The Lord, My Shepherd

Studies in the Twenty-Third Psalm against the background of the life of David

Peter J Blackburn

© Peter J Blackburn, Allingham, 2013

Preface

These studies in the Twenty-Third Psalm originated in a series of weekly devotional meditations with the Stanthorpe Blue Nursing sisters.

The Twenty-Third Psalm is one of the most well-known and best loved passages in the whole Bible. Many of us were taught it by heart when we were ouch younger.

Perhaps it is our familiarity with the Psalm that gives rise to our need to look at it afresh. The pastoral setting has suggested to us that it must have been a simple boyhood expression of faith. Some children’s books on the Psalm have reinforced this impression.

If this is so, the Psalm is nice, but is it relevant? And what of the pastoral setting? The lives of more and more folk are not dominated by agriculture, and the methods of those who are have changed so dramatically!

To me, the Psalm speaks with adult maturity. The Psalm has come over with new freshness and force as I have reflected on some of the events of David’s life.

My prayer is that it may strike you this way too, leading you to a deeper faith in the Divine Shepherd.

The Shepherd Boy/King

Reading: Psalm 23

David was the great-grandson of Ruth and Boaz, and the youngest of eight brothers. He was the shepherd boy, looking after his father’s sheep – he became the king.

It is difficult for those of us born and bred in Australia to picture the eastern shepherd-boy. We tend to have a mental image of some thousands of sheep, with gum trees here and there, dust rising, men on horseback controlling the mass movement with the aid of sheep-dogs.

The Palestinian shepherd had a much more personal task. For one thing, his flock was much smaller, perhaps a hundred or fewer. He came to know their individual characteristics and needs. They were not just nameless parts of a mass, but had their own sheepy “personalities”. For their part, the sheep came to recognise and respond to their own particular shepherd.

The grazing lands were not fenced. The shepherd had to go in search of suitable pasture and water. He had to protect his flock from the weather and from wild animals. He had to retrieve any animal that strayed.

Ideally a shepherd should be strong, devoted and selfless. But there were some shepherds who were unreliable and who failed in their duty.

As a shepherd-boy David had done his duty well. When he became king, he tried to give the same care and attention to his people that he had learned in his early profession.

But life wasn’t always easy for David. I wonder if, in later life, he longed for those boyhood days again! Opposition, temptations, and all the pressures of kingly rule bore in upon him. How easy the hardships of his earlier life must have seemed compared with his present "cushy" job as king!

It was as a much older man, full of all the experiences of life, that David picked up his harp again and sang the praise of the Lord who had always been with him.

Perhaps it had begun as a boyish thought long ago, but now it was a conviction and a faith reinforced by life –

The Lord is my Shepherd,

I shall not be in want…

Now he was far removed from his earlier shepherding, but he could find no way of describing the Lord’s care for him more apt than this.

A famous actor was once asked to say the twenty-third Psalm before a large audience. His recitation of the famous Psalm was magnificent and brought loud applause from the appreciative audience.

The actor noticed an aged minister near the front of the audience and called on him to come and say the Psalm too. When the old man, with lifted eyes and quavering voice, came to the end, there was complete silence.

At last the actor came forward and said, “The difference is that I know the Psalm, but he knows the Shepherd.”

The Psalm was written, not just as a fine piece of literature, a strikingly beautiful poem, but because David had come to know the Shepherd.

We need to know the Shepherd, too. We need to know him day by day as we face our lives with our own particular set of needs.

As we learn to trust him and to see his care in every experience, then added years will bring fresh depth to the conviction, “The Lord is my Shepherd.”

PRAYER: Eternal Lord, thank you for your care of me. Thank you that you are with me in all of life, whatever happens. With you, I am safe, now and forever. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

I Remember

I remember

the days of my youth –

my father’s sheep,

pasture and water,

pleasant days.

But then,

places dark with danger

and the threat of snake and beast.

I loved those sheep,

I cared for them,

for each and every one of them,

and I think

(if sheep can love)

they loved me too.

I remember

other days too –

days of duty

of responsibility

and of temptation –

days of success

and of failure.

