If you’re new with us this morning, we’ve been in a series going through the Book of Psalms. And today we’re ending. We’re finishing out this series. It’s been incredible. If I’m going to be honest with you, when we started the series, when God first put this on my heart, I had no idea how impactful it would be for our church.

Today I want to close out the series in Psalm chapter number 23. The reality is, is if I started reciting it, most of you could finish it with me. This psalm has been prayed over hospital beds, nursing homes. It’s been read at more funerals than almost any other passage of scripture. It’s been printed on book markers, framed in houses.

And if I’m going to be honest with you this morning, I think that’s part of the problem. You see, we’ve made Psalm 23 so familiar that we’ve made it small. We’ve turned it into a psalm for when someone dies instead of a psalm for how you and I are supposed to live.

This isn’t a psalm about the moment that you die or even the moments that you walk through difficulty. This is a psalm about how you walk with God every day. How you walk with God every day in those moments of difficulty, in those moments of pain, in those moments of sorrow.

David is writing, remembering himself as a shepherd who spent his time protecting his sheep and now he’s an old king looking back and he’s realizing. He’s realizing the real shepherd has been God all along in his life. Leading him, guiding him, moving and directing him.

So today, I don’t want to just recite this psalm with you. Today I want you to let it examine you.

Psalm chapter number 23 verse number 1 says this, “The Lord is my shepherd. I have what I need.” This phrase “shepherd” right here, it means to tend to feed, to pasture, to lead. It’s not a title of authority, it’s a description of a relationship. See a king, he rules from a distance but a shepherd walks in the field with you. The shepherd is personal and David starts this psalm with a declaration, not a request. He says the Lord is my shepherd. He doesn’t say the Lord will be my shepherd. He doesn’t say, “Well, I’ve got some needs in my life right now.” And so in order to get these things answered and worked out, the Lord is going to be the one that shepherds me. He says, “No, the Lord is at all times my shepherd.” He’s acknowledging that God is not making the Lord his shepherd.

Look at the verse number 2. “He lets me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside quiet waters.” I love this about the text. Sheep won’t lie down on their own. They’re not going to lie down if they’re afraid. They’re not going to lie down if they’re in conflict with another sheep. If they’re bothered by some pests, if there’s some predator that’s stalking them, they’re not going to lie down in peace if they’re hungry.

The only reason that a sheep will lie down in a green pasture isn’t because the pasture is green. It’s because the shepherd has already removed what would keep them from resting. Again, it’s not because the pasture is green. We focus on the green pastures as the reason that it helps us lie down and have peace.

And it’s not the green pasture. It’s he, the shepherd, is the reason for the peace. He, the shepherd, is the reason for the lying down. It’s not that God gives us what satisfies us. I want you to catch this. It’s not that God gives us what satisfies us. It’s that he is, as the shepherd, what satisfies us.

See, we’ve got this habit of thinking that God will give me things, and if God gives me these things, then I’ll have peace, and it will bring peace into my life. And so we look for him to do for us and to give to us so that we can have peace. And when we do this, we confuse provision with abundance. We think provision means having more than we need. And provision is having all that we need, and it’s wrapped up in who he is.

Hey, let me ask you a question. Are you living in the peace of the shepherd? Or are you still thinking that you need things? Let me say it like this. Are you living in the peace of the shepherd? Or are you manufacturing your own calm that you’re creating for yourself? By coming up with your list of your needs, your wants, your wishes, the stuff that you need to have so that you have peace, can I tell you it’s not peace. It’s calm that you create for yourself.

True peace within our hearts has nothing to do with what we have, what we own, has nothing to do with our circumstances, with what’s around us. True peace comes from our loving Heavenly Father who literally holds everything in his hands.

Too often we think that if God is providing for us that it should look like more and more and more, but David isn’t praising God for more. He’s praising God for God being enough. It’s not that I have everything that I want, it’s I have what I need.

Look at verse number three, he renews my life. He leads me along the right paths for his name’s sake. This word renews, it has the idea of turning back or being turned back towards the shepherd. It’s the same root word for the word repentance. This isn’t just refreshment, this is restoration.

We read this and we go, oh he renews my life. It means like, you know, David, I picture David laying by the brook in the lush green grass and he’s taking a nap. No, David says I am renewed, he renews my life. He’s talking about God turning him back when he wanders off. This isn’t about rest. This is about restoration.

