Psalm 23 - David's heavenly pastoral (1)

2 2 

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside still waters.
3 He restores my soul.
He leads me in paths of righteousness
for his name's sake.

4 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.

5 You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil;my cup overflows.
6 Surely goodness and mercy
shall follow me all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Psalm 23 is surely the most well known of the biblical psalms.
It calms the anxious, releases the burdened;
rejuvenates the sorrowful, and brings hope to the despairing.
Its poetry is gentle in approach, and yet radiant in content.

After reading it I always feel restored in soul and refreshed in mind.
What better psalm, then, to dwell on and let soak into our souls.

This is what I will be doing over the next couple of weeks;
going through the psalm phrase my phrase and blogging my thoughts each day.

Of course the real magic behind this psalm lies not in the fact that it is well composed
and full of beautiful imagery, but that what it points to is true!

Far more important than knowing the psalm is to know the Shepherd.

My prayer is that these posts will make us more fully realise our need to know the Good Shepherd, and that we will be compelled to respond by (re)committing our lives to Him!

God bless,
Jeff


But his delight is in the law of the LORD,
And in His law he meditates day and night.
He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water,
Which yields its fruit in its season
And its leaf does not wither;
And in whatever he does, he prospers.