Yes,

I remember them all.

And I remember

how the Lord has loved me,

has cared for me

in all of life.

The Divine Shepherd

Reading: 1 Samuel 17.31-40

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want (Psalm 23.1).

What was David thinking about when he wrote these words?

We have sometimes imagined him sitting under a tree with his sheep nearby grazing in the green grass beside a pleasant stream.

But his words weren’t a kind of how-I-wish-for-earlier-times, for he had learnt to see the care of the Lord in all circumstances.

Haven’t we all sometimes longed for the simplicity of our childhood life? Things seemed simpler, less complicated, then. With adolescent years, we longed to be adult, to have full responsibility, to make all the decisions of our own life. But then we discover that decisions and responsibility can weigh heavily upon us. We also discover that, with increasing years, we are much less adaptable to change – and we live in a world of constant change! And, with that greater span of years, we develop a broader view of what is happening in the world, a view which tempers and sometimes destroys our youthful optimism.

David’s boyhood faith had not been destroyed – it had been deepened and matured by the experiences of the years. It was as a man who had lived under many pressures that he wrote, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.”

I wonder if he remembered that episode which proved to be the first step away from his shepherding – the time when the Philistine giant Goliath was defying the army of Israel to send someone to fight against him.

When David came from his father to check on how his brothers were doing, he was shocked that no one had gone out to fight Goliath.

David’s attitude to the situation was quite simple (the others thought it naive!) – “This is not just Goliath, a Philistine, challenging us. It is a pagan man defying the armies of the living God! It is not just simply a question of our personal honour but our faith in the living God! Do we really believe in the God be believe in? Do we really know that he is there, alive and powerful!”

When presenting the case before King Saul, David doesn’t only list his personal prowess and achievements in defending his father's sheep – he affirms his faith in this living God! “The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine” (v. 37).

Saul, of course, says the correct thing – “Go and the Lord be with you!” But was that the spirit with which he had really inspired his army?

Finally, David went out (without Saul’s heavy armour) to meet the real challenge of the enemy – “I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied” (v. 45). The Philistine would be defeated so that “all the world will know that there is a God in Israel. All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves; for the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give all of you into our hands” (vv. 46-47).

Now there’s a simple straightforward faith! “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want” – but this faith has to be lived out in situations sometimes filled with danger.

Someone had explained the law of gravity simply to a little girl. One night her mother noticed that she was deep in thought. “What are you thinking about?” the mother asked. The girl replied, “I was thinking about gravity, and I’ve decided that gravity is God at the centre of the world, protecting and keeping his children right side up when the world is upside down.”

There’s a lot to think about there! In today’s world there are some people who would say there just isn't any God. And others who agree that there is a God then go and live as if he isn’t there!

There really is a God! He really can be depended on! And as we live, we really need to trust him! Then the words will be full of reality and truth for us –

“The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.”

PRAYER: Father God, you gave me life. You give me love. You give ne needed help and strength. You never fail, but I so often fail because I forget you. Help me to trust myself each day to your loving care. For Jesus' sake, Amen.

My Shepherd, My Lord

In love he cared and nurtured me,

My Shepherd, my Lord.

I needed him and nothing cared –

In simple faith my life was shared

With him, my Lord.

Yet as I grew I needed still

My Shepherd, my Lord,

Though foolishly I thought I knew

Life was for me to please and do

Without my Lord.

But how in love he brought me back,

My Shepherd, my Lord!

With adult soul and strength and heart,

I cannot live from him apart –

I need my Lord!

Green Pastures and Quiet Waters

Reading: 1 Samuel 18.1-9; 20.35-42

He makes me lie down in green pastures;

he leads me beside quiet waters (Psalm 23.2)

“Green pastures”, “quiet waters” – these speak of needed nourishment, refreshment and rest. The Divine Shepherd doesn’t meet the sheep’s merest whim, but cares for their deepest needs. We may well compare how Jesus taught us to pray for “our daily bread.”

Of course, life isn’t green pastures and quiet waters all the time – though many folk in our time seem to think it should be!