You see sheep don’t wander because they’re rebellious, they wander because they get distracted. They put their head down to eat and they just keep wandering. One bite at a time until they look up and they’re lost. That’s usually how we wander as well. I mean nobody decides one day to just walk away from God. No, we put our head down, one compromised, one skipped morning, one distracted devotional time until we look up and we don’t recognize our spiritual condition anymore and we’ve strayed so far from the shepherd that we don’t know how to wander our way back.

Here’s what’s incredible and you can see it in the verse. The shepherd just doesn’t point how to get back. He goes and he gets the sheep and he brings them back. This ought to be comforting for us because we drift and we don’t even realize it and our shepherd keeps coming after us and leading us the right way but I want you to see the second part of this verse.

He leads me, why does he lead me? For his name’s sake. Hey, it’s about his reputation. It’s about him. See, we think he leads us for us and he does lead us for us but he says, “Listen, this is on me. This is me coming after you because I’m a good shepherd. This is me coming after you because I’m a good heavenly father and I’m not going to let this world devour you and I want to bring you back to where you belong.”

You see, God restores your wandering because your wandering affects you and he’s the kind of shepherd that doesn’t leave you to wander. It’s not who he is. He’s good. He’s good all the time.

You see, well, you know, there’s sometimes that God just comes after me and he chases me and he doesn’t feel very good in that moment. Hey, he chases you not to pay you back, not to hurt you, not to correct you but to bring you back to himself. And so he restores you, renews you from your wandering. That’s who he is.

Look at verse number four. “Even when I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no danger, for you are with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.” Talking about the shadow of death, the darkest valley.

This isn’t one specific valley. Perhaps it’s life’s most frightening, disorienting moments. Those moments that grip you and you don’t know what to do. I’m talking about real grief. Not how we plug the word grief in. I mean real grief. I mean real sickness when the doctors don’t have the answers. When the doctors don’t have an answer and when they don’t have a diagnosis. I mean real loss. The kind of loss that hits you and it takes your breath away and you don’t know where to turn and you don’t know where to go next. I mean that real fear. That fear that just hits you so deep that it paralyzes you and you didn’t even know you could be paralyzed in that kind of a way.

And I want you to notice what David says. He doesn’t say if I walk through the valley. He says when. The valley isn’t a maybe. So when. Every single one of us we’re going to walk through difficulty and some of you, some of you you’re in it right now.

Hey there’s some of you in the room I know what you’re walking through. My heart hurts for you. As some of you right now I might not even know your name when you’re walking through the darkest valley of your life. And you’re kind of feeling like no one has the ability to say anything to make you feel better and you know what you’re probably right. Because I might not know what you’re walking through and I might not know what you’re living through right now. I probably don’t have anything that I can say that would change what you’re feeling.

But your heavenly father the shepherd. He can change everything.

David doesn’t say if I walk through he says when I walk through and here’s what changes everything in the verse up until this point. David’s been talking about the shepherd. He leads me. He restores me right here in the valley. David switches from talking about God to talking to God. He says for you are with me. Hey in the darkest moment of this psalm David just doesn’t say I hope God’s going to be there. No he changes it all and he starts talking directly to God and it becomes this personal moment.

And if you’re walking through a dark valley if you’re walking through difficulty right now and you’re convincing yourself that no one can come alongside you that no one can help you that no one can point you in a direction that’s somehow going to make you feel better. Listen there’s a shepherd who just doesn’t point the way. He walks the way with you.

But you’ve got to let him lead you. You’ve got to let him take you. And all too often we start walking. We want to figure out what works best for us. You want to lead ourselves even though we don’t know where we’re going. Because the reality is if you lead you and I lead me we’re not going to lead. We’re going to wander. One bite at a time. One distracted moment at a time. And we’re going to pick up our head and we’re going to find out we’re way farther than we ever thought.

David says for you are with me. Some of you in the room you’ve noticed this about your life. The closest you’ve ever felt to God wasn’t in your best season. It was in your darkest one.

I want you to notice this the rod the staff there there are two different tools. The rod was used for protection to fight off predators and the staff. The staff was used for guidance. It’s to pull wandering sheep back to where they belong. Hey God just doesn’t protect you in the valley. He guides you through it. He’s not just trying to get you out. He’s trying to walk you through to the other side.

Look at verse number five. You prepare the table before me. In the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil my cup overflows. The imagery shifts here from a shepherd and sheep to a host and to a guest and it’s deliberate.

