to oil and to an overflowing cup reinforce this
idea of God as a host. Oil is not
something which means much to us today, but in the ancient Near East it was a
means of refreshment to weary travelers.
Healing oils were rubbed on the forehead to ease the pain and stress of
travel and to help one relax. The
overflowing cup refers to a cup of cool water or a cup of wine. These were gifts of hospitality to weary
pilgrims on their travels. Eugene
Peterson translates this in The Message:
“You serve me a six-course dinner
right in front of my enemies, you revive my drooping head, my cup brims with
blessing.” Can you think of an
example of God offering hospitality to you?
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me and I shall dwell
in the house of the Lord forever. God’s goodness follows us all our lives. God’s love is constant. God’s mercy is steadfast. In these closing words, the psalmist is
thinking on two levels – on one level he pictures the great temple on Mt. Zion in Jerusalem and the joy of
joining with others together in worshipping God. “Praise the Lord, praise God in His holy
temple.” But in his mind is even a
greater promise, the wonderful promise that one day one would live with God in
God’s eternal temple. It is the vision
of heaven.
Here Jesus’ promise in John 14 of the Father’s House with
many rooms comes to mind. Jesus says he
is going to the eternal house of God to prepare a place for us. For you, and for me,
and after he prepares such a place, he will come back to take us to this home
of God to live forever. May this
familiar psalm on God’s goodness bring comfort and peace to you, as you
meditate upon it, both now and forever. Amen.
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