Nor was life that way for David. In fact, it was a far more stormy experience for him than it is for any of us! And yet, as he looked back, he knew that the Lord had given him green pastures and quiet waters along the way.

Did he, perhaps, recall his friendship with Jonathan, Saul’s son?

As David’s popularity grew with his success, Saul became embittered against him. But not so Jonathan.

Jonathan had earlier expressed the same sort of confidence in the Lord with which David had gone out against Goliath. Jonathan and his armour-bearer had tackled a Philistine garrison in the conviction that “nothing can hinder the Lord from saving, whether by many or by few” (1 Samuel 14.6).

A very close bond developed between David and Jonathan and they made a covenant with one another.

But Jonathan’s father became increasingly jealous of David. He tried to kill him when he was playing the lyre for him (18.10-11; 19.1-10).

David became a fugitive, and Jonathan tried on the one hand to intercede with his father (19.4-5), and on the other to warn David of danger.

In moving words, Jonathan reaffirmed his pledge to his friend – “Go in peace, for we have sworn friendship with each other in the name of the Lord, saying, ‘The Lord is witness between you and me, and between your descendants and my descendants forever’.” (20.42)

Green pastures and quiet waters – did David mean that life was always pleasant and easy? It wasn’t!

It was in the midst of difficulty, trial, pressure that it happened – something that David recognised as refreshment from heaven.

It has been suggested that, if we want to think life is meant to be a bed of roses, we had better remember that roses have thorns!

We are all familiar with the mirages that appear on the bitumen on a hot day. For the thirsty traveller in the desert the effect is more dramatic and inviting. He hopefully sees palm trees, water – an oasis – beckoning him on. Tragically, the illusion disappears as he gets closer to it – having travelled many precious kilometres in the wrong direction.

It was Karl Marx who contended that “religion is the opiate of the people,” as if the help it offers is illusory, mirage-like – leading people on to nowhere.

“He makes me lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside quiet waters.”

This is no mirage – it is reality. How often, in the midst of worry, anxiety, doubt, despair, there has come to us the experience of green pastures and quiet waters. Through some person or circumstance we have received fresh strength and fresh hope, fresh courage and renewed spirit.

Our Divine Shepherd hasn’t promised us a life of ease, but he has promised sustenance and refreshment for the way. And isn’t that just what we need?

PRAYER: Sometimes, O Lord my Shepherd, I let life get me down. Things just don’t always go the way I would have chosen or planned. But then you send some person or circumstance to remind me that you are still there, that your love surrounds me and your help sustains me. Thank you, Lord! For Jesus’ sake, Amen.

A Place of Calm

Amid the storms of life,

Its pressures and its strife,

God gives a place of calm,

Of peace and strength.

No, not amid life’s ease

When all its happenings please,

But when the going’s hard,

God gives that place of calm.

When anxious cares frustrate

Or bitterness and hate

Would do their worst,

God gives that place of calm.

Before earth’s struggles cease

God heals us with his peace

And strength to live again –

God gives a place of calm.

My Soul Restored!

Reading: 1 Samuel 30.1-6

He restores my soul (Psalm 23.3a).

These words speak to us of the Lord restoring us and giving us life. When the soul departs, the body is dead. Sometimes we have experiences when, even in spite of physical health, we are in a living death. It can be almost as if the very will to live has gone. It doesn’t matter much whether it is the result of our own sinfulness or waywardness, or whether some tragedy comes our way from forces beyond our control. We feel crushed and despondent.

But the Lord is the Life-giver – “He restores my soul”!

Life had not been easy for David the fugitive. For just over a year he and his men acted as mercenaries for a Philistine king in return for protection and a place to live.

But when the Philistines were preparing to go against the armies of Israel, David and his men were sent back home to Ziklag. There was a very natural fear that, during the battle, David and his men might change sides.

However, on their return to Ziklag, they found that the Amalekites had ransacked the town. The town had been burned with fire, and their wives and families taken captive.

It was a crushing experience, and these war-hardened soldiers “wept aloud until they had no strength left to weep” (v. 5). David, too, was greatly distressed, not only because of his own loss, but also because the bitterness of the others was being turned against him as leader.