God isn’t leading David through danger. Now he’s honoring him in front of danger. He says in the presence of my enemies. David isn’t talking about a threat that’s gone. He’s saying Lord you’re doing all of this in the presence of in front of in the sight of my enemies. And here’s what this means for us. God doesn’t always remove us from the presence of what’s against us. Sometimes he sets the table right in front of it.

Hey there’s some of you right now. Your prayer life consists of God would you take this out of my life. I mean you’re feeling like you’re stuck like you can’t move forward like you can’t get ahead and everything your circumstances in your life right now it’s got you trapped in. Hey this fall that sort of series is going to be about that we’re going to walk through called stuck but for right now.

Right now your prayer life is consisting of God get me out. And God might not want to get you out. He might want to just take care of you and provide for you right in front of the thing that you’re praying to be removed out of your life. Hey trust the shepherd.

I want you to look at the word anoint. The word anoint it means to make fat to saturate to drench. This isn’t a measured drop of oil on the forehead. This is oil running down overflowing the same picture as the cup that overflows a few words earlier. This word overflows its saturation more more than enough.

But sometimes this is a good reminder. You probably don’t feel like this you’re probably way too spiritual but there’s sometimes where I’m walking through difficulty and I see God’s goodness. And instead of celebrating God’s goodness that he allows me to see. Sometimes I feel like God is rationing his goodness to me. Like he’s just dropping little pieces little things. And sometimes I feel like God would you just open up the floodgates of heaven and just pour it all down on me.

Hey when I feel like God is rationing his goodness the problem isn’t how God is displaying his goodness. I’m going to be honest with you the problem is how much I’m trusting him in the moment. Because he says he pours it out. Saturation more than enough. He’s lavishing you with more than you need while he’s still watching you. That’s how God cares for us.

And we come to verse number six. Only goodness and faithful love will pursue me all the days of my life. And I will dwell in the house of the Lord as long as I live. Studying the original language faithful love mercy. The meaning here is covenant loyalty. It’s God is committed loyal love that doesn’t quit because you wander because I had a bad day because you and I did the wrong thing. No it’s God’s covenant love that’s committed to us regardless of what we do.

But I want you to look at the verb here pursue. Most of us read this verse and we think of God’s goodness and faithful love following behind us like a nice trail that we leave. But that’s not the word. The Hebrew word here for pursue for follow is the same word used for a predator chasing down its prey. David is saying goodness and love will casually follow along. No he’s saying goodness and it’s God’s faithful love are hunting me down chasing me down relentlessly pursuing after me the same way.

Back in verse 4 David was afraid of danger pursuing after him in the valley. The shepherd’s goodness it chases you and I harder than fear chases us. He said well then why why do I let my fear control me because sadly what we do is we allow our fear to catch us rather than God’s goodness and his faithful love.

This is the person of who God is pursuing you on purpose every day of your life and then David lands the Psalm here I will dwell in the house of the Lord as long as I live.

Now I memorized this Psalm when I was four years old. You see that’s genius you must be really smart. No my teachers bribed me with candy and it worked.

But I memorized it and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. And people have attached heaven and eternal security to this verse and that’s not what the verse is saying. In the Hebrew it says I will dwell in the house of the Lord for the length of my days for all of my life.

David is describing the temple where the presence of God was at and David says that’s where I want to dwell where God is. I don’t want to visit there I want to dwell there I want to be where God is all the time I want God with me in every step of everything that I do.

See this isn’t about where David goes when he dies this is about how David lives out the remaining days of his life and he says where I want to dwell where God is. I want God to be active and in my life. David’s committing himself to be wherever God is. That David’s confidence wasn’t that life would always be good his confidence was that God would always be with him.

This verse wraps up the whole Psalm in one sentence Psalm 23 was never about dying well. Psalm 23 is about living close to the shepherd for all the days that we have left.

And if we sum up what David says about living under the care of the shepherd he would describe it like this. The shepherd he provides what you need. Hey the shepherd he restores you when you wander he stays with you in the valley even though sometimes in the valley it’s so dark you don’t know where he is. David’s saying he’s still there with you. David says the shepherd being led by the shepherd oh he honors you in front of everything that’s trying to destroy you. And the shepherd he pursues you all the days of your life.

And none of that’s true because David was a good sheep. It’s true because David had a good shepherd.