Then, significantly, we read, “But David found strength in the Lord his God” (v. 6b).

They had reached a point of utter despair that left them immobilised, not knowing which way to turn or what to do, That was the point at which “David found strength in the Lord his God.” He remembered that the Lord really was there, that he had not forsaken them and that in fact he was about to help them. This faith resulted in action – and the restoration of wives, families and stolen goods.

Have you ever reached a point of despair like that in your life – when all your strength and will to live seem to have left you?

Robert Louis Stevenson told of a ship which was being driven by a violent storm toward a rocky coast. The passengers were filled with terror, expecting the ship at any moment to be dashed to pieces on the jagged rocks.

One bold passenger with great difficulty made his way to the pilothouse. There he saw the pilot holding the wheel and veering the ship, inch by inch, away from the rocks and out to sea.

The pilot saw the daring passenger and smiled at him. Returning below, the passenger said, “All’s well! I have seen the pilot, and he smiled at me!”

How like the experience of David! When all was discouragement and despair, he took note that the Lord was still in control of the situation and this gave him fresh heart.

So too with us! When life’s experiences would crush the very life out of us, we can take strength in the Lord our God – we can have life restored to us again.

PRAYER: Father God, we spend so much time priding ourselves on our human achievements and on just how great we are as a human race. Yet I find these claims so sickening and empty. Sometimes, Lord, I get the crushing feeling that I’m missing out – that we’re all missing out – on what life is really meant to be. Lord, you made me and your love surrounds me. Restore my soul! Give me each day the strength to live and to live to the full! In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.

Restored!

In growing youth

he said,

“I need no God,

there is no God!”

Life seemed full,

active, free.

But then,

in middle years,

respected,

a person of success,

there came

disillusion

and despair.

He tried to turn

to boyhood faith,

but arguments

he’d used

to justify

his free life

now stared him in the face

and seemed to trap him

in unbelief.

Turn yet again –

the God of love awaits you!

Paths of Righteousness

Reading: 2 Samuel 12.1-14

He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake (Psalm 23.3b)

Certainly David was a great king. Though the kingdom of his son, Solomon, exceeded his kingdom for splendour, it was to David that the people looked in later times when they thought of the kingdom restored. The Messiah would be the Son of David.

Yet David learnt in bitter experience that his greatness could only lie in expressing God's good purposes in his life.

He had been unquestionably successful in his drive to build and enlarge the kingdom. Perhaps it was with awareness of success and power that he succumbed to temptation and committed adultery with the wife of one of his trusted soldiers.

When he learnt that she was pregnant, he did everything he could to cover up his sin. He called Uriah in from battle, but Uriah's loyalty to his fellow soldiers still on the field meant he refused to go in and sleep with his wife. So David contrived to have him killed in battle, and in time took Bathsheba as his wife.

David’s conscience had gone to sleep. He had forgotten that he was king over the Lord’s people. He had brought discredit on the Lord’s name as well as on his own.

So Nathan the prophet came. His message to the king began with a story of high-handed oppression of a poor man by a wealthy neighbour. As David listened, he became incensed, declaring that “As surely as the Lord lives, the man who did this deserves to die!” (2 Samuel 12.5) Nathan came back with “You are the man!” (v. 7)

David was not enraged, but became profoundly penitent.

Yes, David was a great king. But his sin is part of the record of his life – “David had done what was right in the eyes of the Lord and had not failed to keep any of the Lord’s commands all the days of his life – except in the case of Uriah the Hittite” (1 Kings 15.5).

I wonder if any of these things came to David’s mind when he wrote, “He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.”

To be one of God’s people requires a certain quality of life. The Lord had said to his people again and again, “Be holy, because I am holy” (as in Leviticus 11.44). Their quality of life would be a testimony to the living God.

But there is a problem. It is the problem of human nature twisted and distorted by sin.

In Psalm 24.3,4 we read, “Who may ascend the hill of the Lord? Who may stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to an idol or swear by what is false.”

Then, we may well ask, who? Can any of us to included? Aren’t we all excluded?