Maybe you’re sitting here and you’re going well I really wish God would interact like that with me like he did with David but you know I’m no David no can I tell you something you actually are. I am. We’re made of the same flawed thing. And we think about David and we go well you know there was that one time David messed up no when you read scripture carefully David failed again and again and again and again and again. And when God gave David every reason to trust him what did David do he ran in fear and when God said stand still and watch what I do what did David do David had his own deception. That he tried to make happen anyway.

Now all of what we’ve studied is true not because we are good sheep because we have a good shepherd.

So I want you to ask yourself have I confused God’s provision with getting more because maybe that’s what you’ve done. And you want I want you to ask yourself so how do I live out this passage of scripture I mean what do I do to kind of live this thing out and I’m going to give you just three things and we’re going to close the first one’s this don’t measure the shepherd by how much you have.

Hey thank God specifically for what he gives and what he’s already supplied. What are we supposed to thank him for our daily bread. Hey most of us in the room aren’t stressed about our daily bread. Maybe you’re in this room right now and you’re going no I’m stressed about what I’m going to eat today find me in the lobby find one of our people in the lobby we will help you. I’m pretty sure there’s no one in the room right now stressed about their daily bread.

There’s no one in the room right now stressed about the strength that they need to continue to go on. Now we’re supposed to thank him for all that he supplies his daily our daily bread strength the people around us forgiveness grace and when we’re distracted we get distant from the shepherd we’ll miss just how much he actually gives us when we’re close when he has your heart and when he has my heart you’ll see that the shepherd he’s everything that satisfies not just what he gives.

Here’s a statement that you might want to write down the proof that God is good is not that you have everything that you want it’s that in Christ you will never lack what you truly need.

I want you to see this let the shepherd turn you from your wandering what is David say he renews my life he leads me along the right path. Hey drift rarely happens with defiance it almost always begins with distraction and in your life in my life we have so much distraction hey what if we named our distraction to borrow from the earlier part of the message one bite at a time because we put our head down we get distracted and we wander and we wander and we wander and we wander and we get so far away that we’re confused as to how we got there one compromise one neglected practice habit that keeps pulling you off course hear me repentance is not earning your way back to God it’s turning to the shepherd who brings you back here’s something you might want to write down you may have wandered farther than you meant but you’ve not wandered beyond the reach of the shepherd.

Another thing I want you to see allow theology to shape your prayer life for you are with me all the faithfulness of the shepherd hey what if we allowed that to shape our lives when pain comes what if we just didn’t talk about God what if we talked to God what if when fear grips us we actually brought our fear to the feet of the shepherd fear that we can’t explain that we can’t figure out that we don’t know how to solve and we just bring it to God because part of the problem is we try and figure it out and identify it and figure out the solution and know what we need to solve our problem and then we bring it to the Lord and the reason that we do all of that is because we bring it to him with our prayer request to give us the thing that we think that we need.

What if God wants to take that problem in your life and mold you and shape you what if God wants to take that pain in your life that fear and knock off the edges one edge at a time so what is he trying to make me he’s trying to make you look less like you he’s trying to make me look less like me and make both of us look more like his son

what if in the face of those that sit across from you and create anxiety what if what if theology shaped our prayer life and we learn to forgive what if we trusted his presence and not merely just an exit strategy what if we trusted in our prayer life that he was with us in the valley to lead us through it what if we did that see we come to God with our prayer life we come to God with all of our things and we say I know how to pray for the things that I want but what if we let what we knew about the shepherd change how we interact with the shepherd what if theology changed your prayer life and it changed my prayer life how would everything look different all too often we try and plan our lives with the strategy of the shepherd when we have no ability beyond just being a sheep and what if we took his word and what his word says about him and we let it seep into our hearts and change how we come to him in prayer

so I thought about ending today I thought the best way to end is reading the song the Lord is my shepherd I have what I need he lets me lie down in green pastures and he leads me beside quiet waters he renews my life he leads me along the right paths for his name’s sake even when I go through the darkest valley I fear no danger for you’re with me your rod and your staff they comfort me you prepare the table before me in the presence of my enemies you anoint my head with oil my cup overflows only goodness and faithful love will pursue me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord as long as I live

you might feel like there’s a lot of things right now chasing you can I tell you goodness and faithful love are chasing you down today the only question is is will you slow down long enough to recognize them

we’re gonna sing so would you would you stand with me but let’s sing this out let’s sing it out loud but when we leave this place let’s live out what we’re gonna sing

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