No, not in God’s mercy and grace. But we must learn as David did to come to the Lord in repentance and to receive his forgiveness.

Later, David’s sorrow for his sin found expression in the words of Psalm 51 – “Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.”

And he knew that being guided in the paths of righteousness meant more than just being forgiven – “Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit in me” (v. 10).

PRAYER: Father God, we spend so much time priding ourselves on our human achievements and on just how great we are as a human race. Yet I find these claims so sickening and empty. Sometimes, Lord, I get the crushing feeling that I’m missing out – that we’re all missing out – on what life is really meant to be. Lord, you made me and your love surrounds me. Restore my soul! Give me each day the strength to live and to live to the full! In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.

You See Me, Lord!

You see me, Lord!

Not as others see,

but deep within

you see me as I am.

Others may see

a light heart,

you know

the pain within.

Others may see

strength

and confidence,

you see

where I am weak.

Others

may think me good,

you see

my poverty and sin.

And where others see

the weak me,

you see

with love,

forgiveness

and help.

The Valley of the Shadow

Reading: 2 Samuel 15.7-12

Even 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 (Psalm 23.4).

Much more than for most of us, the life of David was lived under the shadow of death. For so long he had been a fugitive from the jealous anger of King Saul. Now, himself as king, he faced conspiracy from within his own household.

When reproving David in relation to his sin against Uriah the Hittite, Nathan the prophet had said, “Now, therefore, the sword will never depart from your house…” (2 Samuel 12.10). Forgiven, David still had to face some of the consequences flowing from his great sin.

One writer has noted, “Absolom’s conspiracy was the overt action of an embittered, arrogant son against his father whom he despised. David had crushed resistance and revolt wherever it appeared throughout his realm and frontiers. Apparently, he little suspected revolt within his own household… David’s weakness appeared in his relationships with his own sons. He administered the affairs of his kingdom with remarkable authority, but he erred regrettably in administering his own family.”

And now the pressure was on! Word came to David, “The hearts of the men of Israel are with Absolom” (2 Samuel 15.13). The plucky shepherd boy who had gone out with simple boldness to face Goliath had no courage to face the challenge of his own son – “Come! We must flee, or none of us will escape from Absalom” (v. 14a).

Did David recall, perhaps, some deep dark gorge along which he had earlier led his sheep? As shepherd, he was the one who had to face the unknown dangers. The sheep trusted themselves to his presence and were secure as the shepherd used his rod to guide and defend them.

D.L. Moody said, “I believe Psalm 23 is more often misquoted than any other part of the Bible. I have heard many tell of the dark valley, but the word dark isn’t there. The psalm says, ‘Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death.’ Did you ever see a shadow in the dark? Go down into your basement tonight without a light and you can’t see your shadow. All death can do is to throw a shadow, because Christ, the Light, is present. Shadows never hurt anyone. We have nothing to fear!”

The valley of the shadow of death! Apprehension… uncertainty… fear… grief… remorse… Whether faced with the prospect of personal disappointment and failure – our own or a loved one’s death – these emotions so easily crowd in.

In the situation David faced in today's reading, he took to his heels! And isn't that our own initial and natural reaction? Don’t we hasten to avoid the difficult, embarrassing, awkward situations? Don’t we want to withdraw from the harsh realities of death, the separation from loved ones, the journey into the dark unknown? Isn’t it fear that has made the inescapable the unmentionable in our society?

Yet, however natural and practical David’s immediate reaction, he comes back to the security of the Lord’s presence, no matter what his circumstances might be.

It reminds us of the great affirmation of the apostle Paul – “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8.38-39).

PRAYER: Too often, Lord, I have forgotten that you are with me – and I have been afraid! Thank you for your unfailing presence and strength – in the midst of life and in the presence of death. When fear and uncertainty creep in, remind me that you are here! In Jesus’ name, Amen.

God is there!

Surrounded

by a wall of pain,

deep, intense,

it seemed as if

the Hand of God

reached through

and touched me.

Stricken

by grief’s loss

and loneliness,

I sensed,

I knew

that God was there.

Never

is life’s experience

so dark

that in it

we may not find

that God is there!

A Table Prepared

Reading: 2 Samuel 17.27-18.5

You prepare a table before me

in the presence of my enemies (Psalm 23.5a)

The walk through the valley of the shadow leads to the table prepared. The shepherd had to be careful in his selection of pasture, checking it against the likelihood of venomous snakes or the lairs of wild beasts. With pasture thus prepared, the sheep could graze in safety. The shepherd’s presence was their guarantee.

The table prepared wasn’t desert rations, but an ample supply of their needs. No doubt this might be an added reason for enemies to be lurking near.

Enemies? Who are they?

Abraham Lincoln was once taken to task for his attitude toward his enemies. “Why do you try to make friends of them?” an associate asked. “You should try to destroy them!”

“Am I not destroying my enemies,” Lincoln gently replied, “when I make them my friends?”

The attitude of David to his personal enemies is striking. When Saul was pursuing him with murderous intent, David on two occasions (recorded in 1 Samuel 24 and 26) spared the life of his enemy. When news came of Saul’s death (by his own hands, 1 Samuel 31), David mourned with all his men. An Amalekite who thought to gain David’s favour by suggesting he had killed Saul gained his wrath instead (2 Samuel 1.10-16).

We find David, crowned king, looking for someone left of the house of Saul to whom he could show kindness “for Jonathan’s sake” (2 Samuel 9.1). Jonathan’s lame son, Mephibosheth (2 Samuel 4.4), was brought in fear and trembling. How would he be treated by the one his grand-father had hated so much? Yet he was given his grandfather’s lands and the privilege of always eating at the king’s table (2 Samuel 9.9-10)!

But today’s reading, as in the previous study, is set against the background of the hostility of his own son, Absolom. In the face of his son’s deadly conspiracy, David was again on the run for his life.

Under this kind of pressure, David received the provision of food and other necessities. These practical gifts were part of God’s generous provision – even when hard-pressed by enemies.

And what is his enemy? “Be gentle with the young man Absolom for my sake” (2 Samuel 18.5). When the excited messenger brought news of Absolom’s death, David wasn’t pleased. He was very sad – “O my son Absolom! My son, my son Absolom! If only I had died instead of you – O Absolom, my son, my son!” (v. 33)

How able are we to accept God’s help and refreshment amid the difficulties of life and still retain care and compassion towards our enemies? It is said that David’s grief was partly because of his failure in relation to this his son. But shouldn’t this also cause all of us to be more tolerant and concerned about the needs of others?

Jesus taught us, “Do not judge, or you too will be judged” (Matthew 7.1). He made our willingness to forgive a condition of God’s forgiving us (6.12,14,15), and therefore so essential in our relationship to the loving Father who provides our daily need.

PRAYER: Too often, Father, you cannot prepare a table before me because I don’t love my enemies. Make me willing to forgive. Make me ready to receive your forgiveness. Let me know refreshment when the going is difficult. For the sake of Jesus, Amen.

Let Us Share Together!

Though just for now

you will not come,

you will not share,

there is a place for you,

the meal is for you too!

Though just for now

you radiate

your fear and hate,

the shepherd cares for you,

his love is for you too!

Though just for now

your life must centre

on you alone,

one lived and died

whose love and life

were poured for you,

not just for me,

but for you too!

So live no longer

just for now.

Because he lives,

he calls –

come,

let us share together!

Head Anointed and Overflowing Cup

Reading: 1 Chronicles 29.10-19

You anoint my head with oil;

my cup overflows (Psalm 23.5b).

We noted in the previous study that the table prepared wasn’t desert rations, but an ample supply of their needs.

For the sheep of Palestine, oil on the head meant basically health and comfort. And the overflowing cup, whether drawn from well or stream, spoke of physical needs abundantly met.

What were the thoughts of the shepherd-boy when Samuel the prophet anointed him to be king (1 Samuel 16.13)? Not only comforted, but chosen and set apart for a special task, his mind must have been filled with wonderment and awe!

But many years had passed since that anointing – years of tension and hardship – before he was able to take up his calling to be king. Again and again the Lord had anointed him – with healing and comfort!

Reflecting on the experiences of those years of trial, he could write, “I shall not be in want – my cup overflows!”

In today’s reading, we see David, now old, preparing for his son, Solomon to take his place as king. One of Solomon’s major tasks in office is to be the building of a temple, a house for the Lord (note 28.6). David announces a very substantial gift from his own fortune toward the building (29.1-5), and the people respond to his call to contribute freely (vv. 6-9).

Our reading has been described as one of the finest prayers in the Old Testament. Everything comes from God anyway – “everything in heaven and earth is yours… wealth and honour come from you…” (vv. 11,12). So this implies something about the magnificent offering they have just brought – “But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to give as generously as this? Everything comes from you, and we have given you only what comes from your hand… O Lord our God, as for all this abundance that we have provided for building you a temple for your Holy Name, it comes from your hand, and all of it belongs to you” (vv. 14,16).

“My cup overflows.” A cup is a receiver. It isn’t that I have been pretty good or clever that my cup overflows, but rather that I have received so bountifully from the Lord. The difference between these two attitudes is so very important.

Perhaps, like David, there have been periods of our life when we have known ourselves simply and totally dependent on the goodness of God. Apart from some special sustaining gifts, we wonder just how we would have survived! The test comes in those periods when life is not quite so tight – that is when the reality of our faith is shown!

Where now, we may ask, are the crowds who reportedly filled the churches during wartime?

Abraham Lincoln once said, “We have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and enriched and strengthened us. We have vainly imagined that all things were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us.”

“You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows” – David knew it! And he knew it was still true when material comforts were greater than they had sometimes been! He didn’t forget!

And what about us? God heals and comforts us and abundantly supplies our needs! What about us?

PRAYER: O divine Shepherd, your provision is so great, so generous, so total. Yet so often in the better times I have wanted to take all the credit. I thank you, Lord, for your ever-present and unbounding love. Teach me how to share from the “overflowing cup” so that you can keep on refilling it fresh and new. In the name of Jesus, Amen.

Teach Me to Live!

Thank you, Lord,

for the gift of life,

the gift to be,

to grow and do.

Thank you, Lord,

for planet Earth,

so bountiful

for human life.

Thank you, Lord,

for your dear Son,

so we could live

and live again.

And now, O Lord,

I’ve lived thus far,

grant this one plea –

teach me to live!

Goodness and Love

Reading: 2 Samuel 24.18-25

Surely goodness and love will follow me

all the days of my life,

and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.

(Psalm 23.6)

How many and varied were the experiences of David throughout his life! Things had certainly not gone easily for him – pursued by enemies, betrayed by friends and family, dogged by the consequences of his own sinfulness!

The tale of a life can be told in so many different ways – success, failure, intrigue… But David sees his life in terms of the Divine “goodness and love” – “goodness and mercy” as the old Bible puts it.

God’s “mercy” is far more than his willingness to forgive. It is his “steadfast love”. He calls us to be his people and persists with us, in spite of our human unworthiness!

Of course, it is true that many things followed David through his life – but above them all was God’s “goodness and love”.

“What's the matter?” a mother asked. Her boy was obviously worried about something.

“Well, Mum,” he began gloomily, “I’m thinking about my silkworm eggs. Spring is here, and the silkworms will soon be coming out. I have no food for them. The buds on the mulberry trees are just beginning to swell. It will be a while before the leaves for the silkworms come. I don’t know what I will do.”

“You don’t need to worry,” replied his mother. “Do you imagine God manages his world as badly as that? If the mulberry leaves aren’t ready to appear yet, neither are the silkworms. Depend on it. They will come together.”

“The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want”, David had begun.

God’s ample provision is always there for our need. When we pray, “Give us this day our daily bread,” the word “daily” means “sufficient for the day’s needs” – not a stock-pile for tomorrow!

David’s hope and prayer was that he might build a house for the Lord. That was not to be until the time of his son, Solomon – though David bought the piece of ground on which it would eventually be built. How striking is David’s insistence, in today’s reading, that his offering to the Lord must cost him something!

No, David wouldn’t build the Temple. It had earlier troubled him, “Here I am, living in a palace of cedar, while the ark of God remains in a tent” (2 Samuel 7.2).

But finally it wouldn’t be David providing a house for the Lord, but the Lord providing a house, a place of rest, refuge and refreshment for David!

That is the marvel of God’s great love. We don’t deserve it. We can’t earn it. Our part to receive it.

Some people have the idea that God is the great spoil-sport. The truth is that life has its deepest meaning and its truest fun in him.

PRAYER: Eternal Father, you have guided and sustained me. You refresh and strengthen me now. My life for ever is in the safe keeping of your loving care. In you and in you alone, I have been, I am and I will be safe and secure! Hallelujah! Amen.

Unfailing Forever!

Over,

around,

above,

within –

the Love of God!

Behind,

before,

and here

right now –

the Love of God!

When sick

or whole,

when sad

or glad –

the Love of God!

When sin

or fall

or weak

within –

the Love of God!

Deepest

need,

greatest

joy –

the Love of God!

From him

the breath

to live

and praise

the Love of God!

Jesus, the Good Shepherd

Reading: John 10.1-18

David, the shepherd-boy who became the King, had experienced the loving care of the Lord amid all the pressures and circumstances of his life. It was mature faith that wrote and sang –

“The Lord is my shepherd…”

But now, in today’s reading, we have Jesus quite definitely and startlingly taking this to himself –

“I am the good shepherd.”

At the beginning of his Gospel, John spoke of God’s Word becoming flesh and living among us. Here we see that truth expressed in one of its many facets from the mouth of Jesus himself. Here we have the Shepherd become flesh and living among us!

A “word” is the expression of someone's mind and personality. It is communication and relationship. God has always been doing this. He is Love. His Word found expression in creation. It found expression especially as he has revealed himself to the human race for the deliberate purpose of calling us back to his loving care.

In Old Testament times God’s character was seen with increasing clarity, but God expressed himself unmistakably in the person of Jesus.

So David, in his rich and varied experience, had come to know the Lord as his Shepherd. Now in the more complete revelation of God in Jesus Christ, we see this loving care of God lived out in Jesus the good Shepherd.

The words of Jesus are against the background of the eastern shepherd who was free to roam with his sheep through the unfenced pasture-lands. Here and there were folds, walled or fenced to give protection from the wild beasts. As night fell, the shepherd would lead his flock to whatever fold was most convenient. There might be two or three other shepherds and the flocks in the one sheep-fold. But shepherding was a personal relationship and there was never any problem sorting out the sheep in the morning. The sheep recognised their own shepherd’s call.

Jesus is both the Gate to the sheep-fold and the Shepherd. He is the only way to ultimate security and safety. He is the only true provider and guide for our lives. He is the way to refreshment, nourishment and life. His care, his love, was expressed to the point of giving his life for us.

Yes, our good Shepherd gave his life for us! But he isn’t dead. He is alive – he laid down his life and took it up again, in fulfilment of his most daring promise (vv. 17,18)! True, we need that once-for-all deliverance from sin – that’s what his death was all about. But what happened then has to be translated into what happens now. We still need his loving watchful care day by day.

A little girl got a bit mixed up saying the twenty-third Psalm – “The Lord is my Shepherd, that’s all I want.”

She made a mistake, yet expressed a profound truth. His loving care is my greatest need. Having that, my other needs are met too.

Jesus said, “I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. He will come in and go out, and find pasture… I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep… I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me… I lay down my life - only to take it up again…”

Let us day by day entrust ourselves to his care.

PRAYER: Jesus, my Shepherd, you are the Word of the Lord. In you I see written so large and clear the loving care that David knew of old. I love and trust you – how I need to love and trust you more! Thank you for love and refreshment and help along life’s way. Amen.

Here I am, Lord!

Here I am, Lord!

You see me –

full of confidence

and hope,

bursting life

and expectation –

Jesus, Shepherd,

guide me through!

Here I am, Lord!

You see me –

life ’most lived,

memories past,

strength now ebbing,

yet expecting

life ahead –

Jesus, Shepherd,

guide me through!